Dr. Nadia Richardson-Johnson is a professor, diversity consultant as well as Founder and CEO of the Black Women’s Mental Health Institute (BWMHI). She serves with a personal understanding of what mental health patients battle.
Johnson’s been vocal and vulnerable about being diagnosed with “high functioning, rapid cycling, bipolar two,” which is characterized as experiencing four or more episodes of mania or depression in a year’s timeframe.
Her diagnosis came after a collaborative conversation between her medical team – including her counselor, psychiatrist, and internal medicine physician. “I gave all three of them permission to talk to each other, and when they did, they all kind of came together (with a diagnosis),” said Johnson.
Johnson and other Birmingham-area medical professionals encourage members of the Black community to be more open about their mental health. There’s still a negative stigma associated with mental illness in the Black community and that stigma is hindering our acknowledgement and healing.
Adezza DuBose, licensed professional counselor and founder of Iman Healing Journey (Iman means faith), said her tea, is “educating and we’re also advocating. We’re doing the best that we can for clients in general, especially Black people, because we are still just down at the bottom when it comes to mental health (care). We still don’t take it as serious as we need to (because) there’s still so much stigma and shame associated with it.”
“We need community. We need to seek some type of help from somebody that doesn’t know me, so I know there are no biases (knowing) I have a different place outside of my home or outside of wherever that I’m experiencing this trauma. I have somewhere else I can go to release all this mess that’s on me,” said DuBose.
Read more at BirminghamTimes.com.
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