|
July is Minority Mental Health Month
Twitter
Chat: NIMHD
In observance
of National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, the National
Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
hosted a Twitter chat with the HHS Office of Minority Health to talk about
important topics related to minority mental health care. The chat will be
held on Thursday, July 26, from 2:00 to 3:00
ET—using the hashtag #MinorityMH—and centers on the theme
“Motivating Action for Improving Minority Mental Health Care: Barriers and
Opportunities”.
Blog Post: Mental Health Awareness Among Communities of Color
As part of our commemoration of Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, NPA partners SAMHSA Office of Behavioral Health Equity Senior Public Health Analyst Roslyn Holliday Moore and OMH Division of Policy and Data Public Health Advisor Juliet Bui posted Mental Health Awareness Among Communities of Color: A Cornerstone of Health and Wellness. In the blog post, Ms. Moore and Ms. Bui discuss mental health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities and policies and strategies at the federal, state, and community levels to address such disparities. Read the blog post here.
Twitter
Chat: Office of Minority Health
On July 18, the Office of Minority Health hosted a Twitter chat
focused on National Minority Health Awareness Month. Hundreds of participants
from around the country joined in to address key questions and answers around
mental health, including access to care, community support, and stigma. If you
missed it, you can still track the conversation by using #healthymindchat
Here are some of
the discussion points from the OMH Twitter chat:
Factors Affecting Minority
Mental Health
- Stigma and
fear associated with mental health contribute to a lack of understanding
about illness, undiagnosed conditions, and treatment prevention in
communities.
- The limited
number of culturally competent caregivers and resources, treatment
discrimination, and structural inequalities lead to distrust,
misdiagnosis, and not seeking care.
- Socioeconomic
factors hindering care include poor quality of care, inadequate health
centers, finances and transportation for care, and limited Internet
access.
- Psychological
distress caused by racial discrimination, poverty, environment, and other
social determinants of health contribute to higher prevalence rates of
PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), anxiety, depression, suicide, and
substance abuse in minority communities.
- There’s a need to change the
narrative and encourage more minorities to talk about depression and seek
care, particularly for elders, youth of color, African American and Latino
males, and LGBT individuals.
Minority Mental Health Facts
Below are some minority
mental health facts from the US Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA):
- Over 70% of black/African
American adolescents with a major depressive episode did not receive
treatment for their condition.
- Almost 25% of
adolescents with a major depressive episode in the last year were
Hispanic/Latino.
- Asian American adults
were less likely to use mental health services than any other
racial/ethnic group.
- In the past year,
nearly 1 in 10 American Indian or Alaska Native young adults had serious
thoughts of suicide.
- In the past year, 1 in 7 Native Hawaiian
and Pacific Islander adults had a diagnosable mental illness.
NPA
Webinars are Making an Impact
Since 2014, the NPA has been producing
successful webinars. Recent data show that the number of health equity webinars
is increasing and that there has been a significant increase in the number of
participants who join in over the course of each year. Between January 2014 and June
2018, 10,769 people have participated in 59 webinars hosted by NPA
stakeholders. As of June 2018, average attendance for webinars rose from 167 in
FY2017 to 247 in FY2018.
Update on the NPA Emerging
Professionals
The NPA’s summer Emerging Professionals
(EPs) have continued their work to support the NPA, the RHECs, and the NPA caucuses
in July. We are fortunate to have a new group of marketing, communications, and
public health students with us through August. The EPs are serving as support
to the RHECs on their social media and other communications tasks, and they are
working hard to help advance the messages of the RHECs and the NPA.
The Spring NPA Newsletter is Still
Available
Click here to
read the most recent NPA newsletter. #npa4health
Interview with Janelle Ali-Dinar, PhD on Partnerships
The Heartland Regional Health Equity
Council (RHEC VII) recently signed a memorandum
of understanding (MOU) with the Health Resources and Services
Administration (HRSA) Region VII Midwestern Public Health Training Center
(Region VII MPHTC) to advance health equity across the region. In a new blog
post, we interview Janelle Ali-Dinar, PhD—who co-chairs RHEC VII’s Partnership
Committee—about the
committee and the MOU. She discusses why and how this partnership was
developed and what the partners hope to achieve. https://bit.ly/2L70O6A
Town Hall on Opioids in Tribal Communities
Join the Partnerships for Advancing Tribal Health (PATH) National Town Hall on Combatting Opioids
and Substance Abuse in Tribal Communities on Tuesday, July 24, 8:30 am –
12:00 pm ET in the Great Hall of the Hubert H. Humphrey Building, 200
Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC. Livestream link: https://www.hhs.gov/live/index.html #npa4health
NHMA and NPA Hosted a Heart Disease Webinar
On July 18, The National Hispanic
Medical Association (NHMA) and the NPA hosted a webinar on the impact of heart
disease on the Hispanic community. https://bit.ly/2uHg0wg #npa4health
SAMHSA to Host Webinars for Tribal Opioid Response Grant
Applicants
SAMHSA will hold three webinars for prospective Tribal
Opioid Response (TOR) applicants on how to register and submit
applications. Find dates and times, and information on the FOA, here: https://bit.ly/2K9gViT
#npa4health
NHMA and
OMH to Host Workforce Diversity for Health Equity Webinar
The National Hispanic Medical
Association (NHMA) and the NPA are hosting a one-hour webinar on diversifying
the workforce for health equity on Thursday, August 16 at 4:00 pm ET. https://bit.ly/2NrVHKX
#npa4health
Historically Black Colleges and
Universities (HCBU) Opportunities
The White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and
Universities (WHIHBCU) is excited to announce the launch of HBCU
Competitiveness Scholars, a student recognition program designed to honor
current HBCU students for their competitiveness. All nomination forms must be emailed to hbcuscholars@ed.gov no
later than July 31. https://bit.ly/2tQC3QT
#npa4health
New Funding to Address Obesity in Rural Areas
CDC Funding
to Address Obesity in High Risk Rural Areas—Deadline: August 8.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will make 14 awards of up to
$1.2 million each for evidence-based strategies that increase access to places
providing healthier foods and physical activity in rural areas with high rates
of obesity. Eligible applicants are public and state-controlled institutions of
higher education. #npa4health
Opioid Crisis Resources
Racial and ethnic minority group members are less
likely than their white counterparts to receive treatment for substance abuse.
NIH has resources available online in a variety of languages to help people get
the help they need. https://bit.ly/2tR0BKl
#npa4health
|
