Mental Health in the Black Community by Alayna

Mental Health in the Black Community by Alayna - February 2020 Scholarship Essay

If I could start my own non-profit it would focus on providing mental health services in predominantly black areas. As someone who lives in a country without free healthcare, I have seen and heard more than my fair share of stories of people who chose to stay ill or even die instead of burdening their families with medical bills. However, a hidden problem especially in the black community, is mental illnesses going untreated for years, and maybe even never being treated. Mental health carries it’s taboos across most cultures, but is very rarely discussed amongst black families and friends.
I know from first hand experience as a little black girl how difficult it is to go to your black caretaker who has bills to pay and food to put on the table and say, “Hey, I think I’m depressed.” In fact I didn’t go to my mom first. I wrote a note to my teacher, who sent me to the counselors, who gave me a screening, and called my mom to have a conference. The first thing I told the counselor when she told me it was mandatory to call my mom was “Can we wait? My mom is at work right now.” As a fourteen year old who just twenty minutes ago had admitted suicidal thoughts to my counselor, I still didn’t think it was severe enough to pull my mother away from half a day of work.
It is for this very reason that my nonprofit will work with the school district to make sure I reach the youth and the parents of the town. The nonprofit will begin in black areas because I value giving back to the communities that gave to me, but will eventually span across the entire school board. It will include lessons and activities for elementary students to learn the importance of mental health so that they value it throughout their lives, and have informational brochures to take home to their parents. The middle and highschools will have the offer of free counseling, group or individual therapy sessions, and provides psychiatric services with financial aid as needed.
I specify black communities because many of the boys and girls who look like me have gone through pain that others can’t imagine and they walk around with that weight on their backs because they think it isn’t “that serious”. Some of these kids have fathers who are in jail, family members and friends taken by gun violence, and areas declared unsafe due to gang rivalry. I want to provide a service that lets black boys know it’s okay to cry, and gives the boys and girls a safe place to be. This is why my nonprofit will be a mental health service provider for the black community.