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July is Mental Health Awareness Month:
NAMI Calls for Greater Awareness in
Minority Communities
by Dan
Perkins
Source:
Black PR Wire dated July 2, 2008
In
late May 2008, the House of
Representatives passed a
resolution, (H.Con. Resolution #134),
supporting the designation of the month
of July as Bebe Moore Campbell
National Minority Mental Health
Awareness Month in honor of late
mental health activist and noted
African-American author Bebe Moore
Campbell.
Moore
Campbell was pivotal in the fight for
improving mental health resources and
support systems for minorities across
the country. Minority groups are not as
likely to receive proper mental health
care according to the Surgeon General
due to lack of resources and cultural
stigma.
 The
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI),
states through its Multicultural Action
Center, that there is a lack of cultural
competency within the mental health
field, especially as related to treating
patients of different racial and ethnic
backgrounds. NAMI advocates for equal
access to mental health treatment for
diverse communities across the United
States while working to decrease the
stigmas that tend to accompany mental
illness.
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Mental Illness in
the African American
Community |
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Social circumstances
often serve as an
indicator for the
likelihood of
developing a mental
illness.
African Americans
are
disproportionately
more likely to
experience social
circumstances that
increase their
chances of
developing a mental
illness.
Source: NAMI,
African American
Community Mental
Health Fact Sheet. |
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African Americans
comprise 40% of the
homeless population
and only 12% of the
U.S. population.
People experiencing
homelessness are at
a greater risk of
developing a mental
illness. |
Nearly half of all
prisoners in the
United States are
African American.
Prison inmates are
at a high risk of
developing a mental
illness. |
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Children in foster
care and the child
welfare system are
more likely to
develop mental
illness.
African America
children comprise
45% of the public
foster care
population. |
Exposure to violence
increases the risk
of developing a
mental illness; over
25% of African
American children
exposed to violence
meet criteria for
post-traumatic
stress disorder. |
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NAMI
statistics, such as those published in
2004 in the African American
Community Mental Health Fact Sheet,
articulate the impact of mental illness
on the African American community. For
example, children in foster care and the
child welfare system are reportedly more
likely to develop mental illness and
African-American children comprise 45%
of the American foster care population.
By making the issues visible to the
public eye, NAMI and awareness building
campaigns such as the Bebe Moore
Campbell National Minority Mental Health
Awareness Month work to take the stigma
away from mental illness and focus it
more on providing support where it is
most needed.
THE END |
