Each July, we join other organizations, advocates, and community leaders in observing National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, which aims to raise awareness of the unique experiences, disparities, and inequities in mental health care and stigma experienced by BIPOC communities. This recognition feels especially important this year as we know that while we were already facing staggering inequities before 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic further intensified health inequities in mental health concerns and care for communities of color.
These inequities can show up in a variety of ways, such as lack of access to mental health care and poor quality of mental health services, which then amplify negative health outcomes such as suicide, chronic physical health conditions, and the amplification of other existing health and social inequities. We must approach this work through multiple calls-to-action, some of which include reducing mental health stigma, reducing barriers to adequate mental health services, and ensuring that all services are culturally responsive and anti-racist.
Our team here at ETR is committed to ensuring that our work in mental health centers racial equity and serves as part of the solution. This also means ensuring that each project we work on is designed and delivered through trauma-informed, healing-centered, and anti-racist frameworks – regardless of whether it is our work in tobacco control, physical fitness, HIV and sexual health, or partnering with organizations to create trauma-informed schools. We still have work to do, but we have been and always will be committed to advancing mental health equity.
We’re sharing with you some resources to help you and your communities address mental health stigma and mental health inequities. From a new blog post discussing Mental Health Liberation Month to tools for centering racial equity in social-emotional learning, we invite you to dive deep and find new ways of committing to moving towards mental health equity with us.
-- The ETR Team
Mental Health Liberation:
In Conversation with Yolo Akili Robinson
In our latest blog post, ETR’s CEO Vignetta Charles is joined by Yolo Akili Robinson, Founder & CEO of Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective (BEAM). For over 15 years, Yolo has been on the forefront of progressive wellness work and has led multiple projects focused on “practical embodiment of theory into systems and practices that help heal, transform and support Black communities.”
You won’t want to miss this dynamic conversation in which Vignetta and Yolo discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health services, the need for reimagining complex interventions, and the push for reclaiming this month as “Mental Health Liberation Month.”
On Demand: Racial Equity and Social-Emotional Learning
Schools across the country are prioritizing time and resources for social-emotional learning (SEL) curricula. But a textbook definition of SEL is not enough. Without being equity-centered, trauma-informed, and antiracist, SEL curricula can ultimately cause harm to students. So what can educators, administrators, and advocates do to have a transformational impact?
Our 3 in 30 “Centering Racial Equity in SEL” is now available for free on-demand! Join ETR and guest experts Dr. Sirrita Darby, Executive Director of Detroit Heals Detroit, and Richard Griffin III, Dean of Culture at University Prep Science and Math Elementary School, for an engaging conversation. ETR’s 3 in 30 Series provides 3 actionable tips in a 30-minute chat with guest experts on timely topics.
Dr. Nadine Burke-Harris: ACEs, Toxic Stress, and Youth
We were thrilled to invite Dr. Nadine Burke-Harris, California’s first Surgeon General, as the keynote speaker at YTH Live last year. Dr. Burke-Harris is an award-winning physician, researcher, and advocate dedicated to changing the way our society responds to one of the most serious, expensive, and widespread public health crises of our time: childhood trauma.
Her work on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress is so incredibly valuable that we’re making her presentation available to all of you. Watch it here now (and don’t forget to register for YTH Live Global 2021 for more incredible conversations like this one – early bird pricing closes on July 30th!)