Black Mental Health Week shedding light on barriers Black people face in accessing services
Posted March 4, 2022 4:45 pm.
Last Updated March 4, 2022 5:27 pm.
Toronto is set to highlight how anti-Black racism is impacting the mental health of Black Torontonians, raising awareness on an issue that disproportionately impacts this community.
Between March 7 and 11, the City, in partnership with TAIBU Community Health Centre, will be hosting the second annual Black Mental Health Week.
It started back in 2020 when Toronto declared the first Monday in March to be Black Mental Health Day. It was expanded last year to a full week in order to “provide greater opportunity to facilitate and cultivate greater awareness,” according to the city.
Executive Director of TAIBU Community Health Centre, Liben Gebremikael, said after the first Black Mental Health Day, they wanted to keep the conversation going.
“One of the things we wanted to do was to really move away from having just one thing that is helpful to raise awareness, but something that really is ongoing because knowing that this issue is very systemic and generational, we really wanted to continue the conversation.”
There are two main conversations TAIBU wanted to focus on during this initiative, said Gebremikael. “Having a conversation among ourselves within the diverse Black communities, knowing that mental health is not a subject we are always talking about. It’s a stigma. So we wanted to have a conversation among ourselves to reduce the stigma and internalized impact of anti-Black racism.”
The other conversation surrounds the larger society. “Understand that mental health is disproportionately impacting black communities. There are various factors that are impacting this. It’s not just a mental disease or a health issue. It is compounded by several social determinants of health and particular prejudice and challenges within systems.”
Gebremikael tells CityNews a recent study from the Wellesley Institute found there was a 60 per cent higher risk of being diagnosed with mental illness, such as psychosis, when it comes to Black, African and Caribbean communities.
“Not because of predisposition,” explained Gebremikael, “But because of all the other kinds of things that people are going through. And on the other side, there’s also been some studies that have shown that it takes longer for Black communities to access mental health services.”
Another study also found that Black youth are underrepresented in treatment-oriented voluntary mental health services and overrepresented in imposed services such as correctional facilities and hospitalization.
“There is underdiagnosed or under-assessed mental health in the community for Black youth and they will be getting involved in certain activities that then would involve the police and criminal justice,” said Gebremikael. “There is a vicious circle of once you are in that revolving door between criminal justice and mental institutions, it’s very difficult to break.”
He says there is still a lot of work to be done in understanding how people view mental health services and where their point of access for mental health services is. “There’s a saying I like to challenge, ‘Every door is the right door.’ Some doors aren’t the right doors for some communities. We need to make sure there’s specialized services in communities.”
Gebremikael added access to mental health services is one of main barriers for the Black community.
“When services are located in hospitals, that’s already a barrier for racialized communities. We don’t want to go, it’s very far. For example, We’re located in Scarborough, if you need to refer somebody to CAMH, it’s downtown so there are transportation issues,” said Gebremikael.
Some will say, “I don’t want to go to the hospital because that’s not where I belong for my mental health,” he added. “Embedding services within communities where it is accessible, it’s destigmatized and it’s available at the right time is very, very significant.”
Black Mental Health day has also been extended across the country, said Gebremikael. “We had Ottawa declare the first Monday in March as Black Mental Health Day. I think the City of Brampton as well so it really caught the attention of many across Canada.”
“The [COVID-19] pandemic has been significantly difficult for racialized groups. This is an opportunity to come together and express our challenges, express our strength for others, and come as a community like we do. This is how we survive. This is how we become strong by coming together,” added Gebremikael.
Some of the events include a Black Healing Space, a panel discussion on Black mental health and therapy sessions.
You can find more information and events you can attend on their website.
