September 2024
Suicide Awareness and Prevention Month
National Pain Awareness Month
Police Violence Against African Americans
Suicide Awareness and Prevention- This 2023 study on 264 Black young adults found, among many of its findings, that “Black women were more likely to report considering suicide because they could not live up to other’s expectations and because they felt lonely and sad.”
Pain Awareness- This month, let’s take some time to learn about the racialized disparities in pain management by watching this one hour lecture from the University of Michigan’s Medical School. Amongst the many things discussed, we learn about a 2020 study that revealed that Black/African American patients were 22 percent less likely than White patients to receive any pain medication.
Police Violence- In September 2016, Terence Crutcher was shot and killed by Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby. Eight months later, Shelby was found not guilty of first-degree manslaughter and the case has been expunged from her record. This 2021 Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Systemic Racist Police Violence Against People of African Descent in the United States shows that U.S. Law and Police Practices Do Not Comply with International Human Rights Law and Standards Governing the Use of Force
Call to Action
Support for the Pursuing Equity in Mental Health Act by Clicking Here
The Pursuing Equity in Mental Health Act, written following the release of the Congressional Black Caucus Emergency Taskforce on Black Youth Suicide and Mental Health report, Ring The Alarm, would authorize $805 million in grants and other funding to support research, improving the pipeline of culturally humble providers, building outreach programs that reduce stigma, and developing training programs for providers to effectively manage bias and reduce disparities in access to and delivery of mental health care for Black and brown youth.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
