black mental health
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This Free Black Mental Health App Was Created Two Years Ago. It's Especially Relevant Right Now for Our Community
Jasmin Pierre isn’t shy when it comes to discussing her mental health journey with others. “I’m really not afraid to put it all out there. Like, people know that I’ve been suicidal. People know that I’ve been in a mental institution,” said the 31-year-old mental health advocate and app creator. By being so open about…
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My Head Is a Part of My Body and My Middle Name Is Makeba
As a child, the word “crazy” bounced around every black space I called home. “Crazy” was a destination and an origin. “Crazy” was at once a pejorative and wholly emblematic of our abundance. I loved the word “crazy.” I used it a lot in my oral communication with folks I loved. I used it to…
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The Life Lost But Never Forgotten and The Movie I Struggle to Watch Because Of It (Happy Birthday, Tra)
I can’t just watch the movie John Q. I’ve tried a few times. I actually managed to make it all the way through to the end for the first time in almost 10 years a few months ago. It was on, I was up late and I decided to force myself to make it through…
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On Loneliness at 3 A.M. in Lagos
It was 3 a.m. in Onikan, a suburb of Lagos. The street below her window was uncharacteristically quiet. In the distance, she could hear the faint thump of a bass-line and the strained, faint chorus of afrobeat. She listened for the shrieks of laughter and enjoyment coming from the building down the road. In the…
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Play The Healing Game
Prior to COVID, I’d have all of these speaking gigs and book events all across the country; shit was sweet. You know, way back when getting bipped-up—that’s how you say haircut in Baldamore—was normal and I used to order a clean one against-the-grain, leaving-just-enough-hair-to-brush type of fade before every event. And then a few hours…
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The Discreet Charms of Malady
First, oh, the stories you will tell. I awake from a four-hour surgery with an epidural and pain pump full of Fentanyl to sounds of a man dying on the gurney next to me, separated only by a threadbare curtain. Codes blare over the PA system, calling for every available physician to assist while next…
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This Is Us: Sterling K. Brown Gives Us a Peek Behind the 'Clouds' of Randall Pearson's Anxiety
Just when I thought This Is Us had completely wrecked me, its beautiful emotional terror has found another hidden ventricle in my heart. As soon as I saw the title of Episode 415, “Clouds,” I knew I was about to be treated to my favorite Joni Mitchell song, “Both Sides Now” (fun fact: I actually…
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Former Coach, NBA Community Express Concern After Disturbing Videos of Delonte West Surface: 'This Is So Very Painful'
Former NBA star Delonte West is probably best remembered as an integral member of the Cleveland Cavaliers during the 2008 NBA playoffs. But in recent years, his personal struggles with mental illness have become tabloid fodder, and on Monday a pair of disturbing videos surfaced of the once-promising point guard. In one video circulating on…
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Legislation Introduced to Help Curb Rising Black Teen Suicide Rates
On Tuesday, Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) introduced legislation to help address rising suicide rates in black teens. CBS News reports that The Pursuing Equity in Mental Health Act of 2019 seeks to invest over a billion dollars into improving mental health care conditions for black youth. This comes on the heels of a report…