According to statistics from the National Institution of Health, suicide is the third leading cause of death for African American males ages 15 to 24, and African American men ages 20 to 24 are more likely to suffer from stress and depression.
This conversation is very timely, as the college years and young adulthood can be tough and full of stressful situations. We might be living away from home for the first time, missing family and friends, and feeling alone in a new place. We might be in charge of our own food, clothing, shelter, and sleep schedules for the first time—and not always managing so well. We might be encountering new and difficult academic work and jobs. We might be having relationship problems or breakups. A lot of us are worried about finances. Our encounters with racism and discrimination in daily life add to our burdens. Sometimes there are a lot more problems than pleasures.
All of these stresses can leave college aged Black men exhausted, irritable, or sad.
This discussion is fueled by the desire to create a safe space for men to discuss mental health and wellness and to share methods to help with discussing the life struggles, mental health challenges and trauma healing facing modern-day Black boys and men.
The Office of Continuing Education hopes the event will assist in creating conversations that break down the often negative stigma of mental illness and depression in the African American community.
“There has always been this thought process that someone who is having mental health issues is running down the street naked, going crazy,” said Delarious O. Stewart, Ph.D., LPC-S, ACS, NCC,NCSC, NCSP. “We have to rid that stigma and that thought process because the average person who is having a mental health crisis or is possibly considering suicide is sitting right next to you.”
Stewart said that a lack of representation within the health field as a whole has led to men of color often being left without as many resources or education on mental health compared to their white counterparts.
He also acknowledges that the concept of traditional gender norms discourages men from showing what could be considered weakness from a young age, contributing to the decision not to undergo mental health treatment or counseling later in life.
“Girls can be emotional all day long, but when boys cry, that’s an issue,” Stewart said. “There has not been an even platform for boys to be emotional, and what we fail to realize is that every boy becomes a young man, and every young man becomes a functioning man if that man has never had the open platform to show any form of emotion, then it’s bottled up and what I call it is an explosion occurs.”
“I want the men who participate in this event to walk away feeling loved, feeling wanted, to feel that bond of being together, and to know that they have someone they can talk too if they need to talk. I want them to look forward to just feeling the joy and the fellowship of being around one another on that day,” said Phyllis Y. Watson, Director, FAMU Continuing Education.
To register, sign up using the QR Code here.
