Mental Health Support

Mental health is not merely a personal issue; it is a societal issue. It is an equity and justice issue. Mental health is a human-rights issue. Mental illness can be painful, alienating, and at times, paralyzing. Often, people suffer alone, in silence. When our fellow human beings suffer, we all suffer.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s teaching reminds us that: “[M]y humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in yours. We belong in a bundle of life. We say a person is a person through other persons.” It takes a village to advocate for restoring and maintaining mental wellbeing. It is important to destigmatize mental illness and offer people resources and support them to seek help.

In May 2020, I wrote an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education on How Institutions Can Make Mental Health a Top Priority. Below are a few free mental-health resources to consider checking out if you need help or if you are looking to learn more about mental health:

• • • My Grief Angels: a non-profit organization, is an online grief support community of people grieving leveraging new technologies to help each other cope with loss.

    • Crisis Text Line: a global not-for-profit organization providing free mental health texting service through confidential crisis intervention via SMS message.

    • Active Minds: a national organization focused on young adults and mental health.

    • The Jed Foundation: a nonprofit that works with high schools and colleges to strengthen their mental-health programs.

    • The National Alliance on Mental Illness: billed as the “nation’s largest grassroots mental-health organization.”

    • The Anxiety and Depression Association of America: an international nonprofit.

    • Two essays on Thrive Global Community from June 2020, “Pain That’s Not Transformed, Gets Transmitted” and “Time to Prioritize Indigenous Youth.”

    • For expertise on Black students and their mental-health needs: the Association of Black Psychologists, Alkeme Health, and Therapy for Black Girls.

    • An October 2020 book from Routledge: Decolonizing Pathways Towards Integrative Healing in Social Work.