A change for mental health by jhada

A change for mental health by jhada - June 2020 Scholarship Essay

Growing up, I struggled with my mental health. I had self-image issues and I always felt like I didn't know who I was or where I fit in. I tried to reach out to my family but that only caused me more trouble with my self-image. To my African-American family, Mental illness was not something black people could have. Depression was not a black thing. We didn’t have time to waste, wallowing in our sadness, just to sit in an office talking about our feelings. If we wanted to stay alive in this life we had to work ten times harder than everyone and mental illness was not a luxury we could afford. It was like when they told me that, they stripped away the one thing I was so sure of, my race, my culture, and with the mention of two words, Mental illness, I had completely lost myself and my community.

I don't blame my family for that dark period of my life, they didn't know any better. Mental illness is such a taboo topic in the black community. They see it as a sign of weakness, they think we are immune to it because our struggles as black people in America are too great to have what they think is a 'trivial' issue. What we need them to understand is that we’re all human and our feelings are valid. In a way, I’m grateful for all that I've been through. It’s because of my personal experience that I want to pursue psychology. There is nothing else that could give me more purpose than to help people find their way from their darkness. My hope as a psychologist in the future is that I bring change into the black community. I have to open their eyes and their minds to the idea of mental illness in our community. I have to make sure that when little boys and girls reach out about their mental health they don't lose their sense of identity or their community. So with education and consistency, I hope to bring mental health awareness into the black community as well as other communities that discard the importance of mental health.