I come from a family of lions. At the hardest points in my life, my grandmother would sit with me and repeat the phrase, “sher puttar”, translating roughly in Punjabi to “you are a lion, my child”. This was the sentiment I carried with me throughout life-- I was a lion, a symbol of strength in my family and the Sikh community, and lions do not cry. This narrative was perpetuated in my life and community-- as a devoted Punjabi Sikh, I take pride in standing up for and alongside vulnerable peoples. Although a self-perceived proponent of strength, I found myself dismissing my own struggles with depression and anxiety for fear of my family or community seeing me as “weak”. This stigma is prevalent among the Indian community-- far too often people suffering from undiagnosed mental health disorders are cast into the shadows, ignored and feared by the community that should be supporting them. Suicide and depression are growing public health issues within the Indian-American community, where educational and family pressure are among the primary causes of many self-inflicted deaths. Yet a culture that struggles so greatly with mental health fails to destigmatize the topic; this cultural censoring of mental health issues is a barrier to accessing Western treatment, begging the need for diversity in mental health care. With worsening depression and anxiety, I struggled in silence with my education, unable to enjoy time with family and friends and often sleeping the days away. It ultimately reached a point where I had no choice but to seek help from my family. Fortunately, with their support, I was able to begin therapy; still, it took several months to explain the concepts of depression and anxiety to them and I continue to struggle with being open about my mental health with my family. Even so, my journey far exceeds that of millions of Indians who have not been fortunate enough to initiate the conversation, let alone receive support for these “taboo” issues. Such inequity is the motivation behind my desire to actively incorporate diversity in the public health field. This initiative requires adapting health systems and programs to include all backgrounds; particularly in mental health care, it is imperative that professionals strive to create a welcoming environment by incorporating cultural practices in treatment. My undergraduate career prepared me to pursue this initiative. For my honors thesis, I assessed the current literature on the perceptions of mental health, culturally-based risk and protective factors, and access to mental health care within the South Asian and Sikh communities. I concluded that existing stigma deters Indians from Western practices such as therapy and medication-- preferring to focus on meditation, spiritual practice, prayer, or finding a hobby. Opening the mental health field to diversity will, therefore, require a combination of both Western medicine and cultural practices. I aim to lead this transition into culturally-relevant mental health treatment. My lived experience with depression and anxiety, in conjunction with my observations of Indian culture, fuels my passion for implementing these practices and I remain devoted to increasing such diversity in the field.