Good Neighbor Podcast: Orange County

A New Day Begins at Norooz: Making Therapy Accessible to All

• Rachel Fyffe & Nina Barber

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Imagine finding quality mental health care that doesn't drain your bank account or require months on a waiting list. That's exactly what the Norooz Clinic Foundation delivers to Orange County residents and beyond. Executive Director Nina Barber joins us to unveil this hidden gem that's been quietly transforming mental health access for thirteen years.

The Norooz Clinic Foundation isn't your typical mental health provider. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, they've created an innovative model that simultaneously serves the community while training tomorrow's therapists. Their services span individual, couples, and family therapy alongside psychological assessments—all available in English, Spanish, Farsi, and Mandarin Chinese. What truly sets them apart? Their commitment to placing clients with therapists within just 3-5 business days, compared to the weeks or months of waiting that's become standard elsewhere.

Nina shares her personal journey from volunteer administrative assistant to executive director, revealing how working at Norooz empowered her own mental health journey. She tackles persistent stigmas head-on, particularly those affecting diverse communities where mental health concerns often manifest as physical symptoms. With nearly 24,000 affordable therapy sessions provided to approximately 4,600 clients over their history, Norooz demonstrates the tremendous impact of community-centered care. Whether you're seeking affordable therapy, interested in their free peer support groups, or simply curious about breaking down mental health barriers, this episode offers valuable insight into a resource that embodies its Persian name meaning "a new day, a new beginning." Ready to transform your mental health journey? Visit NoroozClinic.com to learn more about their services.

Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, rachel Fyfe. Well, welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast Now. Are you in need of, maybe, some mental health services or assessments? Well, we've got a resource that might be closer than you think. Today, I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, nina Barber, with the Neuruse Clinic Foundation. Nina, how's it going?

Speaker 2:

today it's going well. Rachel, Thank you so much for having me on the show. I'm very excited to talk about our business and what we can do to offer to the community. Wonderful.

Speaker 1:

Well, we're excited to learn about your business too, so tell us about your company and the organization.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely so. The Narus Clinic Foundation is a 501c3 nonprofit mental health clinic and we provide really affordable mental health services to the community. So that is your individual, couples and family therapy. We also do psychological assessments and we have a couple free peer support groups for the community. For those that may not be comfortable seeking therapy services just yet, we do have a couple of free peer support groups for them to check out first. And we're also a workforce training site.

Speaker 2:

So we have three different internship programs at our organization and our goal is to train the next generation of professional mental health workers or mental health professionals, behavioral health professionals, and we've been around for 13 years now and for the past 13 years we've actually graduated over 200 students from our programs and many of them are now licensed clinicians and a few of them actually have their own private practice. So we're very proud of that and we also do a lot of advocacy in the community and so we understand that mental health. There's a lot of stigma surrounding mental health and so really our goal and our job is to go out to the community, connect with folks and really tell them and let them know about mental health and some of the stigmas or the myths that are surrounding mental health, educate them and let them know that, hey, there are affordable and accessible services, like the nurse clinic that you can go to and you're not alone. So really that's our goal, and our services are actually offered in four different languages. We our services are offered in English, spanish, farsi and Mandarin Chinese.

Speaker 2:

We also have we're located in Santa Ana, so we have a brick and mortar that you can come to or you can see us on telehealth. So as long as you're in California and you have access to the internet and a safe and quiet space to seek services, then you can. You can get therapy from us and we make it very affordable. So we our fees are already very affordable, but we also offer sliding scale and pro bono. It really depends on your income level. And then we take insurance also. So we take Aetna, cigna, magellan, blue Shields of California and Optum, and we're actually just got certification for Cal Optima, so hopefully in a few months we'll be able to take Cal Optima and Medi-Cal clients.

Speaker 1:

Well, how did you get into this business?

Speaker 2:

I was actually. I've been with the organization since the very beginning. So we were created in 2012 by Dr Asan Garajagagi or Dr G for short, and he is a licensed clinical psychologist to have this community center where, a it's affordable, therapy's affordable for the community, but B as a training site for future behavioral health therapists and professionals. And NARUS is actually the Persian New Year it's always the first day of spring and it means a new day, a new beginning, because we want people to come into our organization and walk out as if it's a new day, a new beginning, and so it means a lot. And I've been there since the very beginning. I have my own mental health journey and really through working at NAROOS and I started out as a volunteer admin assistant and really worked my way up and built programs and now I'm the executive director but really through Neurose Clinic Foundation, I found the strength to seek therapy services and talk to more about therapy and be more open about mental health and the stigma surrounding that.

Speaker 1:

Well, that is interesting. You touched upon this a little bit earlier, but I do want to ask like what are some of the myths, misconceptions, about the industry mental health? I'd like to expand on that a little bit.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely so. I'm sure we probably all hear this phrase all the time. It's oh, I'm not crazy or oh, it's a weakness. Those are very common misconceptions and especially in a very diverse community like us in Orange County. We have a lot of different groups of folks that are around here. Our organization is located in Santa Ana, so we're very center of Orange County. We have a lot of diverse communities around here and in each of these communities there's that same theme of oh I'm not crazy, it's a weakness to seek services or to seek help about my stress or depression.

