News

Black mental health professionals, community leaders and members of the African diaspora came together in Philadelphia, PA for a discussion of mental health in the Black community. The event was hosted by the 988 Diaspora Campaign in partnership with state Sen. Sharif Street.

In cases of a mental health emergency, people are urged to dial 988. Eric Nzeribe, publisher of FunTimes Magazine, which is a news and information site focused on the African diaspora, says it’s a much better resource than 911, especially for Black people.

“We are in a very distressed environment, so 988 is a very important resource because all of us have had experience with the police before,” he said. Instead of speaking to police, you speak to a mental health professional.

But 988 Diaspora Campaign Coordinator Marilyn Kai Jewett says even when Black people do seek help, they still run into difficulties. “People of African descent need Black therapists because racism permeates everything, including the health care system,” she said.

“For all the people of the African diaspora, we have to heal ourselves in order to take our rightful place in the world.”

Jewett says calling 988 is great for emergencies, but she wanted to see a good long-term resource to help pair Black people with what she calls culturally competent mental health providers.

Read more at Audacy.com.

In order to highlight pockets of excellence across the country, the NNED selects a partner organization to highlight once a month. Counseling in Schools has been selected as the Partner of the Month for January.

Counseling In Schools is supporting the emotional and social well-being of New York City school communities by embedding staff in schools to create and foster healing-centered relationships. Their approach involves assessing each child’s developmental, social, emotional, and cultural experiences from multiple perspectives and providing programs that serve to promote healing, awaken possibilities, and inspire hope for a bright future.

Some of the programs and services that are currently offered:

• Creative Arts Therapies
• Individual and Group Counseling
• Family Counseling
• Restorative Practices
• Youth Development

Learn more about Counseling in Schools and its mission to promote the emotional and social growth of children so that they can thrive in school and succeed in life.

View a list of previous NNED Partners of the Month.

Employer investment in the well-being of their workforce is essential because mental health is a fundamental part of our overall wellness.

Naturally, challenges may arise in the workplace. Investing in the mental well-being of employees can help them implement best practices for self-care and build a more resilient mindset at work, especially during times of heightened stress.

Unmet mental health needs can impact an employee’s job performance, attendance, productivity, engagement, and communication at work. Ultimately, if a company can tangibly demonstrate that they care about the health and well-being of its employees, they will attract and retain the type of talent that can help them succeed in the long run.

Workplace well-being programs that are siloed from the rest of the organization are in need of a refresh — the changes needed must be experienced through both dialogue and organizational structure. Mental health offerings should be provided within the context of workplace policies and procedures, and fit within the needs of the larger organization.

The most effective mental well-being programs are tailored to each workforce, and reflect a company’s industry, culture, and employee base. It’s ideal when a workplace well-being program offers industry-specific information, since employees in different sectors face unique challenges.

Read more at FutureofBusinessandTech.com.

A recent study found frailty was associated with suicide attempt risk among U.S. veterans ages 65 and older.

Study participants were 2,858,876 veterans (mean age 75.4) who received care at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers from October 1, 2011, through September 13, 2013. The sample population was 2.3% female and 97.7% male, 9.0% non-Hispanic Black, 87.8% non-Hispanic White, and 2.6% “other” or unknown ethnicity. Among all participants, 16.6% had diagnosed substance use disorder (SUD) and 6.8% had diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The study integrated databases from VA health care services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and other national suicide data. Using suicide attempts through December 31, 2017, as the main outcome measure, researchers analyzed degree of frailty categorized into five levels (nonfrailty; prefrailty; and mild, moderate, and severe frailty).

The researchers found that the risk of suicide attempts was higher in veterans with all levels of frailty compared to those without frailty. Risk of lethal suicide attempts was associated with lower levels of frailty. A total of 8,995 (0.3%) participants had a documented suicide attempt and 5,497 had died by suicide by the end of the study period. The greatest percentage of suicide attempts was found among those with mild or moderate frailty and the smallest percentage among those without frailty. Veterans with prefrailty had the highest cumulative incidence of fatal suicide attempts over time. The risk of any suicide attempt was 48% higher among older veterans with moderate frailty compared to veterans without frailty. The presence of chronic pain, use of durable medical equipment (e.g., motorized wheelchair), lung disease, SUD, PTSD, or other mental health disorder increased the risk of suicide attempts as well as deaths.

Read more at SPRC.org.

More than two months after a ferocious wildfire burned his West Maui community to the ground, killing at least 97 people, survivors say the trauma is as real now as the day it sent hundreds of people fleeing for their lives as flames chewed through their neighborhoods and thick, black smoke filled the skies.

Residents say they are haunted by a pervasive anguish. Many have trouble eating, sleeping or getting out of bed, and experience nightmares or flashbacks triggered by noises like the sound of a fire engine or a gust of strong wind. They describe a profound sadness, or heaviness — what Native Hawaiians call “kaumaha.”

The official reopening of West Maui to tourists this month comes amid what local health care professionals and residents describe as an unprecedented mental health crisis as residents spiral into despair and crushing grief, straining an overburdened behavioral health system.

“We have seen a very large increase of individuals needing counseling and needing support for trauma processing,” said John Oliver, who oversees mental health services on Maui for the Hawaii Department of Health. “We expect that number to really grow in the next few months as individuals are able to focus more on their mental health once they are secure in their housing and they feel like their basic needs are met.”

Read more at NBCNews.com.

Jennifer Mitchell, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco, witnessed a lot of recreational drug use growing up in the city in the 1970s and later as a college student in Oregon. At the time, drugs such as mushrooms, LSD and marijuana were considered by many to be toxic and frightening, but Mitchell also saw hints of how certain psychedelics could help people in crisis.

“When I first saw things like ibogaine [a dissociative psychedelic] in action, I was blown away,” she told BioSpace, adding that “it was clear [psychedelics] had so much potential.”

The idea of using psychedelics to treat psychiatric disorders has been around since the 1950s, when academics investigated LSD and psilocybin (the psychoactive ingredient in mushrooms) as therapeutics for trauma, depression and addiction. But early work lacked the rigor of today’s standards, Mitchell said, and regulatory agencies wouldn’t touch them. In the 1990s, when she approached the FDA as a graduate student about giving psilocybin to men who had survived the AIDS crisis with lasting demoralization and depression, “I was laughed out of the building,” she said.

And yet today, Mitchell is the lead investigator on a Phase III clinical trial that may well lead to the first true FDA-approved psychedelic therapeutic: a combination of MDMA and psychotherapy used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the intervening years, cultural shifts combined with rigorous scientific study and investments from biopharma have ushered in a new generation of psychedelic treatments, some of which have already been approved in other countries. As stakeholders in the U.S. await the FDA’s decision on MDMA, industry analysts report that interest in psychedelics is only increasing.

Read more at BioSpace.com.