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Entrepreneur, AI enthusiast, and wellness advocate Vaishali Jha discusses her article, “Gen Z is already transforming mental health care—are we listening?” The conversation explores the vital need for new perspectives in health care, arguing that the system often overlooks the voices of young people. Vaishali explains how Gen Z, having come of age during numerous health crises, brings an essential viewpoint rooted in lived experience, digital fluency, and a desire for more human-centered care. The discussion highlights how young people are already taking the lead in normalizing mental health conversations, building culturally relevant digital tools, and advocating for their peers. This episode serves as a call to action for health care systems to invite young people to the table not as future leaders, but as current, essential voices who can help build a more inclusive, responsive, and compassionate future for all.

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Transcript

Kevin Pho: Hi and welcome to the show. Subscribe at KevinMD.com/podcast. Today we welcome Vaishali Jha. She is an entrepreneur and pre-medical student. Today’s KevinMD article is “Gen Z is already transforming mental health care. Are we listening?”. Vaishali, welcome to the show.

Vaishali Jha: Thank you so much for inviting me. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Kevin Pho: All right, so just briefly share your story and tell us what led you to write this article on KevinMD.

Vaishali Jha: I’m a student at UC Berkeley with a passion for mental health, public health innovation, and health equity. I grew up navigating two very different health systems, India, Ayurvedic medicine, and the U.S., which gave me a deep understanding of how cultural, structural, and economic barriers impact access to care. At Berkeley, I’ve been involved in mental health advocacy and research, where I co-founded two initiatives: Glow Mood AI, which is a digital platform that uses AI to support Gen Z mental health needs, and CareGenna, which is a podcast focused on narrative-based public health solutions for underrepresented communities. So I’m constantly inspired by the idea that technology, when guided by empathy, can transform care.

My article, “Gen Z is already transforming mental health care. Are we listening?,” was really inspired by my frustration and hope. I saw so many conversations about mental health that were either top-down or missing our generation’s voice entirely. But as you come to the news, whether it be through Instagram, TikTok, or any other social media platform, Gen Z is doing the work. We’re openly talking about therapy. We’re building peer support communities, whether it be through artificial intelligence or just building groups and communities where people can support each other to get access to different opportunities. We’re not afraid to question outdated models.

I wanted the piece to challenge the health care system not just to serve us, but to collaborate. Because if Gen Z is already leading change, imagine what we could do with real support.

Kevin Pho: So talk to us from your perspective as Gen Z. What are we missing when it comes to mental health care? Tell us through your lens some of the misconceptions and misperceptions. What are we missing?

Vaishali Jha: As a Gen Z student and also being at a very competitive college, there’s been a lot of bias against exhaustion. Burnout is like being a badge of honor in a sense. A lot of students are overworking, and people portray this as people being committed to their education. But if I had known earlier that rest is necessary for sustainability and that mental health is health. Overdoing a lot of studies, education, extracurriculars, and balancing everything is always a struggle.

Especially as a pre-med student, you have to go through a lot of different kinds of burnouts just to comply with fulfilling all the pre-req checklists and guidelines. There have been so many people—students, clinicians, and also educators—that feel the same way that a lot of people do. They just want to wait until someone else says, “This is enough, I need rest.” I feel like this is a big issue in the community, especially with technology. The technology industry is booming, especially in Silicon Valley, where every day there’s a new innovation in AI or whether it be through biotech or handmade medical devices. It’s really a lot about the intersection of tech and emotional intelligence nowadays.

Kevin Pho: So before we get into some tech-related solutions, you mentioned earlier about how just working all the time and working without rest can sometimes be viewed as a badge of honor, especially as you’re going through the pre-medical path. As we talked about online, my daughter’s also going through the pre-medical path, so I’m seeing it secondarily as well. What are some examples where you’re seeing that lack of rest, where people are just working 24/7? What are examples that you’re seeing where that’s perceived as a badge of honor?