Speaker 2:

And in a lot of cases, as an Asian American in my community, a lot of the mental health symptoms come out as physical symptoms. So you'll hear people often talk about how their stomach would hurt or they have headaches, but when you actually look into it, is it really a physical ailment or is it caused by stress or anxiety? So a lot of that is happening and we try to work we actually work really hard to destigmatize some of that so that we can make these services available for people. If they're not, I guess if they don'tize some of that so that we can make these services available for people. If they're not, I guess if they don't acknowledge some of these myths or they don't understand where it's coming from, they will never seek services, until sometimes it's too late.

Speaker 2:

And we try to avoid that. We try to do the prevention side.

Speaker 1:

Got it. Wow, we know. Now we know also. Marketing is like kind of the heart of every business. I mean, how are you targeting your customers or attracting or letting people know about you?

Speaker 2:

A few different ways. Actually. We're on social media, so that's, as you probably know, for a lot of businesses that's the strongest arena for marketing your business, so we go through that Word of mouth. So over the last 13 years we've provided close to 24,000 affordable therapy sessions to about 4,600 clients in Orange County to about 4,600 clients in Orange County and some clients are kind of in up from other counties too, but a lot of it is from word of mouth friends, family.

Speaker 2:

We get referrals from different organizations and community partners that we work with, and we love working with different community partners. We really do believe in the power of connection and working together because we only provide the therapy services. However, some of our clients that come in here they need more than just therapy services. So, for an example, if someone have food insecurities, so we have a partner that can provide those services, so we will. We love to refer out and then they love to refer to us. We're also on Google searches, so people find us through just a basic search. We utilize our SEO. Since we're a nonprofit, we get Google ad grants and we utilize that too. So, yeah, just different ways to target people and do marketing and obviously this one, this podcast. It's a great way too. Have you ever?

Speaker 1:

thought of doing a podcast. Podcasts it's a great way too have you ever thought of doing a podcast?

Speaker 2:

You know what I always thought about doing a podcast and we actually tried to do our own podcast, you know, with the staff a few years ago and we talked about different mental health issues, but never anything that we pursued more formally. But yes, I always thought about doing a podcast, Wow great Well.

Speaker 1:

outside of work and this foundation, what do you like to do for fun?

Speaker 2:

Ooh, great question. So I live in Brinkman, the Ruse Clinic, but as the executive director joke aside as the executive director I'm always out and about and I'm also part of a Rotary Club, so I have a group of people that I turn to. And I'm married I'm actually newly married and so I hang out a lot with my husband and our two cats. They're two great cats. I love to cook, so I've been getting into cooking a lot lately. I'm in my hosting era, so I've been hosting friends and family. I also have side businesses, so I actually, a few years ago I started a side jewelry business where I make dainty gold jewelry. So that's one way where I have fun. I'm an entrepreneur, so me and my husband actually has a media company, also another one. And, yeah, I love to help people, love to kind of be involved in the community through things like Rotary or volunteering opportunities or just yeah, I mean I think I'm at a stage in my life where I really just want to be involved in the community.

Speaker 1:

Wonderful. Well, Nina, tell our listeners one thing they should remember about the NAROOS Clinic Foundation.

Speaker 2:

Yes, that's a great question. One thing that listeners should definitely remember what NAROOS is for is that we are a community center, that we are in the community. We have a brick and mortar here. We started as a community center. We have real people behind the screen. You can meet us in person. We will always support you, and I just want to shout out to my team I mean, my team is amazing. They're very supportive, from the administrative team to the clinical team, to all of our interns and clinicians. They're there to help people team, to all of our interns and clinicians. They're there to help people and we're all here to service the community and to provide services to the community. So that's the one thing that you can count on us is we will provide services and we can place clients with a therapist within three to five business days, which is very quick compared to a lot of other places.

Speaker 1:

Wonderful. Well, how can listeners learn more about the Nauruz Clinic Foundation?

Speaker 2:

They can visit our website at wwwnauruzcliniccom and that is spelled N-O-R-O-O-Z-C-L-I-N-I-Ccom, so they go on there and if they're interested in booking an appointment, we make it very easy. There's a button on the top that you can click. It says book your appointment now, fill out a few different questions and then somebody will be in contact with you within a few hours or maybe the maximum would be like two to three, up to five business days.

Speaker 1:

OK, well, nina, I really appreciate you being on the show and we wish you and your business and foundation the very best moving forward.

Speaker 2:

Thank, you so much. Rachel, thank you for having me, you bet.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnporangecountycom. That's gnporangecountycom, gnporangecountycom. That's GNPOrangeCountycom, or call 714-941-8862.