September is National Recovery month. In honor, there will be marches, parades and other celebrations of substance use disorders recovery. African Americans have caught the spark of recovery month and have joined the rest of the country in celebrating this sacred month. While research indicates that substance use disorders and mental illness overlap at the rate of 50-70%, little attention is paid to mental health recovery.
This post is meant to encourage African American communities to also celebrate mental health recovery. Because of historical trauma, as a community we have our fair share of PTSD, complex trauma, depression, anxiety disorder, and ADD. According to Dr. Joy Degruy, we also suffer from a condition she calls Post Traumatic Slavery Syndrome as a result of 400 years of historical trauma,
So let us march and celebrate mental health recovery in African American Communities! This visibility could help reduce the stigma of mental illness in African American communities. Once mobilized we could also form African American mental health advocacy movements. This movement could fight for treatment as an alternative to incarceration, Medicaid expansion, an increase in mental health services in African American communities, and the need for more African American mental health professionals.