From Near Crisis to Psychiatrist: Dr. Bruny Kenou's Story - brilliant young woman, the people who believed in her, and what her story can teach us about the young people in our lives.

If you're trying to understand the mental health crisis in our country, or find your way through it, this episode may help. It did for me.

This month we're releasing our very first episode of Sit Down for This, and I couldn't think of a better guest to start with than Dr. Bruny Kenou.

We've been following Bruny for a while

I first sat down with Bruny in 2024 on my earlier podcast, Defining Health Equity. She was a medical student then, and she told me something I've thought about ever since: "I never thought I would make it this far."

Today she's Dr. Kenou, a psychiatry resident in a prestigious medical system. This episode examines the path of a brilliant young woman as she navigates from near catastrophe early in her life to becoming the kind of doctor she once needed.

The path

In middle school, Bruny started feeling a deep hopelessness she didn't have a name for. It followed her into high school. She worked in her mom's braiding shop until two in the morning, then got up at six for school.

She found the courage to ask for help at home. The answer wasn't at all what she needed. She still remembers every word, and you'll hear them in the episode.

It took a regular high school psychology class for her to put a name to what she was feeling. And it took her guidance counselors to tell her, in her words, "you are worth something."

She applied to 40 colleges and earned a full ride to Duke. The struggle didn't disappear when she got there. But people at Duke saw she was still hurting and told her that what she was going through was real, and that there was treatment. "That completely changed my life," she told me.

Now she spends her life making sure other young people get help sooner. She built programs that pair young people with peers who help them stay on top of their care, and she has spoken in front of a room full of legislators about her own story.

The young people in our lives

Many of us have young people in our lives. Maybe we mentor them, we work alongside them, or they're in our own families. And I mean our real family, not the "work" family.

Bruny said something that stopped me: "I know what it feels like to wish that someone believed in you. I know what it feels like to wish that someone saw what you were going through."

If this episode doesn't move you, or give you some insight into the minds of the early-career people we work with and love, I don't know what will.

What to listen for

Listen for the line I'm still thinking about: "There is no amount of small that I can shrink where I will disappear. So I might as well be big."

And stay with us for the moment, about 40 minutes in, when Bruny tells me exactly when she knew she had found her purpose. I won't give it away.

Every episode, real people and real stories

Every episode of Sit Down for This features an aspect of mental health through real people and real stories: the wrong turns, the people who believed in them, and the low points they've rarely said out loud.

Watch and listen

Watch Bruny's full episode and subscribe on YouTube

Prefer to listen? Listen on Apple Podcasts or listen on Spotify

Know someone with a story like Bruny's? Be a guest

Help support the show: Make a donation

If you or someone you love is struggling, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, any time, day or night.

— David Chernov, Host, Sit Down for This