News

Even as mental health is becoming normalized in Black communities, being Black, LGBTQ+, and seeking mental health support can still be challenging. BGN reached out to Dr. Mahogany Hall to provide some mental health tips for any Black LGBTQ+ individuals in need of support. Dr. Hall is the owner/founder of Hall Counseling Services LLC, a group practice specializing in treating racial trauma and working with LGBTQ+ communities. Her specialties include helping adolescents, adults, couples with depression, trauma, attachment, sexual orientation/identity, and acculturation.

“Many Black people think of LGBTQ+ as just being ‘homosexuality,’ which has always been taboo in the Black community, which is problematic,” says Dr. Hall. “I’ve also noticed Black men take a little bit longer to warm up and talk about their sexual orientation.”

When asked why it’s important for Black LGBTQ+ folks to find Black LGBTQ+ therapists, Dr. Hall states that “when you go to a therapist who cannot relate to you, it’s almost like speaking a foreign language…Your therapist should be culturally competent and allow the general conversation to flow to build trust.”

Recognize that it can be complicated to find therapists of color in your insurance plan or who are compatible with your budget. It never hurts to engage in certain types of communities through specific mental help groups on Meetup.com. Search out group therapy. You can also ask other people you know if they can recommend someone to you. Be creative and find ways to network.

Read more at BlackGirlNerds.com.

A local Latino director is taking action to break the stigma surrounding mental health in Hispanic communities. “Rompiendo Olas,” or “Breaking Waves”, is a five-minute film in Spanish produced and directed by local Latino filmmaker Adan Avalos. He took on the project to shed light on a subject he says the Hispanic community doesn’t open up about often.

“I wanted to tell that story. I wanted to talk about mental health and kind of remove that stigma and negativity and say, ‘hey, this is okay. This is a part of our lives,'” said Avalos. Avalos says his storytelling comes from personal experience and centers around a young migrant worker who fights an internal battle he’s had growing up in a Latino household.

“I saw it in my family, but again we never talked about it. If you are feeling down or depressed, people say just shake it off. They say it’s just you.”

Avalos believes a lot of it has to do with the culture and wants people to know, it doesn’t always have to be that way.

“There is support for mental health, so don’t suffer in the dark. Go out there and talk to people about it. Let’s remove that stigma around mental health,” he said.

Read more at ABC30.com.

In addition to concerns for physical safety, Asian Americans are saying rising incidents of anti-Asian hate during the pandemic are having a lasting impact on their mental health, well-being, and future careers. Some 42% of Asian Americans say experiencing racial discrimination has the biggest impact on their mental health, according to a survey of more than 2,000 people of all races, including 297 Asian Americans who experienced a hate incident. In the survey, conducted in April by Harris Poll on behalf of the educational campaign Girl Up, the same share of respondents said anti-Asian discrimination had the strongest impact on their career opportunities.

The survey data uncovers how discrimination, reports of which have increased during the pandemic but which occurs systemically, is impacting the livelihoods and futures of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in America, says Tawny Saez, director and cultural anthropologist at Harris Poll. “It shows the domino effect of discrimination. It’s not a one-and-done event — it has long-lasting impacts.”

Negative impact on mental health, friendships, and sense of self “creates an ecosystem of questioning yourself, which all impacts your mindset going into the workplace,” Saez says. That Asian Americans say racism is impacting their mental health is concerning given the racial demographic is among the least likely to report mental health issues and seek out professional help. Advocates say improving mental health access is key, as is bridging the cultural gap in a meaningful way, such as providing information and services in a range of Asian languages and physically locating services within communities.

“Having respected community leaders and members speak out about mental health issues as role models will also go a long way in making it acceptable to seek help,” says Sia Nowrojee, the senior director of global community at Girl Up. “The good news is that people, particularly young activists, are beginning to break the silence around mental health, including on the impact of racism on mental health.”

