CSU Health Network

Congratulations to Brie Zamora, Mental Health Care Coordinator, for being one of two CSU Health Network staff members to win the Classified Personnel Council Outstanding Achievement Award!

Brie was pleasantly surprised when she learned of her award. What she finds most rewarding about her work is assisting students. She takes pride in meeting them where they are and helping them find the support they need.

Brie's goal is to help destigmatize psychiatry and medicine management at CSU so that students feel comfortable seeking assistance.

On the occasion of APIDA x SWANA Heritage Month, we want to recognize one of our own- Apple Liu, a CSU Health Network counselor who identifies as APIDA and share her story.

Apple Liu immigrated to the United States from China on her 21st birthday and pursued her undergraduate studies in Creative Writing at New Mexico State University. After discovering her interest in people with the help of her mentors, she decided to pursue a graduate degree in counseling. It was during this time that she met her husband and eventually had a daughter named Shyla, meaning "the daughter of mountains."

Growing up in a small Chinese village at the foothills of mountains, Apple always felt connected to nature and chose to move to Colorado for that reason. She is an adventurous and curious person and loves her counseling job at CSU Health Network where she serves mostly international students and students with marginalized identities. She believes the counseling experience is spiritual and sacred, and she feels valued and grateful for the opportunity.

For Apple, discovering her identity was a gradual process, and she faced challenges such as hostile work environments and feeling targeted because of her identity. Overtime, she realized her family values and attitude towards education were different and underwent a lot of reflection and introspection in graduate school. She takes pride in the ancestral wisdom and ethics that have been transmitted to her and adheres to the Chinese philosophy that perceives humans and nature as a cohesive whole. She deeply appreciates the emphasis placed on the admiration of nature within Chinese culture. Donning Chinese dresses at work enables her to feel a sense of connectedness with her culture and ancestors. She holds her Chinese heritage in high regard, cherishing the community-centered values, language, literature, and cuisine it embodies.

Apple's advice for women holding marginalized identities who want to pursue counseling is to first know themselves and their values, find their own community which nurtures their essence, and find mentors to guide the way.

Today is the last day of # WomensHistoryMonth !

To celebrate this special occasion, we are highlighting a few of our dedicated, passionate and inspiring woman identified colleagues and thanking them for their contributions to our team.

Meet Mary Powell. She is a Psychiatric and Family Nurse Practitioner at the CSU Health Network.

While Mary started her career as a family nurse practitioner in the hospital setting, after serving in the Navy Reserves after 9/11, Mary switched paths and decided to become a psychiatric nurse practitioner. She has experience in working with adolescents and providing substance abuse treatment. Mary finds working with students and helping them discover their aspirations to be a rewarding experience.

Her advice to women is to change specialties from time to time to gain a variety of experiences and bring those insights to psychiatry. Mary believes that having a broad background in medicine is the best approach for psychiatry, and medical knowledge can help understand how the medical component affects mental health.