Help Awab raise money

Hello!!

My name is Awab and I am a 23 year old native of the Albany, NY region. We all know mental health has never been in a more precarious state in our nation and I hope you will join me and thousands of others in taking tactical steps towards enhancing mental wellness with the Quell Foundation. Since 2016, the Quell Foundation has provided over $1 million dollars in scholarships to students entering the mental healthcare field or affected by mental illness. We've also produced films, research, podcasts, and various trainings in our efforts to reduce stigmas around mental illness and dismantle barriers to care. 

I first became acquainted with Quell in 2018 when I was awarded a scholarship as a psychology student at SUNY Geneseo. Even at a public college, I had to pay well beyond what was possible for my family to afford. Quell's recurrent support of students studying to provide mental health services is what has cemented me to this organization. I have since joined Quell's junior board of directors (all scholarship alumni!) and am active in our alumni and scholarship engagement. 

I am running to give back to Quell and pay it foward to students in similar situations to myself. I have always been fascinated by psychology, and as a Sudanese immigrant, much of my undergraduate research focused on the cultural nuance of mental health. My qualatative studies on Black men's mental health and African-immigrant sibiling relationships helped me realize that I needed to be on the front lines of mental healthcare as a counselor. So, I worked as a geriatric-psychiatric specialist at the University of Rochester Strong Memorial Hospital and am currently interning at Genesee Valley Psychology, working with mostly OCD disorders. 

This fall, I am starting my Master's in mental health counseling at the City College of New York (Woo!!) and like too many other students, I am stressing how I can finance my degree given the current economic recession and rising costs of education. That's why Quell is doing something big to make it possible for more students, from more economically diverse backgrounds, to become mental healthcare workers and advocates! 

I've busted out my old running shoes and have already started training for the 7-mile run in Falmouth, MA on a hunch that you will join me in any way you can by donating to the Quell Foundation! There are no where near enough clinicians to meet demands in our country, so I implore you to support those a few years away from making a marked difference in our country's mental health.  You can donate here on the page or message me for other options. Even $10 makes a difference in educational budgets and donating to Quell gurantees your support is going directly to the wallets or resources of tomorrow's mental healthcare workers.

Thank you!