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The Georgia RIM Mental Health Alliance is a partnership between researchers at the GSU Prevention Research Center, which is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Atlanta, a local chapter of the global humanitarian organization. It was launched as a pilot program in 2022 funded by the DeKalb Board of Commissioners, and its success has laid the foundation for an expansion in Clarkston and other communities across Georgia that is being funded by state agencies.

Ashli Owen-Smith, associate professor in the School of Public Health, noted that many foreign-born Clarkston residents endured traumas such as war, the loss of loved ones and displacement. Although their mental needs are high, a lack of awareness combined with language, financial and transportation barriers and the stigma associated with seeking assistance often prevents individuals from getting the help they need.

DeKalb County allocated initial federal funding from the American Rescue Plan to enable the Mental Health Alliance to provide 204 one-on-one counseling sessions led by post-graduate students in the Clinical Mental Health Services program offered through GSU’s College of Education and Human and Development.

The expansion of the scope of the Mental Health Alliance is just getting started, but anonymous feedback submitted by participants in the pilot project reveals the impact the program has already had.

Read more at News.GSU.edu.

According to a report by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide rates for youth and young adults have increased 60% in the U.S. since 2011. We spoke with Dr. Daniel Castellanos, Founding Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education, and Professor of Psychiatry at Creighton University School of Medicine, about the issue.

Historically, Latinos have faced additional barriers when seeking mental health services compared to non-Latinos, and cultural dynamics contribute to Latinos not seeking support.

“Depression rates have gone up,” Dr. Castellanos said. “We also know that Latinos and Latino youth kind of have a whole wealth of health disparities dealt with by teens and their families, such as things like poverty, sub-optimal education, issues with access to appropriate healthcare and mental health services.”

“Asking about thoughts of death and or suicide because that’s a myth. The myth is, people say ‘Oh, if I inquire about it, it’ll put the thought in the teen’s mind,’ and that’s not true. It’s a way of understanding and assessing and hopefully intervening, if that individual is suffering.”

Read more at AZPBS.org.

In the wake of a new report that shows the ratio of students to counselors in the nation’s public schools hit its lowest point in at least 36 years, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris recently announced an additional $285 million in funding for schools to hire and train mental health counselors.

Based on the American School Counselor Association’s analysis of federal data, schools across the country had an average of 408 students for every counselor last school year, “lower than the 424 to 1 ratio pre-pandemic, but still significantly higher than the 250 to 1 recommended by the counselors’ group.”

“While not the optimal ratio, it’s still good news,” ASCA Executive Director Jill Cook observed.

According to ASCA, lower average caseloads mean counselors can commit more time to every student. However, the organization maintains that “the pattern remains uneven across states and that focusing too heavily on national or statewide statistics can obscure stark disparities between districts and the true accessibility of counselors at individual schools.”

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act allocated funds to hire and train counselors, psychologists, social workers, and other mental health professionals. It also represents “the single largest investment in student mental health in history and will help to hire and train more than 14,000 school mental health professionals throughout America.”

“In the United States of America today, the No. 1 killer of our children is gun violence…and when we take the time to consider what this means, let us understand how many people in our country, including our children, are experiencing profound trauma that manifests itself in so many ways,” Vice President Harris explained in a speech announcing the funding windfall in Charlotte, N.C. “We are here today to talk about many things including the need for reasonable gun safety laws, but also the trauma and what we must do to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of it. For all of those reasons, I am proud to be here to share that we are announcing $285 million as part of our administration’s initiative to hire and train mental health counselors in schools.”

Vice President Harris also announced more than $6 million for community violence intervention. The Department of Education will manage the funding earmarked for seven school districts across the country as part of the Project Prevent grant program, “which will support community- and school-based strategies to help prevent and mitigate the impacts of community violence on students, including exposure to gun violence.”

Read more at Psychiatrist.com.

As one of the few Chinese Americans in his New York City neighborhood, Ben Chan recalled facing “all kinds of discrimination” as he grew up. The microaggressions, systemic racism, and physical and verbal violence he experienced began in elementary school, lasting all the way through college and beyond.

