Mental Health Monday #33: Coping skills from Jaden Smith's 'Neo Yokio,' Black women & eating disorders, Indigenous queer mental health, etc.

Kaz from Jaden Smith's Netflix series Neo Yokio 

THIS WEEK'S GOODNESS:

YouTuber JustLatasha had a great chat with the brothers from The Black Boy Joy Show about Masculinity, Mental Health, and the woes of being Black and wonderful in this hateful society.

If you're in or near St. Petersburg, Florida, Dr. Carlean East, Clinical Psychotherapist, Licensed Mental Health Counselor and professor of psychology is hosting a very necessary event intended to help church leaders and members with approaching mental health issues among those in the congregation, "I Need More Than Prayers" -Mental Health In The Church. For more info, go here.

"Depression Steals Your Soul and Then It Takes Your Friends" by Patrick Malborough [VICE]

A depressive hibernation is not so much a purposeful exile, as a slow-paced locking of doors. When your mind feels groggy and your day is a looping cycle of inaction and despairing thoughts, it can be hard to work up the strength to go to a friend's gig, grab a coffee, or reply to a text. In my own experience, the disease does so much to convince you of your awfulness, that you start viewing your absence from friends and events as a deformed favor.

"4 Self-Care Resources for Days When the World is Terrible" by Miriam Zoila Pérez [Colorlines]

The onslaught of news about violence against people of color seems to be endless these days. In the midst of all of this we remember the words of writer and activist Audre Lorde, who famously said that self-care is both an act of self-preservation and political warfare.

"4 Surprising Mental Health Hacks You Can Learn from Netflix’s ‘Neo Yokio’" by Sophie Atkinson [High Snobiety]

While Kaz is as devoted to the internet as you’d expect for a character voiced by wunderkind Jaden Smith, his character’s obsessiveness about it all suggests how harmful tech can be when we’re in a fragile place. So, without further ado, here are the mental health hacks to learn from Neo Yokio.

BEAM's Healing & Accountability Wheel

Yolo Akili's BEAM (Black Emotional and Mental Wellness Collective) has created a guide for "how to build loving relationships." Download this and other resources here.

"What Black Women Need to Know About Eating Disorders" by Carolyn C. Ross M.D., M.P.H. [Psychology Today]

Although Armstrong’s experience is consistent with research in that binge-eating or emotional overeating is often used as a way to cope with difficult emotions triggered by past trauma, like childhood mistreatment, the medical field rarely assumes that eating disorders are a problem for black women. 

"Black Rainbow: Mental health and the Indigenous queer community" by Leigh Hill [Out in Perth]

“Black Rainbow operates as a platform to highlight and positively reinforce to the Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Community who identify as LGBTI, that is it OK to be who they are and that they do have a place in the broader community. Where we stemmed from really was that there was a lack of visibility in the LGBTI space and in general for the Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Community Queer population.”

Our latest episode, "KweliTV and Chill (feat. Deshuna Spencer from Kweli TV)"

If you have a mental health resource, event, or piece of content we should know about, step into our office. You da bess.

The Weekly Vol. XLIII (feat. Kodie Shane, Sunni Colon, Daniel Caesar, Lorine Chia, and more)

The idea that there's no good new music is a myth. The Weekly, a playlist curated by George Midgett and Synitta Walker, features a diverse pool of talent that gets your body moving just as much as your revered classics. So, tune in this weekend as you remind yourself to always make time for extraordinary music!

Here's last weekend's playlist: The Weekly Vol. XLII (feat. Hiatus Kaiyote, Doja Cat, Christian Rich, Sango, and more)

Alex's latest for Tonic/VICE: "This is What Addiction Was Like Before it Became a White-People Problem"

In his third piece for Tonic (see one and two), Alex wrote about the realities of drug addiction before the epidemic reached rural and Middle America, thus earning sympathy and resources. He spoke with five brave folks who opened up about their journeys with drugs and how they view America's newfound compassion towards those in the struggle.

