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Students on the country’s largest Native American reservation spoke to first lady Jill Biden on Friday about challenges they’ve faced during the coronavirus pandemic, including poor internet service and feelings of isolation.

The hourlong discussion took place at Hunters Point Boarding School, a small, aging grade school in St. Michaels, on the outskirts of the Navajo Nation capital. Each explained there were times when they couldn’t get online for classes on the vast and remote reservation, which encompasses parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, said Lesley Tohtsoni, who moderated the talk. Biden told them help was on the way for broadband through her husband’s administration.

The students told Biden about their communities and what they’ve learned about their strengths and weaknesses in the past year, Tohtsoni said. They also talked about ways to maintain their mental health and stay connected with teachers and friends. He told her Navajos are social people, and it was hard to not meet with classmates in the summer and to skip an annual family reunion. But, he said, they’re also resilient and understood the need to stay home to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Biden said she feels for students who have struggled during the pandemic with losing loved ones and attending classes via Zoom. She encouraged them to keep journals.

Biden also visited a COVID-19 vaccination site on the reservation before returning to Albuquerque for her flight back to Washington. She spent the first day of her trip to the Navajo Nation on Thursday listening to female tribal leaders whom she referred to as her “sister warriors” about the broader needs on the reservation.

Read more at StarTribune.com.

A Pakistani therapist shares some insight: When I started my undergraduate degree in psychology, my grandmother said she was afraid I would become pagal (“crazy”) because of it. Her fears were well-intentioned and full of love for me, but they were reflective of a deeper problem I’ve seen in many Asian communities: misconceptions and stigma around mental health.

As a Pakistani therapist, I’ve spent a fair share of my time discussing and debating the legitimacy of mental health as a health care issue (both with clients, as well as within my own friends and family network). One thing I have noticed, which gives me immense hope—especially when it comes to conversations about Asian American mental health—is that talking about mental health is a powerful step towards destigmatizing it and increasing empathy between people. Sharing your mental health journey with your Asian parents can be daunting. But it can also be incredibly important, especially in the face of the increased violence we’re seeing against Asians and Asian Americans in the United States.

The cultural myths about mental illness within Asian American communities and the diaspora are strong and persistent. Research has shown that within Asian cultures, mental illness is often seen as a weakness or a lack of willpower. It can even be seen as contagious. For Asian Americans in particular, pressure to live up to limiting stereotypes can also play a role. But that silence around mental health translates into tragic statistics on a larger scale. If you’re thinking about sharing your mental health journey with your Asian family, there are a few strategies you can use to have an easier, more productive conversation.

Read more at Self.com.

After two mass shootings in less than one week, mental health experts say the effects these horrific events have on the American public are amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 22, 2021, 10 people were killed at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado. This event follows the deaths of eight people, including six Asian women, in shootings at Atlanta spas a week before.

“When there’s something about the case that resonates with you and that you identify with, it’s going to have a pretty significant impact,” said Dr. Ronald Acierno, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at UTHealth’s McGovern Medical School. Post-traumatic stress disorder, general anxiety, depression, and substance abuse are four of the main conditions that can develop because of trauma, especially in those who personally witness a traumatic event, according to Acierno.

The American Psychiatric Association outlines common reactions following a disaster, including changes in sleep, mood changes, decreased energy, changes in appetite, problems concentrating, headaches or other body pains, and increased isolation. They surveyed American adults in February, and many reported that since the pandemic started, they have had undesired weight changes, are drinking more alcohol to cope with stress, and are not getting their desired amount of sleep. This is particularly true of parents, essential workers, young people, and people of color.

These reported health impacts signal many adults may be having difficulties managing stressors, including grief and trauma, and are likely to lead to significant, long-term individual and societal consequences, including chronic illness and additional strain on the nation’s health care system.

Read more at ABCNews.com.

Last year, the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd led to a racial reckoning. This year, those traumas continue to ripple through Black communities.

Though high-profile Black deaths such as Taylor’s and Floyd’s can make racism seem episodic, decades of data show racism is structural, interpersonal, and omnipresent, exacting a profound physical and emotional toll. Racism is associated with a host of psychological consequences, including depression, anxiety, and other serious, sometimes debilitating mental conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder and substance use disorders, mental health experts say.

