The death of Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss is putting mental health in the spotlight. A man known to light up a room as the loveable DJ and dancer from “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” took his own life, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner.
Many people are expressing shock online about what’s happened.
The Department of Health and Human Services found that in 2019 suicide was the second leading cause of death for African Americans between the ages of 15 and 24 and the death rate was four times greater for Black men than Black women.
Local licensed psychotherapist Dr. Sarah Williams said, “Unfortunately, particularly in African American males we will miss a lot of the signs and symptoms of depression and suicidal thoughts and ideations, particularly around the holidays. If there has been an experience of depression, it’s probably going to be magnified just because of the variables that go along with the holiday season. If you’ve had grief and trauma, unfortunately, the holidays just amplifies it.”
“Systemically there has been a problem with cultural competence in health care overall and our mental health space is not necessarily separate from that particular issue. Individuals that are members of the community of color, they have difficulty finding those resources, finding clinicians of color and being able to connect in a way that will offer some type of healing and therapeutic support,” said Dr. Williams.
Dr. Williams says to ask people specific questions about how they are feeling like, ‘How are you sleeping?’ or ‘What is life like for you these days?’ Instead of just asking how someone’s day was.
Read more at WTKR.com.
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