Vaishali Jha: I think it starts from high school, getting into Ivy League schools or just getting into a really competitive school. People are sacrificing their teenage years. They’re going through all these, I mean, it’s very competitive: competitions, being number one on the track team, and that takes a lot of effort, a lot of practice, as well as maintaining the 4.0 valedictorian status and continuing that through college. I feel like there needs to be a balance between social life and education. As well, for pre-med you need leadership, you need research, you need to complete all the prerequisites of biochemistry and physics with As, and do the same thing: maintain as high a GPA as you need.

I feel like a lot of students, and the reason a lot of people also drop out of pre-medicine careers, is because they can’t find the balance. It can get too exhausting. I feel like a lot of physicians also feel too burned out by the system and then they choose to pursue other careers. So I feel like this issue, mental health, should be really emphasized. As well for physicians, just doing regular wellness routines, whether it be meditation or just being physically active or just having a good, healthy lifestyle would really help and impact a lot of their own lifestyles and their patients as well.

Kevin Pho: So are you seeing any emphasis on mental health or behavioral health issues by your mentors, your administration, or doctors that you shadow? Or do you feel like this change needs to come from the bottom up through Gen Z?

Vaishali Jha: I feel like there have been a lot of wellness initiatives that have been taking place since COVID especially. I feel like that’s a great change that’s been happening throughout the world, globally. I think especially on Gen Z, it’s been more open now. People have been able to speak up and really talk about more social issues and activism, like movements that have been coming up as our generation kind of evolves. I feel like it needs to be more, I feel like it’s more peer-supported. Even if there are wellness initiatives, like on my own campus, there’s a wellness resource center and there’s also a lot of peer counseling and also counseling provided by PhDs and licensed therapists, but people are still not open enough to really talk about what they’re going through.

That could really make someone prone to depression if they don’t take care of themselves. There’s a lot going on in people’s lives. People may be dealing with relationship issues or something else going on in their families where they can’t really support themselves, and that can really affect how they’re doing in the rest of their lives, their education, and extracurriculars. I feel like maybe one traumatic event could really scar you for a long time. So I feel like people need to be open enough to actually be vulnerable to therapists, or if they’re not, then I feel like artificial intelligence could really help people just discuss, to let their emotions out, I’d say.

Kevin Pho: So in addition to being a pre-medical student, you’re also a tech entrepreneur. You’re on the West Coast near Silicon Valley, so you’re much closer in terms of what’s being done from a tech and innovation standpoint to address this issue. So tell us about that intersection between AI, tech, and mental behavioral health issues. What’s happening there?

Vaishali Jha: Growing up, I was always into learning more about artificial intelligence. I saw a big change happen during COVID especially. People have been using more social media apps through artificial intelligence to help people get closer together, whether it be through dating apps or through just helping people make new friends online. So I feel like the intersection of tech and emotional intelligence is very near, as though it could help anyone just become a better person, obtain a healthier lifestyle, and also just help someone cope with their emotions and struggles.

I feel like there can be so many integrations in artificial intelligence where they could have different intersections, whether it be through incorporating wellness techniques, teaching people about public health education, and also just helping someone come off from substance and addiction abuse—people who are really struggling and helping them just deal with that. And also having ready access to therapists and also the suicide awareness line. I feel like that’d be such a great tool to have because teenagers, I know we are not always open to everything. With the mood swings and everything, it’s like everyone’s stuck in their own little shell and they don’t want to, if they’re not open enough to tell their parents or anyone they’re close to, then they could be stuck in that shell forever. I feel like that’s what causes a lot of people, especially, there have been a lot of suicide risks. It’s not just the U.S., it’s across the world. I feel like this is all due to just people not listening and taking care of themselves first.

Kevin Pho: So you mentioned AI a few times and meeting Gen Z where they are on these social media-type apps. What would be an example of that? Are you talking about a specific app? Are you talking about existing social media platforms integrating better with AI? Are you talking about AI chatbots? So what are some scenarios where you see AI helping Gen Z?

