By Scott Knight

January is a time to recharge and recover from the holidays. It is also National Mental Wellness Month, which recognizes the importance of mental health and aims to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness.

According to the National Institutes of Health, 57.8 million adults lived with some form of mental illness in 2023. The severity varies from person to person. Understanding mental health statistics in the U.S. can raise awareness and garner support for those in need.

Anxiety disorders are the most common form of mental illness and women are more likely than men to experience depression. 17% of adolescents ages 12-17 experienced a major depressive episode. And 33.5% of adults with living with a mental illness also has a substance use disorder.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) collects data on substance use and mental health. Their 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that multiracial people had the highest rate of mental illness at 36.7%, followed by Whites (24%), American Indian/Alaskan natives (23.5%), Hispanics (20.6%), Blacks (19.4%), and Asians (18.1%).

Mental illness affects people differently. Children ages 6-17 are three times more likely to repeat a grade if they have mental, emotional, developmental, or behavioral problems. Those with severe mental illness have a life span of 10 to 25 years shorter than the general population. 64% of jail inmates have a mental illness compared to 21.6% of the general adult population.

Trending

Interview Ralph Gilles, Chief Design Officer

National Mental Wellness Month involves highlighting the resources available to equip individuals with the capacity to cope with life’s difficulties; have healthy relationships and take care of their mental well-being before issues arise.

Wellbeingtrust.org tells us that having a purpose in life offers many benefits, including being happier, living longer, sleeping better, and improved heart health. To find that purpose explore your interests, volunteer, consider what you love to do, talk to friends and family, and try new experiences.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness reports that 46% of people who die by suicide had a known mental illness.

The Jason Foundation is a valuable resource if you feel that a friend or loved one is struggling with a mental illness. JFI is dedicated to the awareness and prevention of suicide through educational programs that equip youth, parents, educators, and the community with the tools and resources to identify and assist those who may be struggling mentally.

Visit www.jasonfoundation.com to learn how to make a difference and find the closest Jason Foundation Affiliate Office.

About the Author

Scott Knight is the Education Specialist at the Jason Foundation.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

 Author: David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz, c.2024, Columbia University Press, $28.00

Get lots of rest.

That’s always good advice when you’re ailing. Don’t overdo. Don’t try to be Superman or Supermom, just rest and follow your doctor’s orders.

And if, as in the new book, “Building the Worlds That Kill Us” by David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz, the color of your skin and your social strata are a certain way, you’ll feel better soon.

Nearly five years ago, while interviewing residents along the Mississippi River in Louisiana for a book they were writing, authors Rosner and Markowitz learned that they’d caused a little brouhaha. Large corporations in the area, ones that the residents of “a small, largely African American community” had battled over air and soil contamination and illness, didn’t want any more “’agitators’” poking around. They’d asked a state trooper to see if the authors were going to cause trouble.

For Rosner and Markowitz, this underscored “what every thoughtful person at least suspects”: that age, geography, immigrant status, “income, wealth, race, gender, sexuality, and social position” largely impacts the quality and availability of medical care.

It’s been this way since Europeans first arrived on North American shores.

Native Americans “had their share of illness and disease” even before the Europeans arrived and brought diseases that decimated established populations. There was little-to-no medicine offered to slaves on the Middle Passage because a ship owner’s “financial calculus… included the price of disease and death.”  According to the authors, many enslavers weren’t even “convinced” that the cost of feeding their slaves was worth the work received.

Factory workers in the late 1800s and early 1900s worked long weeks and long days under sometimes dangerous conditions, and health care was meager; Depression-era workers didn’t fare much better. Black Americans were used for medical experimentation. And just three years ago, the American Lung Association reported that “’people of color’ disproportionately” lived in areas where the air quality was particularly dangerous.

So, what does all this mean? Authors David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz don’t seem to be too optimistic, for one thing, but in “Building the Worlds That Kill Us,” they do leave readers with a thought-provoker: “we as a nation … created this dark moment and we have the ability to change it.” Finding the “how” in this book, however, will take serious between-the-lines reading.

If that sounds ominous, it is. Most of this book is, in fact, quite dismaying, despite that there are glimpses of pushback here and there, in the form of protests and strikes throughout many decades. You may notice, if this is a subject you’re passionate about, that the histories may be familiar but deeper than you might’ve learned in high school. You’ll also notice the relevance to today’s healthcare issues and questions, and that’s likewise disturbing.

This is by no means a happy-happy vacation book, but it is essential reading if you care about national health issues, worker safety, public attitudes, and government involvement in medical care inequality. You may know some of what’s inside “Building the Worlds That Kill Us,” but now you can learn the rest.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

By Edward Henderson, California Black Media  

In 2012, Assemblymember Chris Holden was first elected to the California State Assembly representing the 41^st District in the San Gabriel Valley.

He was re-elected to that position for the following four terms.

While in office, Holden championed efforts to improve education outcomes for students and advocated for social and racial justice. Legislation he wrote or sponsored also focused on, innovation in transportation, protecting developmental disability service providers and improving public health, more broadly.

Holden, a graduate of San Diego State University, lives in Pasadena with his wife, Melanie, and children Nicholas, Alexander, Austin, Mariah and Noah. Holden is the son of former State Senator and LA City Councilmember Nate Holden.

Before he closed out his final year of service in the Assembly, California Black Media (CBM) spoke with Holden. He reflected on his accomplishments this year and his goals moving forward.

Looking back at 2024, what stands out to you as your most important achievement and why? 

A project I’ve been working on for well over 36 years — the light rail system — made its way into Pasadena from downtown LA. Now it’s making its way through the San Gabriel Valley to Pomona.

How did your leadership and investments contribute to improving the lives of Black Californians? 

Trending

Experience the Luxurious Power of the QX50 SUV: Autograph All Wheel Drive

Having an opportunity to represent a multi-ethnic and diverse district is exciting, but to be able to bring a voice for a lived African American experience from the San Gabriel Valley is very important.

What frustrated you the most over the last year?

I still am frustrated that we aren’t seeing the kind of progress on affordable housing to allow underrepresented communities to be able to afford to live in the community that they grew up in.

What inspired you the most over the last year?

There has been a lot of movement around reparations through community engagement. Dr. Shirley Weber put forth the bill to establish a reparations task force and that task force met for a number of years. Two members of our caucus served on it, Sen. Steven Bradford and Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer. A thousand-page report and a hundred recommendations or more came out of that. And now we’re in the process of finding ways to implement some of those recommendations. It’s going to be a longer process, but I’m hopeful because California, once again, is on the front end of taking on a really challenging issue.

What is one lesson you learned in 2024 that will inform your decision-making next year?

Always be mindful how quickly the winds can change. We’ve gone from 10 years of having budget surpluses to this year having a $45 billion deficit.

In one word, what is the biggest challenge Black Californians face?

Inequality.

What is the goal you want to achieve most in 2025?

Well, I won’t be in the legislature in 2025, but I love public policy. I’d like to find myself in a position where I’m continuing to have an influence on how public policy is shaped and formed. I’m just looking forward to being a vital voice going into next year in a different role. It will also be an opportunity to lay a foundation to take another run, possibly for a seat on the LA County Board of Supervisors in 2028.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post