Welcome to another round of Mental Health Monday, your weekly dose of stories, resources, and motivation for your everyday life. On this week's Mental Health Monday, Gucci Mane discusses sobriety and mental health, Bassey Ikpi reflects on the comfort she finds in therapy, a Black Lives Matter co-founder thinks therapy should be part of reparations, and so forth. Come check it out.
THIS WEEK'S GOODNESS
In an important scene on a recent episode of ABC's Grey's Anatomy, Dr. Miranda Bailey and her husband Dr. Ben Warren had "The Talk" with their 13-year-old son, William George Bailey aka "Tuck." Not the birds and bees talk, but the "here's how not to die during and encounter with the police" talk that countless parents dread having with their Black and brown children.
"Mental Health Survivor and Entrepreneur on Building Her Business While Managing PTSD" by Chanel Martin [Black Enterprise]
As a mental health survivor, entrepreneurship can be very stressful. How do you manage your diagnoses while pursuing your entrepreneurial efforts?
Mental illness is something I’ve dealt with in one form or another for a majority of my life. Before I was clinically diagnosed with PTSD, I would continually have highs and sometimes feel so low that the only thing that got me to a place of recovery was prayer and determination to see another day. With mental illness, your trigger moments can feel like a deep dark hole you’re constantly trying to climb out. Normal habits, such as getting out of bed, taking a shower, brushing your teeth, can easily be put on the backburner because you’re too exhausted to get out of bed."Just one hour a week of social interaction helps dementia patients" by Haroon Siddique [The Guardian]
A trial involving more than 800 people with dementia across 69 English care homes found that increasing the amount of time spent communicating with residents could boost older people’s wellbeing when combined with personalised care.
As well as improving quality of life, the programme reduced levels of agitation and aggression.
"Race-Based Trauma Is Real and Mental Health Professionals Are Wholly Unprepared to Treat It" by Cecilia Smith [Atlanta Black Star]
According to Mental Health America, “Less than two percent of American Psychological Association members are Black/African American, some may worry that mental health practitioners are not culturally competent enough to treat their specific issues. This is compounded by the fact that some Black/African American patients have reported experiencing racism and microaggression from therapists.”
Also important: This video from Jubilee Project: "Dear Child - When Black Parents Have To Give "The Talk""
"Caregiver Confession: What It's Really Like Living With Alzheimer's Disease" by Ruthie Hawkins [Black Doctor]
“When I was diagnosed, I had no idea there was no cure – or how widespread it was. What you receive upon your diagnosis are meds to relieve pain and discomfort,” said Pat. Adding, “I suspect most of the world doesn’t know that.” Pat went on to reveal no one (not even the diagnosing doctor) outlined the severity of the illness. “They didn’t tell me it was incurable. They hand you a prescription slip and say ‘come back in six months.’ They don’t have the answers.”
"Is Being Magical Hurting Our Mental Health?" by Eboni Harris [Melanin & Mental Health]
Producing the same effect, is the fact that years and years of adversity within our community has created a sense of strength and resiliency that is unparalleled. Log on to social media on any given day of the week, and you will find posts related to how our community has endured slavery, segregation, the drug epidemic and then the war on that epidemic, police brutality and other mistreatment. We are constantly reminded that we were not built to break, that we built entire countries with our bare hands, that we rock and that we are pure magic. And while all of this may be true, actor Jesse Williams said it best in his now famous, very beautiful speech about black culture and our effects on the world: “Just because we’re magic doesn’t mean we’re not real.”
And Session 42 of Atlanta-based psychologist Dr. Joy Harden Bradford's "Therapy for Black Girls" explores keeping your mind right amidst race-based hateration in the dancerie:
"This week’s episode features Crystal Joseph, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, Licensed Professional Counselor, National Certified Counselor, & Board-Certified Case Manager. Crystal and I discussed what race-related stressors look like, stages of Wokeness, and how she works with her clients to manage some of these stressors including her use of music and pop culture."
If you have a mental health resource, event, or piece of content we should know about, step into our office. You da bess.
Are you all caught up on our 2018 Extraordinary Negro of the Day series?
If not, come get your mind right.
See you next week.
