Westmont High School senior Ella Nghiem has seen for herself the correlation between homelessness and mental health issues, and she’s using her summer internship to help break the cycle.
Ella is one of five Silicon Valley Bank of America Student Leaders working with LifeMoves, a nonprofit that provides interim housing and supportive services for Bay Area homeless. She and her fellow interns are building a database to house LifeMoves’ internal information to make it easier for the nonprofit to connect clients with resources.
“Through the experiences of classmates that have dealt with much of the challenges stemming from unstable housing, I have gained an understanding of the profound impacts of homelessness, including the prevalence of self-doubt and depressive thoughts,” says the Campbell resident. “That’s why I’m beyond grateful and excited to be working with LifeMoves this summer—an organization that helps people from all around the Bay Area return to stable housing by connecting them to nutritional, housing, employment and mental health services.”
A friend’s attempted suicide led Ella to research how mental health issues are affected by culture and environment.
“I discovered that mental health situations are known to affect underserved and marginalized populations disproportionately,” she says. “This fact stood out to me because it made sense in the context of the situation I was dealing with, ultimately inspiring me to find new ways to help my community, including my decision to spend my Saturdays at Pacific Free Clinic.”
The clinic is run by Stanford Medicine on the Overfelt High School campus in East San Jose.
“During my involvement there, I witnessed how people of color, low-income, immigrants and others who were disadvantaged struggled with their own mental health, as society places so many stresses on these human beings,” Ella says. “My time there also helped me draw a connection between the struggles my family and I face as immigrants and first-generation Americans, and the struggles that minorities across the country face on a daily basis.”
Ella’s career goal is to direct or work at a dental Federally Qualified Health Center.
“In the Bay Area, there is a lack of accessible healthcare resources, from dental and medical services, to mental health and nutritional guidance,” she says. “Over my high school years, I’ve learned how all of these healthcare-related problems are interconnected.”
Given its economic impacts, Ella adds, the COVID-19 pandemic points up this interconnectedness.
“Considering the nationwide economic situation, I do expect to see the homelessness crisis increase in scope,” she says. “One thing that I’ve learned through my interest in sociology is how the wealth gap will only widen over the coming years. I expect this to have a significant impact on the number of homeless people; however, organizations like LifeMoves and influential individuals like the other Bank of America Student Leaders demonstrate to me that my generation will do our best to combat the crisis.”