Q4: Who needs to be involved in promoting health and preventing suicide among Black youth?
Kimya N. Dennis, PhD Families, schools, mental health organizations (which does NOT mean most people who consider, attempt, and complete suicide have diagnosable mental health conditions), and other community organizations.
I do a lot of community outreach with particular emphasis on Black and African diaspora communities. Reduce the shame and reduce the “religion is the only answer for everything”. We need people (including sports coaches) to stop using the word “punk” so loosely. We need people to be informed, knowledgeable, and conscious but STILL go to medical professionals. This does not mean medical professionals are 100% accurate–that is where WE must take some onus and motivate ourselves to live healthy and informed lives.
This also does not mean we will “baby” youth and have trigger warnings for everything that can potentially hurt someone’s feelings. Instead, it means we are challenging cultural ideologies and encouraging people to get help even when they think they can “heal themselves” or believe there is not even a problem.
Dr. Angela Ali You’re right…the shaming along with the rigid and narrow ways that we interpret religion hurts us in more ways than we can imagine. This includes hurting us in those areas that mean so much to our overall health and existence…such as mental health.
Dr. Angela Ali When it comes to prevention and awareness, we are lacking the consistent and active involvement of community agents. These would be our churches, schools, and other organizations. Suicide, along with other social issues that tend to be subjects of ‘moral failings’ continue to go undiscussed and therefore we are inept in our ability to effectively detect and prevent it.