SARASOTA (WSNN) – COVID-19 has the potential to impact our physical health, but is the pandemic causing us other issues?
July is Minority Mental Health Awareness month; an observance seeking to destigmatize mental illness, specifically targeted towards people of color.
“Minority populations have been disproportionally dying from COVID-19, disproportionally affected by COVID-19, including access to appropriate healthcare,” First Step’s Chief In-Patient & Residential Services Office, Tracey Weeden, said.
A recent American Psychiatric Association statement observes the higher rates of COVID-19’s of infection and fatality in communities of color and flatly states and urges taking action against the associated “psychological trauma in these communities.”
First Step serves Suncoast residents with mental health and addiction disorders. About 18-percent of its clients hail from minority communities and the numbers are growing. Tracey Weeden is Chief In-Patient and Residential Service Officer. She says the pandemic adds to some of the daily struggles already in place among minorities.
“When you have all the components that already exist and create a hardship, and then you add a pandemic, it’s not surprising that COIVD-19 would be affecting us more,” Weeden said.
An anonymous black 26-year-old woman with anxiety, depression, and substance abuse suffers from poverty and easy access to substances; a victim of the stigma.
“I’ve had people pick on me because of the way I talk,” the anonymous black woman said. “People say that it’s because of substance, but now, I’m not so sure. So, it’s hard to handle that problem.”
And Weeden says minorities struggle with asking for help.
“When people are just trying to meet their basic needs, how do you then, show that level of vulnerability to ask for help?” Weeden said.
A local Mexican-American was slow to realize he was having issues until it crippled him two-months later with anxiety and panic attacks.. He says there’s a stigma in his culture where mental illness is not taken seriously.
He told SNN, “You’re just brushed off and told to get yourself together and go out the door and do what you gotta do. And, too often, you don’t really take into consideration your own mental health until it cripples you.”
First step’s Weeden says the first step is really quite simple.
“It’s ok to ask for help, it’s ok.”
If you’re suffering from Mental Health, there are resources on the Suncoast.
