The Forgotten Communities Within Mental Health Resource Allocation
Over the past few years, mental health awareness has been increasing, but unfortunately those impacted by mental health disorders have also increased. Although individuals from varying backgrounds suffer from this phenomenon, it has been especially an issue amongst adolescents.
Within this young demographic, studies have shown that mental health disorders are disproportionately prominent among impoverished Black and Latinx communities.1 The mental health illnesses within these populations often go unaddressed which allows for their disorders to deepen into long-term issues including trauma. The chances of trauma are also heightened by various conditions within the household such as hunger, homelessness, and being a victim of child abuse and/or neglect.2 The lack of resources for these adolescents together with the environments they live in are rarely acknowledged within schools; a place where they spend several hours of their day. As detailed by the National Education Association, the schools of these students don’t have the proper funds to allocate mental health specialists nor resources to address their psychological struggles.3 Unfortunately, these dire circumstances have solely worsened during the past few years because of the pandemic. The Boston Medical Center found that covid-19 had disproportionate psychological impacts on ethnic minority children and communities. Evidently there is a great need for efforts to be made to help students within these communities improve their mental health.4 As a first generation American, who grew up in a very predominant Brazilian community, I have witnessed at first hand such lack of mental health resources.
Cultural awareness and accessibility are crucial when addressing mental health within these communities. The lack of discourse within these families is a common issue that disables youth to communicate their mental health struggles to their loved ones. For example, in the Latinx community it is a common misconception that mental health illnesses are simply a sign of weakness that are a result of things like laziness or lack of motivation. With that in mind, when I first spoke to my Brazilian parents about my anxiety and wanting to seek out help, they first responded by saying “what is wrong with you?” and “why are you always so stressed?.” Luckily, I had the strength to not allow their initial commentary to stop me from getting a therapist. However, there are several adolescents nationwide that often never go beyond that step and are stopped by such commentary. Although it is difficult to change the opinions of your loved ones or those who are older than us (which we have a lot of respect for), it is important to empower youth, especially those within the African American and Latinx community. Validation can go a very long way, and for me personally the empowerment that I felt from those around me fueled my strength to seek help despite my parents’ initial backlash. The word empowerment can come with a lot of assumed responsibility and pressure, but it's crucial to keep in mind that simply listening to those around you and sharing your own journeys as well as experiences with mental health can already empower so many.
I want to end by saying, this is by no means a shade to my parents nor my beloved Latinx community, but instead a reminder that we all come from a variety of different backgrounds and experiences. With that being said, it is necessary that there are adequate mental health resources available to cater to such factors. Most importantly, empowering the voices of youth around you can move mountains in regard to their own mental health journey and experiences. And lending a listening ear and showing them that their feelings are valid can do just that.
Sources
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network, https://www.nctsn.org/.
Chappelle, Noelle, and Eman Tadros. “Using Structural Family Therapy to Understand the Impact of Poverty and Trauma on African American Adolescents.” The Family Journal, vol. 29, no. 2, 2020, pp. 237–244., https://doi.org/10.1177/1066480720950427. 3 Menas, Amanda. “The Widening Mental Health Treatment Gap in Schools.” NEA, 2 May 2019,
https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/widening-mental-health-treatment-gap-schools.
“New Study Finds Covid-19 Pandemic Exacerbated Anxiety and Depression in Racial and Ethnic Minority Children.” Boston Medical Center, 8 Feb. 2022, https://www.bmc.org/node/165056.