“Racism adversely affects victims psychologically, causing harm to their emotional and physical health. EE Circles are designed to help us free ourselves of internalized racism—to get our heads, spirits and emotions cleared out.”

Minority Mental Health Awareness Month just got a little more interesting. Tonight TV One premiered the well-received movie, “The Secret She Kept”, about a young professional woman who has hidden her mental illness all her life but now faces a crisis of exposure of her family’s well-kept secret.

Since 2008 when July was officially designated as Bebe Moore Campbell Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, millions of people have received education about mental illness and mental health to equip minority communities with resources for fighting stigma and providing support to individuals and families battling mental disorders. 

According to the New York Times article, America the Anxious, 1 in 5 Americans are dealing with an anxiety disorder. Out of those 40 million or so individuals, women are twice as likely to be affected by the majority of these disorders, including general anxiety disorder (GAD), panic attacks, specific phobias and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Mothers who receive treatment for postpartum depression are more likely to see a reduction in their depressive symptoms, which then allows them to better care for themselves and their child.  Spouses and partners also enjoy a more mutually-supportive relationship. Even more importantly, children also then benefit from a happier, present mother, which reduces their risk of developing emotionaland behavioral problems in the future.

While the prices of medication and therapy can break the bank, getting the runaround treatment because of your race creates an entirely new set of frustrations.

Here are two more noteworthy advocates changing the landscape of mental health for black men and young people.

People self-harm for different reasons and at different levels of severity, but almost always as a means of easing and validating emotional pain in a physical way.
 

A recently-released national poll conducted for Youth First Initiative reveals that 92% of people believe the top priority of the juvenile justice system is to do “a better job of making sure youth get back on track so that they are less likely to commit another offense.” People like Tara Libert and Kelli Taylor have believed and acted on this sentiment for almost twenty years.

While many black women and their families have suffered for decades through the ill effects [of having loved ones in prison], a movement of survivors turned reformers is changing the landscape of mass incarceration...