Check it out over on Tonic here.

Mental Health Monday #32: "black-ish" on postpartum depression, surviving a mental breakdown, psychiatrists and mass killers, etc.

From last week's episode of black-ish, which tackled postpartum depression.

Welcome to another round of Mental Health Monday, your weekly dose of stories, resources, and motivation for your everyday life. On our last post, Dr. Joy Harden Bradford from Therapy for Black Girls dispel some myths about suicide, wellness advocate Donalee Curtis shares some self-care tips, NY Giants star Brandon Marshall opens up about living with borderline personality disorder, and much more. Check it out here.

THIS WEEK'S GOODNESS:

"‘Black-ish’ Takes On Postpartum Depression in a Powerful Episode" by Maureen Ryan

The second episode of the season is in a different key, so to speak. It takes on an important topic, but one that is often spoken of in whispers, if it’s talked about at all. And it’s entirely appropriate that “Mother Nature,” which depicts Rainbow Johnson’s experience with postpartum depression, airs on World Mental Health Day.

In the episode, the difficulties she experiences after giving birth to baby DeVante overwhelm Rainbow Johnson (Tracee Ellis Ross). Her postpartum depression affects the entire family, and at first, everyone — including Bow — is unsure of how to proceed.

YouTuber Myrie opens up about what it was like to have a mental breakdown and how she bounced back.

"PSA: Take Your Fucking Lunch Break" by Tracy Moore [Jezebel]

The company rewarded this thinking with performance bonuses and free pizza and other things that made it clear that the standard of excellence was never taking your lunch break. Everyone bought into it and suffered horribly. We all gained weight, and twentysomethings were routinely diagnosed with ulcers and various migraines, back problems, hemorrhoids and other ailments usually befalling older workers.

"Psychiatrists Can’t Stop Mass Killers" by Richard A. Friedman [New York Times]

It’s true that many mass murderers do have a mental disorder, typically a severe personality disorder or a psychotic illness. But this fact has almost no implication for how to stop them.

Why? First, a vast majority of these killers avoid the mental health care system. They are intent on murdering people, not on seeking help, and generally don’t see themselves as psychiatrically ill.

"8 Mental Health and Self Care Resources for QTPOC" by Danielle Dorsey [We Are Your Voice]

2017 has been a challenging year, to say the least. It seems a day hardly goes by without the Trump administration signing a new executive order stripping marginalized people of more rights. His racist rhetoric is literally killing people, and many of us have been called to battle to protect our friends, family members, colleagues, and in many cases, ourselves. It’s been an exhausting ten months.

"Here’s How To Effectively Talk To Your Kids About Depression" by Lauren Rearick [Huffington Post]

Realize that your child may already know something is wrong.

Children are extremely perceptive, Schlesinger points out, and will begin to notice if a parent is feeling irritable or unable to play with them. Parents should try to spend as much time with their children as they can and ask the other parent to help or provide additional support when needed.

"The Black Atheist Experience" by Lornett B. Vestal [Evolving Man Project]

It took me many years to get to the point of even writing something like this on a public forum. Being an atheist in America isn’t well received by many people – even in the non-religious circles where people claim to be ‘spiritual but not religious,’ or some black folks take the Talib Kweli route of “God is good, but religion is bad.”

Do you have a mental health resource (therapist, counselor, substance abuse program, housing or financial assistance program, etc.) that you'd like to share with the world? Share it here. Alex is curating an online wellness hub for Black and brown folks. Check out GetSomeJoy here.

Our latest episode: The Watermelon Woman (feat. Cheryl Dunye)

The Weekly Vol. XLII (feat. Hiatus Kaiyote, Doja Cat, Christian Rich, Sango and more).

Jump start your weekend with the latest edition of The Weekly, curated by Syn Walker and George Midgett. Let this be your reminder to always make time for extraordinary music!

Here's last week's playlist: The Weekly Vol. XLI (feat. Anderson Paak, Little Dragon, BJ The Chicago Kid, and more)