Sara Saeedi - Multiculturalism And Resilience

By the time Sara was six, she had lived through war, a revolution, and an uprooting from her life in Iran to move to the other side of the world with her family.

Naturally, it wasn’t easy to transition from a collectivist culture to a more individualistic one in Canada. And, as a first-generation immigrant and the eldest child, Sara also had to grow up quickly, helping her parents navigate the systems and intricacies of starting over in a new country.

Yet it was through her family’s struggles as newcomers that Sara grew her resilience, learned to integrate the best parts of two cultures, and became the perceptive person she is today.

Sara now resides in Coquitlam, British Columbia, where she works as a clinical mental health clinician at the Chilliwack Youth Health Centre. She is passionate about destigmatizing mental health (particularly in immigrant households), transforming trauma, and identifying intergenerational resilience.