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Many people have struggled with their mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. For refugees in Minnesota who are already uprooted, traumatized and financially fragile, the strain can feel overwhelming. 

Kahin Adam has worked throughout the pandemic with refugees in St. Cloud as a therapist and health educator. As a refugee himself, he brings empathy to their experiences of isolation and struggle. 

After fleeing Somalia as a child with his large family, Adam lived, studied and worked in several countries before pursuing dual master’s degrees of clinical social work and public health at Columbia University in New York. 

In 2021, he was one of two dozen Minnesotans selected annually by the Bush Foundation to receive a competitive Bush fellowship, a cash award in support of the recipient's personal mission. Adam's fellowship will help him address trauma in refugee communities and integrate Western mental health with traditional Somali approaches to wellness.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with Kahin Adam about his own journey to Minnesota and his work in St. Cloud. 

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Kahin Adam knows what it’s like to flee war and arrive alone in a strange, new country. MPR News host Angela Davis speaks with Kahin about his journey to Minnesota and how his own experience as a Somali refugee shapes his work as a therapist and mental health educator with fellow refugees in St. Cloud.  

MPR News with Angela Davis - Kahin Adam knows what it’s like to flee war and arrive alone in a strange, new country. MPR News host Angela Davis speaks with Kahin about his journey to Minnesota and how his own experience as a Somali refugee shapes his work as a therapist and health educator with fellow refugees in St. Cloud.  

Meet Kahin Adam, healer of refugee trauma

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