06/09/2025
Our team member, .khan_ , was invited to be on a panel at Reframe 2025, by Breakthrough, bringing diverse voices & stakeholders for meaningful conversations.
In our discussion with Shoi & Sudipta, we shared our understanding of a topic we strongly advocate for. Anmol opened the space by asking how youth leaders can strike a balance, given the common narrative that community leaders are โtoo emotional,โ and that it interferes with leadership. We expanded the conversation by linking it to insights shared by Asma Khan, Deepa Pawar, & Shreosi Ray,
who highlighted how representation is often tokenised.
We reflected that scepticism toward emotions in leadership often comes from the same assumption that believes representation alone is enough and similar lived experiences builds the skills to work with communities. In reality, ๐ฌ๐๐๐ก๐ ๐จ๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ง๐๐ช๐ข๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐จ ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ญ๐ฉ, ๐๐ฉ ๐๐จ ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ฃ๐, ๐ง๐๐จ๐ค๐ช๐ง๐๐๐จ, ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐ก๐ฉ๐ ๐จ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ค๐ง๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐ช๐๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ฉ๐ฎ.
To be able to notice & regulate their own emotions, & then hold safe spaces, youth leaders must be offered sustainable MH support. Emotions are not to be managed only if they โshow up.โ They are at the very core of why we do the work we do.
Balance means having the capacity & wisdom to discern when decisions must be rational, & when they can, & should be radical. As says, ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ, ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น.
This brings a larger question: ๐๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ณโ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ โ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญโ ๐ฐ๐ณ โ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉโ ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ? Emotional responses are seen with scepticism precisely because they demand systemic shifts.
๐๐ค๐ก๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ ๐ฌ๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ก๐๐ฃ๐๐จ๐จ, ๐๐ค๐ง ๐จ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ค๐ง ๐ค๐ฉ๐๐๐ง๐จ, ๐๐จ ๐ฌ๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ฎ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ค๐ฌ๐๐ง๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ง ๐๐ช๐ก๐ก๐๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ญ๐ฅ๐ง๐๐จ๐จ๐๐ค๐ฃ.
