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As a person of color and someone who lives with a diagnosis of a serious mental illness, I can attest personally to the shame and fear that I felt when I was first struggling. I did not know what was happening and was very fearful of telling anyone – as in many communities of color what is known as “airing our laundry” means that we are not openly sharing things that can bring shame to our families, to our communities and to our race/culture. This silence can result in prolonged suffering as we try to take care of these issues in the home and with the family. Disparities in access to culturally attuned services and supports can also contribute to delays or interrupt community based treatment. Yet there are things that can be done to help. One of the reasons I speak openly about my mental health recovery and experiences is to be an example to others that recovery is real and with supports such as peers, providers, family and friends things can and do get better. I hope that this also helps communities of color and reduce the shame and fear associated with finding help. Many others are also sharing their stories of recovery on mentalhealth.gov .As we work to reduce disparities for communities of color, SAMHSA’s Office of Behavioral Health Equity provides a number of wonderful resources such as resources for American Indian and Alaska Native, Hispanic/Latino, Asian American , Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, African American and LGBT communities. One of the other ways we work to improve the health outcomes for racial and ethnic population is through our Minority Fellowship Program which seeks to train and better prepare behavioral health practitioners to more effectively treat and serve people of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. How cool is that? In 2015 the MFP program supported 277 fellow educational scholarships and training!There is work that still needs to be done to reduce the shame, fear, blame of mental illnesses in communities of color and to decrease the health disparities that affect our recovery. If we continue to speak up and speak out, share our stories of recovery and support programs that increase access to care and providers including peers, I think our future is bright to promote prevention, expand treatment, services and supports and to foster recovery. I want to leave you with this great story of one of our grantees – these stories are what give me hope for the future. SAMHSA Tribal Behavioral Health (Native Connections) grant program supports tribes and tribal entities in planning, designing and piloting effective and promising strategies that address the problems of substance use and suicide, and promote mental health among American Indian/Alaska Native young people up to and including age 24. One of the grantees said: “
I am writing to you to briefly talk about my experience from the Native Aspirations Project and the Native Connections Project. These projects have contributed greatly to my growth individually and professionally. Individually, these projects have helped me understand the signs of suicide and what the risk factors of suicide are. In addition to these, I have also learned how I can do my part to help with suicide prevention efforts as a friend, relative, and tribal member for my community. Suicide prevention can be scary and challenging to face but, the importance and need for it greatly surpasses each of those. For me, suicide prevention helps give individuals and communities the tools to foster healing, health, and happiness. These of course help in the preservation and continuance of life which, in my opinion, both Native Aspirations and Native Connections embody.
Yes, this is true. This is a huge, multi-pronged question, and one not easily answered, so I apologize in advance for potentially disappointing you.
In some minority communities, it can be stigmatized as a facet of the culture. Different cultures view mental health, and even physical health/illness, differently. For example, a lot of normal cultural behavior of African Americans has been pathologized, including language, social behavior, dancing, dialect, education, religion, etc. So if, historically, the normal way a people behaves has been discriminated against, then it would stand to reason that individuals and families in that community aren’t keen on demonstrating differences which might be considered a weakness or put them in danger of being institutionalized. This is especially pertinent for black men.
You asked if this is related to racism, and because our institutions are racist and we’ve historically disadvantaged people of color, racism absolutely does play a part. Additionally, some minority communities and other vulnerable populations have developed a mistrust of health institutions, dating back to forced participation in research (see syphilis experiments and birth control trials in the black and latino communities in the U.S.), whose right are now protected by institutional review boards.
Ultimately, service providers have the responsibility of becoming culturally competent, and that takes work on their part and the part of the educational systems they’re trained in. We also need greater representation of diverse populations in all levels of our healthcare system. It’s a work in progress, but frankly, we could do a lot better.
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I am writing to you to briefly talk about my experience from the Native Aspirations Project and the Native Connections Project. These projects have contributed greatly to my growth individually and professionally. Individually, these projects have helped me understand the signs of suicide and what the risk factors of suicide are. In addition to these, I have also learned how I can do my part to help with suicide prevention efforts as a friend, relative, and tribal member for my community. Suicide prevention can be scary and challenging to face but, the importance and need for it greatly surpasses each of those. For me, suicide prevention helps give individuals and communities the tools to foster healing, health, and happiness. These of course help in the preservation and continuance of life which, in my opinion, both Native Aspirations and Native Connections embody.
Yes, this is true. This is a huge, multi-pronged question, and one not easily answered, so I apologize in advance for potentially disappointing you.
In some minority communities, it can be stigmatized as a facet of the culture. Different cultures view mental health, and even physical health/illness, differently. For example, a lot of normal cultural behavior of African Americans has been pathologized, including language, social behavior, dancing, dialect, education, religion, etc. So if, historically, the normal way a people behaves has been discriminated against, then it would stand to reason that individuals and families in that community aren’t keen on demonstrating differences which might be considered a weakness or put them in danger of being institutionalized. This is especially pertinent for black men.
You asked if this is related to racism, and because our institutions are racist and we’ve historically disadvantaged people of color, racism absolutely does play a part. Additionally, some minority communities and other vulnerable populations have developed a mistrust of health institutions, dating back to forced participation in research (see syphilis experiments and birth control trials in the black and latino communities in the U.S.), whose right are now protected by institutional review boards.
Ultimately, service providers have the responsibility of becoming culturally competent, and that takes work on their part and the part of the educational systems they’re trained in. We also need greater representation of diverse populations in all levels of our healthcare system. It’s a work in progress, but frankly, we could do a lot better.
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2eajaRe
via IFTTT