These experiences left a deep impression on him. Yet he had no idea this wasn’t normal, and how much it affected him, until he found the right therapist to process his trauma.

“A lot of these experiences I didn’t really have a place to talk about, or anybody really to talk to about,” says Chan to AsAmNews. “It’s really in the last few years that I’ve been working with a therapist that specializes in racial trauma that I’ve been unpacking these things.”

For Chan, and many other Asian Americans nationwide, culturally competent therapists are critical for mental healthcare. Yet these therapists remain difficult to find. As more Asian Americans reach out for mental health treatment, this lack of therapists is a block to getting the help they need.

There is a nationwide shortage of therapists that serve the Asian American community. In 2021, less than 4% of psychologists identified as Asian American or Asian Pacific American, compared with 80% who identified as White. On top of that, not all of those psychologists are trained in culturally competent care.

As a result, it can be especially difficult for Asian Americans to find the right psychologist. For Chan, finding a therapist who could treat racial trauma was a difficult process.

Read more as AsAmNews.com.

Research shows that people of color are less likely to use mental health services and several barriers can contribute to that. But one local entrepreneur is working to empower the Black community.Ladonna Welch, a military spouse and Caddo Parish teacher, is on a mission. She’s the founder and CEO of the Ebony Notes app.

“At the end of the day, I just want to have a way to support the Black community in a multi-generational way,” Welch said.

Welch struggled with postpartum depression after having her second child. Suffering in silence, she says in the Black community, the topic of mental health is often avoided.

“In our households, we didn’t talk about therapy, we didn’t talk about counseling, it was all about staying strong, hiding your pain, and I think that it plays a big part in the stigma,” she said.

And out of pain, Ebony Notes was born. It’s an app designed to address the challenges associated with accessing traditional resources, something Welch says the community is in desperate need of.

“When I did want to reach out and seek help, one of my criteria, I was looking for someone who looked like me, who had a similar background as me, because I felt like they would be able to relate better, and I was in Colorado Springs at the time and that was something that I could not find,” Welch explained.

The app offers resources like meditation, mental health, and youth services, and delivers daily positive affirmations in a range of categories, tailored to resonate with hurdles faced by the Black community. The app not only won the UPS Small Business Award, securing a grand prize of $25,000, but Welch was also able to participate in Denver Startup Week, an opportunity to share her app with others.

Read more at KSLA.com.

LGBTQ+ youth have hope for their futures, but queer youth of color seemingly have less faith than their white peers.

The majority of young LGBTQ+ people (58 percent) reported believing there is a high chance they will live to age 35, while just over one-third (34 percent) believed their chances are low, according to a new survey from the Trevor Project of 28,524 LGBTQ+ young people ages 13-24.

This is due to a number of factors, explains Steven Hobaica, a research scientist at the Trevor Project who holds a doctorate in clinical psychology. That includes strong social networks, access to health care, and “life purpose.”

“LGBTQ+ young people who believed they had a high chance of living past 35 were also more likely to report having high levels of life purpose, which shows us that developing one’s life purpose may be crucial in suicide prevention,” he told The Advocate via email.

“Additionally, it is possible that these youth with high levels of life purpose may have had access to more protective factors that encouraged the development of their life purpose, such as accepting and supportive parents, friends, and teachers, access to affirming schools or communities, or access to needed health care including LGBTQ+ affirming therapy or gender-affirming care.”

While the majority of LGBTQ+ youth reported some sense of optimism, one-third responding negatively is still a troublesome trend. Additionally, LGBTQ+ young people’s expectations shift across demographics. Those ages 13 to 17, transgender and nonbinary youth, youth of color, and multisexual youth (e.g., bisexual, pansexual, queer) were all more likely to report mental health and life expectancy concerns than their peers.

“We found that white LGBTQ+ young people were more likely to endorse a higher chance of living past 35 compared to their peers of color, possibly due to generally having less stressful life experiences,” Hobaica explains. “It is well documented that youth who hold multiple marginalized identities, such as LGBTQ+ youth of color, report higher rates of both stressful life events and mental health problems than their White LGBTQ+ peers, which may help explain these findings.”

Read more at Advocate.com.