IEHP Podcast Celebrates One-Year Anniversary

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif., May 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) is celebrating the one-year anniversary of their mental health podcast, "Chat & Chai." The podcast features 35 episodes with topics such as parenting, relationship management, racism and more. In its inaugural year, "Chat and Chai" collected more than 1,900 listeners and continues to grow in popularity.

Hosted by IEHP's Behavioral Health Medical Director and psychiatrist, Gayani DeSilva, and IEHP Clinical Director of Behavioral Health, Amrita Rai, "Chat & Chai" focuses on de-stigmatizing mental health conversations and promoting wellness for IEHP's Members and the Inland Empire Community.

"Our hope is to expose how behavioral health is as important to health as physical health," said DeSilva. "We want to bring awareness to the idea that there is no need to integrate behavioral health into wellness, but we must learn to recognize it is already there and needs attention."

The podcast launched in May 2020, shortly after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and provided a critical resource to support listeners during the time of social isolation. The podcast immediately dove into timely discussions on emotions, loneliness and grief during quarantine.

"We had topics selected and a plan for future podcasts; however, plans quickly changed because our whole lives changed with COVID," said Rai. "We chose to take on the topics that were most relevant for the moment."

By its third episode, "Chat & Chai" had taken bold steps to discuss warning signs of suicide and followed up with uplifting discussions on the importance of friendship and resilience.

In the first year, "Chat & Chai" welcomed guests such as IEHP's Chief Executive Officer Jarrod McNaughton and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Karen Hansberger to share personal and professional experience with weight loss, maternal health and depression.

"We really enjoy talking about health and promoting wellness. We hope to have even more wonderful guests on our show in future episodes," said DeSilva. "For example, we have a national expert slated to discuss stuttering with us. I can't wait to share and learn more with Amrita and our listeners in the upcoming year!"

Entering into season two, "Chat and Chai" takes a dive into "The ABC's of Mental Health," discussing the basics of mental health support services and treatments.

"We've received some great feedback about topics that people would like to hear about, so we'll definitely start there and build," added Rai. "Gayani and I really do complement each other, in that she is so creative and willing to go off script and I tend to be a bit more structured and like to plan. It makes for some fun chats!"

"Chat & Chai" continues to air regularly on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify. To learn more about Chat & Chai, visit iehp.org.

About IEHP
IEHP, Inland Empire Health Plan, is one of the top 10 largest Medicaid health plan and the largest not-for-profit Medicare-Medicaid plan in the country. With a network of more than 6,400 providers and 2,300 employees, IEHP serves over 1.4 million residents in Riverside and San Bernardino counties who are enrolled in Medicaid or Cal MediConnect Plan (Medicare-Medicaid Plan). Through a dynamic partnership with Providers and community, award-winning service and innovative products, IEHP is fully committed to advocating for our Members and providing them with quality, accessible and wellness-based health care services. For more information, visit www.iehp.org.

SOURCE Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP)

Related Links

http://www.iehp.org