The Importance of Mental Health Advocates in the African American Community

Conversations about mental health in the black community have historically been taboo and also overdue. Most of us have grown up in families where our mental wellness was never addressed. With generations of oppression, trauma, and pain we are a group who needs healing the most. According to the World Health Organization, 1 in 4 people will struggle with a mental illness at some point in life.

African Americans are 20 percent more likely to report a psychological disorder than other races of people. With this in mind, it’s incredibly important for African Americans to become advocates for mental health. We cannot continue to pass on trauma from one generation to the next and starting the conversation is the first step to breaking the stigma. Here’s why.

 

Healing from Generational Trauma

It’s no secret that the history of Africans in this country has been incredibly painful, dehumanizing and traumatic. Hundreds of years of slavery, oppression, and inequality have affected several generations of people. And it doesn’t stop there. Systemic racism is still very much present, while the psychological effects continue to trickle down to our children.

It would be easier to heal if this trauma was only a distant memory.

However, poverty, police brutality, mass incarceration and the fear for black lives plague us daily. Imagine living in fear for your life daily, no matter where you go. Being a mother and getting a call that your teenage son or daughter was killed for absolutely no reason at all. Constantly being targeted and discriminated against simply because of the color of your skin. Having to work twice as hard to get half of what others have. Is there any surprise that we’re 20 percent more likely to have a psychological disorder? We haven’t had a chance to heal the scars from our past and present.

Generationally, we have used coping methods to attempt to heal the effects of trauma. Religion, music, food, and dance just to name a few. However, many of these methods only exacerbate our mental unrest and avoid it instead of addressing it.

 

Breaking The Stigma

A huge part of being a mental health advocate is helping to normalize what it means to ask for help. Most of us never had the luxury of speaking to an outside therapist or psychologist. So growing up, we suffered in silence. This doesn’t have to continue. It seems as though tides are starting to turn, specifically with millennials who are fed up with the cycle of dysfunction. In my experience, my parents never discussed their emotions or got help for things they were dealing with. The same with their parents. Instead, they would lash out and project that pain into the world.

Going to “therapy” was such an outrageous idea because nobody wants to be deemed as “crazy” and possibly dismissed by friends and family. This stigma still exists but you can see the barriers being broken every day. Many of us are becoming more comfortable with saying “I’m not okay”. We are comfortable with being considered weak if we’re vulnerable. It’s so refreshing to see so many young people being comfortable within themselves to know that we don’t want to recreate the cycle of broken homes, untreated mental illness, and family dysfunction. We have made the mistake of passing on our trauma and calling it “culture”. Now it’s time to fix it. Let’s stop blaming our past generations and take responsibility for our healing today.

Your mental health is just as important as your physical health. If you will go to the hospital for a broken bone, why stay quiet about your anxiety, depression, OCD, self-harm, or PTSD? Undiagnosed and untreated mental illness will manifest itself in your life in so many different ways. It’s impossible to be at your best when your mind is not functioning at a high level. Sharing your story or experience of mental health can be frightening. People will talk about you. People will judge you and create false narratives about you. However, the reward for improved mental health is so much greater.

 

Increasing Quality of Life

African Americans are incredibly creative, passionate, influential and instrumental in the state of the world today. Our inventions, our music, our personalities, and our looks are copied and exploited for gain by the rest of the world. If we can start to heal from our generational trauma, we can begin to thrive toward indescribable levels of success. Improving your mental health state not only helps you but helps all of us. The community gets better, our children are healthier, our neighborhoods are more connected and overall we are happier.

If you’re struggling with mental illness or just need someone to talk to, getting help doesn’t have to be scary. Resources like Black Girl Therapy, The Awkward Mind, NAMI, and The Mighty are great places to start.