Vaishali Jha: I’d say something as simple as ChatGPT or there’s another resource called Sana AI, and my own company, Glow Mood. We’re all just kind of based on storytelling, right? So you can ask the chatbot a question, and the chatbot is there to listen to your real-life experiences. They can answer any questions from, it doesn’t matter what social status, what financial status, they’re just here to support you. And especially for young people or marginalized communities, it could help design better health systems. Even if you go to a therapist, they may not understand your background entirely. I feel like having an AI chatbot which is more neutral in a way, without any bias, could really help. It could help you understand what you need to work on and cope with.

I feel like just prompting the AI chatbot with your experiences, the chatbot would have no bias, right? It’s just there, it’s just the program language. So I feel that can make more people comfortable rather than someone sitting there in front of them trying to understand who they are. Not enough people are really open to doing that because if someone is struggling with depression or anxiety, or they’re not talking to enough people, they could be really shy. For people to really come out of that could take a lot, especially if they’re not talking to their own friends or family or anyone who is really close to them.

So I feel like one big lesson, especially for Gen Z, is that we need to work together. It’s really about understanding what matters to you. It’s like creating a space for honest discussions. A lot of people have experienced trauma, especially through COVID, and a lot of identity conflicts or isolation, especially through political environments. It’s about understanding that it’s OK to not be OK. In a clinical setting, I feel like integrating these tech-based innovations would be so helpful. It could really introduce someone to new lifestyles. It could really help people to stop smoking or stop vaping and understand prioritizing your own routine over trying to be what the norm is.

Kevin Pho: Are there any studies or data that show that AI chatbots make a measurable difference when it comes to treating various behavioral health disorders, like you said, depression or stopping smoking?

Vaishali Jha: Based on research, there’s been a lot of AI implementation in health care, whether that be for detecting curable diseases or just implementing these tech-based solutions in health care. A lot of people have found AI to be generally beneficial because harms and concerns were detected earlier than most physicians saw them coming. There’s been an equal mix of positive and negative feedback for the future of AI and mental health. There have been discussions on how there could be consequences of AI, like people being dependent on AI.

But I’d say through using AI to cope with these symptoms, it could also help lower medical costs. It really does help improve health care accessibility, especially for communities that are not able to have insurance or any health care coverage. I feel like doctors could also use these AI insights to positively impact their patients’ well-being and medical decision-making practices. The studies that were presented have all been based on these patients who are dealing with mental health disorders for a long time, and they’ve shown how AI has really led to a good outcome.

Kevin Pho: Like with anything new, of course, we’re still waiting for definitive studies and data, right? So I think there is a lot of promise, certainly, when it comes to AI. So what do you see in the near future? What do we have to look forward to when it comes to that intersection between technology and behavioral health? What’s on the horizon?

Vaishali Jha: I think on the horizon, Gen Z is probably redefining what care looks like: being more collaborative, more tech-forward, more human-centered. I guess it’s not just mental health care, but just general health care. It’s being more human-centered, more evolved with the people it serves. The question isn’t if Gen Z is leading the change; it’s whether the system will meet these evolved standards, being more open to a lot of discussions about eliminating medical biases and also treating everyone as equals. I feel like that could be what’s going to happen in the future, and also, as I mentioned before, having honest and open discussions, not just in a specific area, but nationwide.

Kevin Pho: Vaishali Jha is a pre-medical student and entrepreneur. Today’s KevinMD article is “Gen Z is already transforming mental health care. Are we listening?”. Vaishali, let’s end with some take-home messages that you want to leave with the KevinMD audience.

Vaishali Jha: I feel like Gen Z should really tell their stories to the world and really motivate more people, and especially their peers, to drive change.

Kevin Pho: Vaishali, thank you so much for sharing your perspective and insights. Thanks again for coming on the show.

Vaishali Jha: Thank you.