Read more at CNBC.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 3 – Creating and Enhancing Pathways to a Racially/Ethnically Diverse Behavioral Health Workforce

Join this NNED Virtual Roundtable to hear about strategies that motivate racially/ethnically diverse individuals to consider behavioral health as a career path. Discover how community-based organizations are working to diversify the behavioral health workforce including recruiting and retaining racially/ethnically diverse staff. Learn from panelists about professional pathways and programs/trainings that support racially/ethnically diverse people in behavioral health careers.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the importance and impact of a racially/ethnically diverse behavioral health workforce.
• Examine how community-based organizations can create career development experiences in behavioral health such as internships and trainings for racially/ethnically diverse people.
• Identify national and regional programs for professional pathways that support racially/ethnically diverse people in behavioral health careers.
• Learn about strategies to promote the behavioral healthcare field to make it more inviting and interesting to racially/ethnically diverse young people.

The event was also 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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Opening Remarks

Panelists

Facilitator

Dee LeBeau-Hein, founder of Swiftbird Consulting and a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, has worked in addiction for more than 20 years and provides consulting work for state, federal, and tribal programs in behavioral health, addiction, mental health, and Native American cultural awareness training. Her company offers a three-day training and webinars on cultural awareness of the area tribes in the Great Plains for state and local programs, which includes culture, customs and norms, along with understanding generational and historical trauma.

“They started seeing a correlation between similar assimilation and atrocities that happened to the Native American population in the early colonial period when Europeans came to America and started pushing their way west and our people were being exterminated,” she said. “Eventually we were put on reservations and forced to abide by European culture. Assimilation and cultural genocide all play a part in the historical and generational trauma.”

LeBeau-Hein states that addiction is a symptom of something more significant and is a way of coping with some of the traumatic events that happened in peoples’ lives, like sexual assault, abuse, neglect, low self-esteem, and more. The removal of ceremonial practices and assimilation resulted in significant, deep trauma for Native American tribes. When the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 was passed, the damage had already been done.

“Our people were dealing with various levels of trauma, sexual abuse happening by the government agents, and by priests and nuns in the boarding schools,” LeBeau-Hein said. “The men, their role as providers and protectors for our people, that was taken away when we were put on reservations. They were no longer able to go out and hunt, to provide for our people. Everything was brought in and they lost their way, some of our men lost their way.”

When alcohol was introduced to them, many people became alcoholics and it was used to cope with some of the events. These coping mechanisms, loss of traditional culture, and assimilation led to Native American homelessness becoming a national issue.

“A lot of our people have lost their way in where they belong,” she said. Some feel like they don’t belong on the reservation or in a city, so they’re adrift. Some find a way out, and they strive to honor and respect and encourage the homeless population and chronic users to find their way to recovery.

LeBeau-Hein states that the mental health field now isn’t culturally sensitive or relevant to the Native American culture, but it’s growing in its awareness.

Read more at RapidCityJournal.com.

In Cuyahoga County in 2020, there were 25 deaths by suicide from people 25 or younger, and nearly half of those people were Black, according to data from the Alcohol, Drug Addiction, and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) Board of Cuyahoga County. That’s up from previous years, and there’s also been an increase in suicide attempts among young Black people, said Chardé Hollins, chair of the Suicide Prevention Coalition of Cuyahoga County.

“With COVID there is an additional disparity, an increase in isolation and stress,” Hollins said. During the pandemic, 51 percent more girls between the ages of 12 and 17 visited the emergency department because of suicide attempts, according to Hollins.

“So this was very alarming and concerning, and so we wanted to make sure that we were able to put out messaging to this population to decrease the stigma of mental health,” Hollins said.

Hollins’ organization and the ADAMHS Board are partnering with schools and ​​targeting young people ​and their families in specific zip codes for suicide prevention messages. The campaign is called “Life is Better with You Here.” The organizations will promote suicide prevention messaging on billboards, transit advertisements, print, radio, television, and online from June to September 2021. One of those digital spaces is on the Spotify app, which is used to stream music.

Hollins said there is stigma about getting help for mental health, especially in the Black community.

“That is another stigma within the Black community, in order to be strong you don’t talk about your feelings, you don’t need help and support,” Hollins said. The campaign aims to break down that barrier and teach people that mental health is physical health.

Read more at WKSU.org.