Today we’d like to introduce you to F a u z i a C h o u d h u r y.
Hi Fauzia, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
In the past four years of living in the United States, I have learned from my life experiences to keep moving forward. There will be hurdles in every phase of your life but it was never an excuse to give up. I truly believe that you have the power to shape the way you want your life to be. Fast-forwarding four years of my life, here I am living my dreams in the states.
Child of immigrant parents, a first generation-college student who is following her dreams. Currently, I am in the process of applying for my Masters in Social Work. I aspire to become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and also get my license in Dance Movement Therapy. My dark days helped me find my true passion in my life. I am grateful to be able to choose a career where I can give back. Do not get me wrong, I had my days where I wanted to give up but my passion for helping people helped me keep going on. It is truly a blessing where I started from nothing and now being able to have enough to give back to the community.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
For the most part, my life has always been a wild rollercoaster ride. But I am glad it was not a smooth road for me because it helped me develop a sense of myself. I have completed my schooling in India and mental health was not the most important thing to talk about. I struggled a lot with my mental health since my teenage years due to personal and family problems. I got familiar with the idea of mental health when I moved to New York City. During the same time, I was going through a financial crisis too. I had to work full time to
pay for my college. I remember one time this employee at my school told me to take a break and come back when I had enough money to pay my tuition. At that moment, I felt so discouraged and did not see a way out of this dark time. But I was adamant to finish college on time. Before anything, the first step was to take care of mental health. I started seeing my school counselor and that was one of the best decisions of my life. This one decision I took for myself helped me find my passion to help people. And from there, things started to get better for me. There are endless stories to share and this is just a little insight into my life. I could talk a lot about my struggles but you will always be short of words to express them. Personally, I think stories hold a lot of power. I have always been open about sharing it with people because your stories are always inspiring others to do better in their lives.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Being a mental health advocate, as much as I love to talk about my profession. But also, I want to speak about my passion for dancing. I have been dancing since I was in second grade and I found it as an escape from all of my problems. This part of my life has helped me with my mental health. I have always encouraged myself to do more of it because it truly makes my soul happy. In the earlier days of my life, I did a lot of dancing for my team in school. Eventually, I shifted focus on my personal growth. I wanted to dance for myself. Over the years, I have explored how any form of art could help you heal. Believe it or not, dancing was one of the elements in my life that helped me to heal. Also, it is great stress buster for me. In the future, I want to contribute to other people’s healing journey by also becoming a Dance Movement Therapist.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
At the moment, work is in progress. Once I start my own practice, maybe you all can refer people to LCSW Fauzia Choudhury, haha! But for now, you all can support me by advocating more about mental health. Take care of your own mental health, be kind to yourself and others. It costs $0 to do it. We need your love and compassion in the community.❐
Courtesy: VoyageLA
