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There are many endemics and challenges that impact Indigenous Peoples. Across the world, we are disproportionately affected by chronic conditions and lower life expectancy; we have a higher prevalence of cardiovascular diseases and substance abuse. Additionally, Indigenous Peoples are becoming increasingly urban residents without access to health services. City living challenges our food choices, access, health, and wellbeing. Some of these health challenges relate to disease, while others to the mind, spirit, and culture. Regardless, there is a common thread to these circumstances: colonial and neocolonial practices continuously marginalize Indigenous Peoples either through socioeconomic means, health access exclusion, damaging policies, or cultural genocide.

When we think of all the mental, physical, and spiritual health challenges that Indigenous Peoples face, it is paramount that we realize that our circumstances stem from intergenerational challenges that are different from those of local populations and national minorities. National governments and UN agencies insist on minoritizing Indigenous Peoples by addressing our issues along with other communities, which—as proven over and over, is the wrong approach because equity for Indigenous Peoples is not achieved. Instead, our health priorities are buried by issues from populations that outnumber our communities. Another intrinsically related driver is the lack of substantial engagement and representation in technical, policy, and decision-making work groups. By including Indigenous Peoples at the core of all planning, data gathering, action planning, etc., we can begin the process towards remedying these challenges through Indigenous knowledge and culturally safe methodologies. For far too long, Indigenous Peoples have not had the chance to voice their concerns, ideas, and opinions when it comes to deciding what the best practices are for improving their health and wellness. By having Indigenous researchers, decision-makers, and leaders at the core of all planning, we better understand who, what, when, where, and why these challenges exist. In a sense, it will create a better, bigger, and clearer picture of the challenges. Doing so will also help contribute more accurate data to represent Indigenous Peoples. Right now, data about Indigenous Peoples is very limited. These limited data sets can create an inaccurate representation of Indigenous Peoples’ challenges.

Read more at OpenAccessGovernment.org.

In order to highlight pockets of excellence across the country, the NNED selects a partner organization to highlight once a month. Seattle Children’s Alyssa Burnett Adult Life Center has been selected as the Partner of the Month for August.

Seattle Children’s Alyssa Burnett Adult Life Center offers lifelong learning for people 18 and older with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities. The center helps clients build on their strengths, gain independence, connect with others, and take part in the larger community in a meaningful way.

Some of the programs and services that are currently offered:

• Coping Skills
• Healthy Relationships
• Social Skills Through Music
• Coping with Art
• Disability Self Advocacy

Learn more about the Seattle Children’s Alyssa Burnett Adult Life Center and its mission enhance the quality of life for adults with developmental disabilities.

View a list of previous NNED Partners of the Month.

Tamela Gordon was in her early-30s when she realized how the self-care trend was quietly killing her mind.

While living in New York, she was using a couple of different methods to nurse her addiction, low self-worth, body image issues and other problems. But activities like hot yoga and hiking were bandages that barely kept her mental health together. She was enduring the traumas of sexual assault, homelessness and health concerns. It wasn’t until she voiced her struggles that a village of Black women got Gordon to a headspace where she could access resources to care for her mental health. Gordon shares her healing journey in her book “Hood Wellness: Tales of Communal Care from People Who Drowned on Dry Land,” which was published in June. Society’s version of self-care won’t save the minds of Black, brown and queer communities who face danger in multiple ways, she said.

The mental strain of discrimination and the lack of adequate mental health care for people of color are some of the issues highlighted during BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month, which occurs each July. Mental illness is more persistent and causes higher burdens in Black and brown people versus white people. In 2022, Black Americans with mental illnesses were 38 percent less likely to receive mental health services due to financial, racial and other systemic issues. While experts stress the importance of having mental health professionals who look like their clients, only four percent of therapists are Black. That number shrinks to less than one percent when narrowed to Black men.

“Hood Wellness” doesn’t just focus on Gordon’s story. Essays from other Black, queer voices who overcame obstacles are woven into the book, including a woman who is living with HIV, a Black mother raising an autistic son and a 25-year-old who explores what beauty and wellness looks like after losing 80 percent of his face at 8 years old during a dog attack. Gordon’s method of storytelling transforms the book into a literary support group where readers can absorb life lessons and strength from a collection of personal essays that are split into three sections focused on one’s relationship to their bodies, identities and rights.

Read more at Reckon.News.

You may have seen some new ways to describe when someone is autistic and also has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The terms ‘AuDHD’ or sometimes ‘AutiADHD’ are being used on social media, with people describing what they experience or have seen as clinicians.

It might seem surprising these two conditions can co-occur, as some traits appear to be almost opposite. For example, autistic folks usually have fixed routines and prefer things to stay the same, whereas people with ADHD usually get bored with routines and like spontaneity and novelty.

Studies suggest people may still not be identified with both conditions when they co-occur. A person in that situation might feel misunderstood or that they can’t fully relate to others with a singular autism and ADHD diagnosis and something else is going on for them.

It is important if you have autism or ADHD that the other is considered, so the right support can be provided.

If only one piece of the puzzle is known, the person will likely have unexplained difficulties despite treatment. If you have autism or ADHD and are unsure if you might have AuDHD consider discussing this with your health professional.

Read more at SBS.com.

Getting out of homelessness is hard enough, and staying out of it can be just as difficult, but it can be done.

That’s according to Linda Autore, the CEO and president of Laurel House, which offers housing assistance for people suffering from housing insecurity and dealing with mental illness.

“Sometimes people come to us who are in real distress, and so we remediate from that and help them build the skills they need to cope and just maintain daily living,” Autore said.

Finding mental health care and housing is possible, provided someone knows where to look for help, which Autore says even other nonprofits struggle to navigate. She was one of several speakers at a recent mental health panel hosted by the Housing Collective in Westport, which aimed to connect nonprofits with other resources from medical providers.

The need continues to increase for wrap-around services addressing the links between housing insecurity and mental illness, according to local nonprofit leaders.

Last year, an analysis of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development data showed a greater share of the homeless population now suffers from severe mental illness, compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read more at CTPublic.org.

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University’s Center for Mental Health Innovation have identified why increased adiposity, or the amount of fat in the body, during pregnancy is associated with a higher risk for mental health disorders in offspring.

The study, published recently in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, examined whether pregnancy or umbilical cord blood concentrations of two key hormones associated with fat mass — adiponectin and leptin — could be predictive of infant mental health disorders. Leptin, a hormone that helps regulate appetite, and adiponectin, a hormone that supports glucose level regulation and fat breakdown, are both critical in fetal development.

While an association between obesity during pregnancy and offspring mental health is becoming increasingly clear, the mechanisms underlying this relationship are not yet understood. This is the first study to demonstrate the link between the two hormones and offspring behavioral outcomes.

The findings show that that lower levels of the hormone adiponectin in the parent’s circulation and higher concentrations of the hormone leptin in cord blood may be novel biomarkers of their offspring’s risk for mental health disorders.

Researchers say identifying these biomarkers could have significant potential for early intervention for children at risk for a range of mental health disorders, and suggest that identification of at-risk children may be possible earlier than commonly thought — at or even before birth. Additionally, these biomarkers can be measured in a clinical setting using standard, low-cost tools, and can be assessed using a single test that is easily interpretable.

Read more at News.OHSU.edu.