“Once my loved ones accepted the diagnosis, healing began for the entire family, but it took too long. It took years. Can’t we, as a nation, begin to speed up that process? We need a national campaign to destigmatize mental illness, especially one targeted toward African Americans…It’s not shameful to have a mental illness. Get treatment. Recovery is possible.”
–Bebe Moore Campbell, 2005.
The least I can do.
Thank you for this Kitt! So glad you’re in my life! Blessings!
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Just mentioned getting together to my husband. He says that would be nice. Private message me via Facebook. I have to go over to FB and check my notifications.
Without a doubt we are privileged. When we lived in the High Desert, halfway between Victorville and Barstow, I realized just how privileged. I had lived in and worked with urban populations, but was completely in the dark with rural poverty. At least in urban areas there are resources. In rural areas, there are none.
People like you and me are so privileged, Kitt. When we have an episode and are found wandering on the streets, we go to places like Mission Laguna Beach or College or Saint Joseph’s or even Royale. Then we get to go to private psychiatrists if we have insurance or have county assistance if we don’t. When African Americans are found wandering, they are either left on the street or, if they commit a crime, they end up in jail for their treatment. I am glad that you wrote this article. We really need to revamp the mental health system in the USA so that this does not happen!
(And, damn, you are my kind of liberal Christian! We should meet up with our spouses sometime.)