July is Black, Indigenous and People of Color Mental Health Month

Note: The following item was provided by Melanie Dallas, CEO of Highland Rivers Health. – KtE

On July 12, some of Georgia’s leading behavioral health advocates held a press conference in the Capitol rotunda to raise awareness of the next pandemic that will affect our state: mental health.

Abdul Henderson, executive director of Mental Health America of Georgia, didn’t mince words, warning that if Georgians don’t have access or the ability to seek care, “it can really blow up in our face if we’re unprepared.” Adding urgency is a recent report by Mental Health America that found Georgia ranks last in the nation for access to mental healthcare.

Joining Henderson in the Capitol were leaders from the Georgia chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI), the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse, and state representatives Sharon Cooper and Gregg Kennard. All recognized the urgent need for greater access to mental healthcare in Georgia, especially on the heels of the pandemic.

That the pandemic has negatively impacted mental health and substance use is well known, and I’ve written about it several times as well. As we recognize July as Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) Mental Health Month (previously Minority Mental Health Month), we must ensure efforts to improve mental healthcare in our state prioritize minority and communities of color, who were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

According to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Blacks make up 31% of the population in Georgia but account for 38% of the state’s COVID-19 deaths (through June 2, 2021). The Brookings Institution reports the national age-adjusted COVID-19 death rate for Black people is 3.6 times that for whites; for Latinx people, it is 2.5 times that for whites.

People of color are less likely to have access to healthcare generally, and are more likely to have underlying chronic conditions – hypertension, diabetes and heart disease, for example – that increase their risk of death from COVID. Black and Latinx workers are also more likely to have jobs where they are unable to work remotely, but also more likely to have lost their jobs due to the pandemic.

These impacts are in addition to higher rates of mental health issues and risk factors in communities of color that existed before the pandemic. For example, according to Mental Health America:

• Black adults are 20% more likely to report serious psychological distress than adult Whites.
• Native and Indigenous Americans report higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol dependence than any other ethic/racial group.
• Mental and behavioral health conditions are common among people in the criminal justice system, in which BIPOC populations are overrepresented.
• Black people living in poverty are twice as likely to report serious psychological distress as those living over two times the poverty level. More than 1 in 5 Black and people in the U.S. lived in poverty in 2018; 19% of Latinx people in the U.S. live in poverty.
• Between 2008 and 2018, serious mental illness rose from 4% to 6.4% in Latinx people ages 18-25, and from 2.2% to 3.9% in people 26-49. Major depressive episodes have also increased.

In other words, people of color already have higher risks and higher rates of mental health challenges, while factors known to impact mental health resulting from the pandemic – grief, stress, isolation, loss of income, anxiety, among others – have disproportionately affected them as well.

As we all work in a spirit of inclusion and connection – important aspects in recovery – we must engage individuals marginalized due to race or ethnicity by creating more inclusive and diverse agencies and communities to provide supports. We must make every effort we can. The next pandemic – the mental health pandemic – is already here, and we must strive to ensure communities of color don’t suffer a disproportionate impact from that one too.

Melanie Dallas is a licensed professional counselor and CEO of Highland Rivers Health, which provides treatment and recovery services for individuals with mental illness, substance use disorders, and intellectual and developmental disabilities in a 12-county region of northwest Georgia that includes Bartow, Cherokee, Floyd, Fannin, Gilmer, Gordon, Haralson, Murray, Paulding, Pickens, Polk and Whitfield counties.