Attending the Brown School provided Jue Jue Min Thu, MSW ’16, with the skills and networks she needs to run her nonprofit, Jue Jue’s Safe Space. The organization provides Burmese people across the U.S., Thailand and Myanmar with around-the-clock mental health services.
And that’s just one of Min Thu’s current jobs. She also serves as a medical social worker at a cardiac intensive care unit at the Queens Medical Center in Honolulu and teaches at the University of Hawaii Master of Social Work program.
“Something that WashU prepared my mindset for well, is that we’re not going to do just one thing as a social worker,” Min Thu says. “We can utilize our skill sets in different settings.”
Min Thu, a native of Myanmar, describes herself as a “third culture kid,” and says her personal experiences led her to found her nonprofit.
“At age 13, I fled the military dictatorship in Myanmar with my family, seeking safety and a new beginning in Thailand,” she says. “These experiences instilled in me a deep empathy for marginalized populations and a lifelong drive to create safe, inclusive spaces for others.”
Min Thu received a scholarship to study in the United Kingdom at the United Worlds College in an International Baccalaureate program, and then at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. She stayed in the Midwest to earn a master’s degree at WashU through the Brown School with a concentration in mental health and healthcare before moving to Hawaii, where she lives now.
Jue Jue’s Safe Space started after some of Min Thu’s Facebook posts about her own experiences gained traction, and others in her community reached out to her for support.
“It’s like you’re not Burmese enough or American enough,” Min Thu says. “You don’t fit the boxes and don’t fit in. I wanted to share my experience with an audience, and then there was a strong response from the community, and young people started to ask for mental health and counseling services.”
The organization now provides 24/7 suicide prevention and peer support for Myanmar communities. Bringing together 163 volunteers from across the globe, Jue Jue’s Safe Space has saved over 400 lives. The organization is working on 58 projects based in Myanmar, Thailand and the U.S., providing individual, couple and group counseling services.
Min Thu says that her experiences attending counseling sessions as a part of the Brown School curriculum helped her to unpack her own childhood and generational trauma.
Over her lifetime, Min Thu faced hardships as a stateless person and experienced racism in the United States. She says that her experiences and coursework alike have helped her to develop a “thick skin” and to begin her own journey towards inner peace.
“Since the British colonized, Burma hasn’t experienced any peaceful movement — we’ve experienced a lot of war and terror, and that shows in our behavior, the way we socialize with people around us, the way we make friends,” Min Thu says. “We have to work our own stuff out and find our own peace, which will have a ripple effect on our nation and communities.”
“Since the British colonized, Burma hasn’t experienced any peaceful movement — we’ve experienced a lot of war and terror, and that shows in our behavior, the way we socialize with people around us, the way we make friends,” Min Thu says. “We have to work our own stuff out and find our own peace, which will have a ripple effect on our nation and communities.”
Min Thu’s role in Jue Jue’s Safe Space, as well as the work she does at the hospital, are mentally taxing, as she interacts with patients and clients on their worst days.
“What really keeps me waking up every morning is my desire to serve my community,” Min Thu says. “I have a purpose. I’m helping people actually living in a war zone. I’m helping people in refugee camps. I am helping local Hawaiian communities who are facing a lot of healthcare disparities.”
Min Thu says that the Brown School coursework and alumni network has been critical to her success.
“They made sure we took leadership courses, accounting, budgeting, brand writing, strategic planning — it helped,” she says. “I didn’t think I would need these skills when I graduated, but now I’m running an international nonprofit organization.”
