Between Two Worlds: Navigating Bicultural Identity with Sahaj Kohli, MA.Ed, LGPC, NCC (298)

Apr 28, 2026

Sahaj Kohli, licensed therapist and founder of Brown Girl Therapy, explores living between cultures and the immigrant experience. She discusses how cultural identity shapes mental health. Conversations cover cultural communication and boundaries, the hidden labor of cultural brokering, and what truly culturally responsive care can look like. Social media as community and resources for bicultural people also feature.

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ANECDOTE

Brown Girl Therapy Began As A Personal Lifeline

Sahaj started Brown Girl Therapy in 2019 after personal struggles with career change, marrying outside her culture, and seeking community online.
She began anonymously sharing stories; the community rapidly grew because others lacked spaces to talk about bicultural identity and family tension.

INSIGHT

Social Media Exposes Harm And Enables Bicultural Healing

Social media both exposes discrimination and enables healing by connecting isolated bicultural people to community and resources they lacked locally.
Sahaj credits Instagram for making Brown Girl Therapy possible and giving younger people access to relatable peers and mentors.

INSIGHT

Western Therapy Is A Culturally Specific Lens

Western mental health training is rooted in a white, individualistic, and often male-centered paradigm that shapes definitions of normal, boundaries, and therapy techniques.
Sahaj Kohli shows how collectivist cultures prioritize relational roles and implicit communication, so Western norms can mislabel culturally normative behaviors as pathology.

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What does it mean to belong to more than one world at once?

Sahaj Kohli—founder of Brown Girl Therapy and author of What Will People Say?—explores the emotional complexity of bicultural identity, the immigrant experience, and the hidden pressures of being “culturally enough.” Together, we explore how culture shapes mental health, why many therapy models miss the mark for marginalized communities, and what truly culturally responsive care can look like. Sahaj also shares how social media became a lifeline for connection, community, and healing for people navigating multiple identities. This episode offers powerful insight for therapists, helpers, and anyone balancing family expectations, identity, and belonging across cultures.

“Collectives are made of individuals, and we can’t be our best selves within those collectives and in those roles if we are not also taking care of ourselves. Yet we can’t be our best selves as individuals without considering the collective and our communities.” – Sahaj Kohli

Time Stamps for Between Two Worlds: Navigating Bicultural Identity with Sahaj Kohli (298)

03:46 Cultural identity and the immigrant experience
07:28 The birth of Brown Girl Therapy
11:22 Understanding the dominant narrative
15:07 Cultural differences in communication and boundaries
19:05 Cultural responsiveness in therapy
26:49 The burden of cultural “enoughness”
29:11 Navigating pride and shame in biculturalism
31:08 Grief and loss in cultural transition
39:20 Resources for bicultural and multicultural understanding

About our Guest – Sahaj Kohli MA.Ed, LGPC, NCC

Sahaj Kohli by Beowulf Sheehan

Sahaj Kaur Kohli MA.Ed, LGPC, NCC is an award-winning therapist and mental health educator. She is the founder of Brown Girl Therapy (@browngirltherapy), the first and largest mental health and wellness community organization for adult children of immigrants, an advice columnist for the Washington Post, and host and creator of the limited series podcast, So We’ve Been Told. Sahaj is also author of the book, “But What Will People Say: Navigating Mental Health, Identity, Love and Family Between Cultures” named one of Audible’s “best of” in 2024. With a 6+ year career in journalism under her belt, Sahaj’s passion lies at the intersection of narrative storytelling and mental health advocacy. You can follow Sahaj’s writing on Substack: Culturally Enough. is a resource for the community and The Bicultural Brief is a resource for clinicians who want to be more culturally responsive in their care. Sahaj’s words and work have been featured across media, like in Today, NPR, Good Morning America, CNN, The New York Times, and others. Sahaj also serves as a corporate consultant, educator and international speaker.

Resources for Between Two Worlds: Navigating Bicultural Identity with Sahaj Kohli (298)

@BrownGirlTherapy – Sahaj’s Instagram profile

Sahaj’s Website – Resources, information, events & more

But What Will People Say? Navigating Mental Health, Identity, Love, and Family Between Cultures – Get your copy today!!

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