Mental Health Monday #62: Chance's Investment in Chicago Wellness + Kofi Siriboe's "Jump," faith + therapy, etc.

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Welcome to another round of Mental Health Monday, your weekly dose of stories, resources, and motivation for your everyday life. Last week, Wayne Brady discussed having a mental breakdown at the height of his career, stories on the effects of Alzheimer’s in Black communities, stories Black fatherhood, and so forth. Have a gander.

This week’s stories:

Chance The Rapper Donates $1 Million To Improve Chicago’s Mental Health Resources” [News One]

As part of his six-figure donation, six mental health care facilities in the Cook County area will receive grants that are worth $100,000. His non-profit—which focuses on educating and empowering the youth through civic engagement and the arts—will also launch a new program dubbed “My State of Mind” that will make mental health treatment more accessible for those battling mental illness.

As the second short from Kofi Siriboe’s ViaKofi imprint, Jump follows a man named Ziggy, who’s “detached from reality” and dealing with mental health challenges.

The short follows his debut short, “What The Fuck Is Mental Health?

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Faith And Mental Health: Finding Sanctuary In Therapy” by Brandi Hunter [Faithfully Magazine]

Dr. Joy said people incorrectly assume they have to compartmentalize faith and therapy.

“People think that you’ll come to therapy and the therapist will be like, ‘You can’t pray,’ or the therapist is working against the pastor. That is typically not what happens at all, especially if the therapist is faith-sensitive or affirming of what your faith background is and wants to incorporate that into the treatment plan.”

The mental health system is not designed with us in mind’ by Kiri Kankhwende [Media Diversified]

It’s something I see on the psychiatric ward at the moment. Being in East London, all the doctors are BAME on my ward. When I’m sitting with a doctor who is south Asian for example, I’ve noticed how if a south Asian patient describes certain family interactions, the doctor can respond immediately to them and put them at ease. There is an understanding and shared experience that the doctor can use that I cannot because they are also south Asian.

It shows how important it is for your clinicians to look like people they are trying to help. It seems so obvious. That’s basic, you need to be able to relate to your patients and they need to be able to relate to you. When your patients are overwhelmingly black and brown and your doctors are not, you’re always going to have this disconnect. When it comes to mental health, so much of it is about social interaction and personal things like spirituality, family relationships, identity.


Black-ish star Jenifer Lewis stopped by The Breakfast Club to talk about her journey with sex addiction and mental illness.

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