Psychotherapist Resmaa Menakem says not only must Black people cope with present-day traumas, but they also carry the effects of intergenerational trauma, which impact individuals and social groups in myriad ways.

Arline Geronimus, a professor of health behavior and health education at the University of Michigan, uses the term “weathering” to describe the way chronic stressors – which can include interpersonal microaggressions and institutionalized racism – erode bodies. In humans, life-threatening stressors activate a physiological stress response. The problem is people who experience discrimination have that response chronically.

Read more at USAToday.com.

2021 Virtual Roundtable Series: Community-Based Organizations Build Pathways to Behavioral Health Equity for Communities of Color

Within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and racial disparities, community-based organizations (CBOs) have elevated their response to the behavioral health needs of racially/ethnically diverse communities. The 2021 National Network to Eliminate Disparities in Behavioral Health (NNED) Virtual Roundtable three-part series presents the innovative and resilient work of CBOs in a time of healing and recovery.

Part 1 – Adapting to the Behavioral Health Needs of Underserved and Racially/Ethnically Diverse Youth
Part 2 – Partnering to Strengthen the Behavioral Health Infrastructure and Capacity in Communities of Color
Part 3 – Creating and Enhancing Pathways to a Racially/Ethnically Diverse Behavioral Health Workforce

Part 2 – Partnering to Strengthen the Behavioral Health Infrastructure and Capacity in Communities of Color

More than ever before, the behavioral health services provided by community-based organizations (CBOs) that serve racially/ethnically diverse communities are essential to support the recovery and healing of the people most impacted by COVID-19. Current funding approaches are challenging to navigate. Oftentimes, it is even more difficult for CBOs that don’t have the infrastructure to respond to these opportunities to sustain their work.

Foundations and government agencies are recognizing the importance of funding with flexibility so that CBOs can effectively serve racially/ethnically diverse communities. Funders are establishing relationships with CBOs to drive effective solutions for these communities, while also looking inward to implement changes in their practices and policies. This includes inviting CBOs to provide input on application processes, simplifying the criteria and fields in requests for proposals (RFPs), and ensuring a faster turnaround time to get funds to CBOs.

Join this NNED Virtual Roundtable to consider new ways to tap into philanthropic and governmental funding to meet the behavioral health needs of racially/ethnically diverse communities. Behavioral health-focused CBOs will share how they are leveraging funding opportunities and their successful partnerships with funders — how they were created, cultivated, and grown before and during the pandemic. 

Objectives:

• Understand how both funders and CBOs are responding to disparities in funding and behavioral health services within the current context of COVID-19.
• Learn about unique funding partnerships between government agencies/foundations with CBOs serving diverse racial/ethnic communities and underserved populations.
• Identify fiscal challenges and solutions related to behavioral health services faced by CBOs, including billing and reimbursements.

The event was shared on Facebook Live at fb.com/nned.net and closed captioning is available.

This NNED Virtual Roundtable is hosted by the NNED National Facilitation Center and SAMHSA’s Office of Behavioral Health Equity in partnership with SAMHSA’s Mental Health Technology Transfer Center Network Coordinating Office.

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Panelists

Facilitators

A bill to establish a veteran suicide prevention pilot program passed unanimously through committee in the Colorado State Senate, laying the groundwork to further empower local organizations that serve veteran communities.

Senate President Leroy Garcia, D-Pueblo, a Marine Corps veteran, introduced the bill in late February as one way to address veteran suicide and suicidal ideation. It calls for the Colorado Department of Human Services to establish a five-year pilot program in El Paso County, the home of the Air Force Academy and the region in the state with the highest population of veterans. The program would partner with local nonprofits to offer “no-cost, stigma-free, confidential and effective” behavioral health care for veterans and their families.

The pilot program would create individualized treatment plans for conditions that can contribute to suicidal ideation, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, military sexual trauma, traumatic brain injury, and substance abuse. Identifying and treating those contributing factors is key.The pilot program would be a bottom-up approach that lifts up organizations that are already doing “tremendous” work in the community.

Read more at ThePuebloChieftain.com.