A DEEPER LOOK AT BLACK MENTAL HEALTH Iowa Healthiest State Initiative Written By: Breanne Ward, CRC, LMHC ForWard Consulting, LLC If you have been noticing, Black mental health has been a hot topic. It has been incorporated in marketing ads, company campaigns, and social media platforms. Clinicians worldwide have seen an uptick in potential Black clients looking to improve their brain health. But this shouldn’t be treated like a trend. This topic is long overdue and can be better understood by breaking this phrase down in depth to understand its importance and necessity. Let’s look at the first word, ‘black’. When defined it means, of any human group having dark-colored skin, especially of African or Australian Aboriginal ancestry. people with African descent on the US census in 2000. Prior to that, between 1960-1970, ‘Negro’ or ‘Afro-American’ could be selected. ask, why is this relevant to this conversation? You may It is important because in the early 1800s Blacks were considered subhuman, which means African Americans weren’t seen as equals to receive access to necessary services (i.e.: medical, dental, wellness, etc.). African Americans were expected to help themselves with the limited resources they were given, which were rarely received through government systems. The next term, mental, relates to the mind or disorders of the mind. When used informally it means insane; crazy. Add Black in front of of this word and you can see a stereotype in action: crazy, less than humans. Society has provided repetitive imagery that soldifies this stereotype: black on black crime, crime involvement, illiterate, uneducated, detached, family dysfunction...and the list can go on and on. For years, Blacks have been displayed as poor, less than, and looking for a quick scheme to improve their conditions. The consequences of poor health has been at the helm of the community due to the above challenges listed. Blacks have had to prove their pain and Black was given as a descriptor of need for assistance for centuries. The term health means the state of being free from illness or injury. Blacks, who were assumed as mental, were used as research subjects to improve the condition of mainstream health. Past studies took the bodies of Blacks, often without permission, to study the brain, physical structure of the body, and cellular make up; all in the name of health. The health of Blacks have suffered due to the collective experiences of maltreatment, death, and hatred that has been passed down intergenerationally. Black mental health has to be taken seriously and redefined. Blacks have value, worth, and destiny. Blacks have creative minds that have invented amenities and everyday items that can be taken for granted. Black communities have partnered together to put initiatives together to reduce symptoms associated with heart disease, sickle cell anemia, cancer, and obesity. The stigma for mental health services is lessening because space is being created to face the pain of the Black existence. Spaces, such as therapist offices, are being utilized for help, healing, and interventions to healthily move forward. Term definitions courtesy of yahoo! Search results, January 01, 2022
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