July is National Minority Mental Health Month

July is Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Month




In May 2008 the US House of Representatives proclaimed July as Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. The resolution, sponsored by Rep. Albert Wynn [D-MD] and cosponsored by a large bipartisan group, was passed in recognition that:

• Improved access to mental health treatment and services and public awareness of mental illness are of paramount importance;
• There is an important need for improved access to care, treatment, and services for those diagnosed with severe and persistent mental health disorders and improved public awareness of mental illness; and
• An appropriate month should be recognized as Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month to enhance public awareness of mental illness and mental illness among minorities.

NAMI is extremely grateful for this showing of bipartisan support for mental health awareness in minority communities and for the important recognition of the life of Bebe Moore Campbell.

• Click here for more details and full text of resolution H. Con. Res. 134.
• Read NAMI's letter of support for this important resolution here.

Bebe Moore Campbell

Bebe Moore Campbell was an accomplished author, advocate, co-founder of NAMI Urban Los Angeles and national spokesperson, who passed away in November 2006.

She received NAMI's 2003 Outstanding Media Award for Literature for the book Sometimes My Mommy Gets Angry, written especially for children, about a young girl who learns how to cope with her mother's bipolar illness. In 2005, her novel 72-Hour Hold focused on an adult daughter and a family's experience with the onset of mental illness. It helped educate Americans that the struggle often is not just with the illness, but with the healthcare system as well.

Campbell advocated for mental health education and support among individuals with mental illness and their families of diverse communities.

www.bebemoorecampbell.com


To order her books, and help NAMI, visit Amazon.com

Learn More about Mental Health in Minority Communities

• Access NAMI fact sheets and other resources related to issues in multicultural mental health here.

Yesterday I saw a news item on CNN about a New York woman who had been waiting in the emergency room of a psych ward for 24 hours. She fell out of her chair and could not get up, struggling for over an hour before staff came to assist her. But by then she was dead.

The whole incident was caught by a security camera. There were other people sitting in the room, two security guards stopped and looked towards her and nobody lifted a finger to her her. One of the guards rolled over in his desk chair, leaned around the corner, stared at her for 15 seconds and rolled away. He never got up out of his chair.

I don't know if they need another empty "National .. .... .... Month. Seems like these things are just window dressing that make it look like the powers that be actually care or are doing something. Raising awareness sure, but putting your money where your mouth is entirely different.

I'm for anything that increases the awareness of the need for mental health organizations to make a concerted effort to reach out to non-white, non-anglo communities. It can be a tough slog for both parties, but it's about bloody time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by erratic I'm for anything that increases the awareness of the need for mental health organizations to make a concerted effort to reach out to non-white, non-anglo communities. It can be a tough slog for both parties, but it's about bloody time.

I agree. I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder 9 years ago. When I told my parents my mothers initial reaction was to pretend she didn't hear me. My father said I was being ridiculous and that I just needed to pray more. This was followed by his telling me, that I was a strong, black woman and our people had survived slavery. Therefore, nothing I experienced could possibly be enough to cause a depression.

I can't speak for other minorities but in the black community mental illness is not acceptable. It is viewed as a weakness in character. Due to lack of knowledge of the various types of mental illness sometimes people just assume you are "crazy" and should be institutionalized or they assume you are dangerous. It is VERY common in the black community for people to turn to their pastor or Reverend with a problem. The problem with that is many of these people have no background in counseling or psychology and oft times just do more damage.

If mental illness is discussed it's done in hushed tones the way people used to whisper that so-and-so has cancer years ago.

Are you going to tell me which day it is so I can wish you a happy birthday?

Personally this issue deserves a lot more than a month. Minorities are constantly undermined and their afflictions are misrepresented. I've never had a chance to read any of Bebe's books, but she's a very Earthy lady and I'm glad this topic has been brought up.

The ignorant, the overpriveleged, and the simple-minded all just ignore it. Pick whichever group suits you and move the fuck on. I doubt that you are a minority since you fail to recognize the affliction they face, so it's not surprising that the need for special attention would annoy you. On behalf of all the mentally challeneged, the ethnic, the traditinoally "unpretty" people, the displaced, and lower-class, I offer you a credit card and an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog to entertain you while we spend the designated month discussing the problems we face all year long. Feel free at any point and exit this thread and return to the Eutopia you must live in where everyone is happy and no one suffers.

There's nothing special about the need for mental health care.

Most mental health organizations cater to white, English-speaking people because they are run by white, English-speaking people. It's nothing malicious; it's just incidental to the make up of those organizations. Meanwhile, there's a stigma in all communities regarding mental health problems that's especially hard to overcome in some - African, Caribbean, Chinese and Eastern European are the ones I've heard the most about.

The toll on those communities and nations as a whole is enormous - lost lives, lost jobs, lost wages, broken families, addictions, HIV/AIDS, violence, law-breaking, and the list goes on.

Some organizations are trying to reach out to communities that aren't seeking help through volunteer and hiring drives, making alliances with religious and cultural leaders and so on, but these efforts are piecemeal in that they happen in fits and sputs here and there rather than in a concerted effort.

It's important to remember that most of those communities had traditional ways of dealing with mental illness that worked for them (for better or worse), including faith, home care, and completely different lifestyles that don't fit and therefore don't work in modern Western societies. All of these people are citizens who deserve care that's suited to their needs.

This is a good thing indeed.