Creating stigma-free spaces is crucial to supporting Black men’s mental health, “Sinsear” Derrick Clark said Saturday. Then resources for healing can be identified, he said.
“We have to have conversations like this to be able to acknowledge where there is hurt, harm or danger that equates to trauma,” he told an audience at the Mississippi University for Women. “Once we have the conversation, we need to know where and how to get the fix. … Once we understand where to get the fix, we must fix it.”
Clark, a poet and speaker, shared his insight during a panel for the justUs, MH Foundation’s Black Men’s Mental Health Conference. Joining Clark on the panel was owner of “Issues” television talk show Reggilond Taylor; Daniel Huggins, chief operating officer at Austin Urology in Austin, Texas; Executive Director of the Columbus Housing Authority Robert Greathree; Frederick Rogers, co-founder of the Reaching and Educating for Community Hope Foundation; Sixteenth Circuit Court District Attorney Scott Colom; and J’Marcus Brooks, pastor for Kingdom Vision Church.
The men delved into issues surrounding mental health for Black men, ranging from cultural stigmas and systemic barriers to personal stories of resilience and solutions. Opening up about these problems, Rogers noted, can be hard for Black men.
“We have been told that we are to deal with whatever we have to deal with ourselves,” he said. “If you’re dealing with things yourself, you’re never going to have the support you need.”
Rogers shared that the first time he remembers crying was at age 20, when he learned his father had passed away. When it comes to emotional vulnerability, Brooks said many Black men grow up with a cultural expectation of stoicism.
“So what you have is a lot of Black men who are doing a lot of work, but they’re in pain,” he said. “And we don’t show it at all because we think that’s a level of strength. We don’t get badges or gold stars because we can take pain and not show it.”
It’s a stigma built over years of celebrating false aspects of masculinity, Brooks said.
“What we celebrate gets stood up,” he said. “So if we celebrate that (stoicism) as a sign of bravery and violence as a sign of masculinity, then that’s what is going to stand. … Let’s celebrate our men who can be open, honest and transparent and provide spaces for them to say, ‘Hey you can cry here. You will not lose your respect if you have tears.’”
But how are those spaces created? Colom suggested changing the definition of mental health problems is a good place to start.
“Too often we think someone having a mental health problem means they’re crazy,” he said. “Part of the stigma is that we don’t really define to people what mental health is, so it leads to a stigma because someone can just say, ‘Well I’m not crazy.’”
Black men are 20% more likely to experience serious psychological distress compared to white people, according to the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. They are also less likely to seek help for those problems due to cultural stigma.
Creating a space where men feel comfortable to seek help for those problems requires communication, Greathree said.
“If we fail to communicate, then we create an environment that is not safe,” he said. “I try to communicate from the source, not from what I feel. If we can label and identify the source, then the problem is already solved.”
Rogers encouraged Black men who are struggling with their mental health to seek help, even when it feels difficult.
“I was told years ago that closed mouths will never get fed,” he said. “In other words, you’ve got to open your mouth and let it be known, ‘Hey I need help.’”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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