Welcome to another round of Mental Health Monday, your weekly dose of stories, resources, and motivation for your everyday life.Last week, we talked with playwright extraordinaire Donja Love-Nicholas about how he's tending to his self-care and finding time for joy while developing a trio of plays for the stage. Check it out.
THIS WEEK'S GOODNESS:
"NYC First Lady Chirlane McCray Launches Mental Health Initiative for Black Men" [Because of Them We Can]
She recently launched, Brothers Thrive, which aims to raise awareness around mental illness and provide Black men in the New York area and beyond with the proper access to health care services. To help fulfill this mission, McCray has partnered with several organizations including 100 Black Men and historically Black Greek-letter fraternities.
"Mental Health Awareness Goes Beyond 'Crazy' or 'Sane' Labels" by Tia Brown [Cassius Life]
At some point, you will realize someone you care about has coped with a mental health issue. Support looks different depending on the circumstance. You can’t control how a person copes, but you can help create an environment where people aren’t ashamed to get help.
Then there's this necessary and raw conversation between Jada Pinkett-Smith, her daughter Willow, and her mother Adrienne Banfield-Jones about Jada's co-parenting journey with Will Smith's first wife, Sheree Fletcher.
"Panic In the Aisles" by Malcolm Aimé-Musoni [Epicurious]
There's nothing in my life that my anxiety doesn't touch. I’ve responded to emails days late because I was too anxious to open the email. I have stayed home because the anxiety that would come from riding a packed subway would be unbearable. I've ignored coworkers in hallways because I was too anxious to make eye contact. And I've avoided stocking my kitchen with basic essentials because when you have my brand of anxiety, the grocery store is sometimes too much.
"I'm Black and My Doctor Should Be Too" by Alex Hardy [Tonic]
On the other end of the healthcare spectrum, as white patients' pain is often perceived to be more severe than that of others, they are more frequently over-prescribed pain medications, which explains in part why opioid addiction is three times as common among white people than among Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks. This might be the sole upside of being under-prescribed.
If you have a mental health resource, event, or piece of content we should know about, step into our office. You da bess.
