Bay Area

A 2020 Vision: See Life’s Purposes and Goals Clearer by Connecting Mental Health and Spirituality

Published

5 years ago

January 30, 2020

Last year was a difficult one for this country. From mass shootings, fires, homelessness, and being publicly attacked by POTUS himself, this was a rough year.

Through my work as a school psychologist and as a mental health therapist, it has become more and more apparent that the Bay Area at large is suffering from hopelessness, fatigue, insomnia, restlessness, withdrawal and loss of focus.

These are symptoms of depression and anxiety that haves led to an overall decline in moral and social functioning in our region. These issues are not new to places like Oakland, Richmond, the Tenderloin, and Hayward.

But places like Concord, Castro Valley and El Sobrante also show signs of mental health issues, homelessness and drug addiction. In many of my sessions this past year, I could feel the despair of the community at large. Those suffering from the most symptoms also appeared to be spiritually lost or even at odds with their higher power, sometimes questioning the purpose of their existence.

Many people are experiencing mental and spiritual warfare within their own minds and belief systems, which have diminished the outlook on their quality of life. Mental and sSpiritual harmony is the key to moving past these psychological barriers. The problem is that there is a major disconnect with spirituality and mental health. People are miserable with no hope in sight.

This is why we turn toward Black Psychology principles like Sankofa and the metaphor being expressed by the Great Sphinx of Giza statue in Egypt to resolve these modern issues.

Dr. Na’im Akbar, a past president of the ABPsi, noted that the Sphinx, the head of a man carved onto the body of a lion, represented the psychic journey of rising above the lower, animalistic tendencies to be ruled by the higher principles of the mind, allowing a clearer human mind to guide decisions and thoughts.

Sankofa is a term that roughly translates to ‘going back to get it.’ Another Black psychologist, Dr. Wade Nobles, co-founder and past president of the ABPsi, notes more fully that Sankofa means to “go back and fetch the essence of being in order to go forward” and intentionally create (retrieve) a plan and purpose for success.

The “it” is the knowledge that was already given through psychological and spiritual systems developed sometimes thousands of years ago.

In modern times, most of us are caught up in the rat race for basic survival (lower nature) and have limited capacity to connect with others or those who are suffering in order to produce a healing community (higher nature). This internal conflict is a spiritual one because of the resistance to acknowledge that there is a higher consciousness to evolve to. This higher consciousness leads to healthier thinking and decision-making, which improves mood and outlook on life.

Growing up in the Bay Area, I remember San Francisco was imaged as being a place of peace and love; Berkeley was home base for political activism; and Oakland wasbeing a place of Black Power and cultural and spiritual expression. These have been traditional cornerstones of the identity of the Bay Area.

As the cost of living skyrocketed this past decade, I think the focus on making ends meet has led to higher levels of stress and a less personal way of being. It is not a surprise then that, as a community, the Bay Area seems morally off balance.

It does not help that many churches, temples, and mosques have closed or have become dying, members’s-only social clubs.

To further complicate the matter, there is still a stigma for many of the diverse populations in Bay Area regarding accessing mental health services. Nevertheless, people are getting guidance from somewhere but it may not always be psychologically or spiritually sound.

I am challenging people to be intentional about making decisions related to day-to-day and long-term goals that are true to one’s core values and produces the least internal strife. Too many of us are living with regrets because we are making unhealthy choices in already bad circumstances. We have to dig deeper than our current situation to find solutions to issues that sit right in our soul.

This is what it means to do Sankofa and to reflect the law of the Sphinx. This alignment of mind, body, and spirit will allow for clearer vision for 2020 and beyond. As a proud Bay Area native, I believe we can access the rich characteristics that once made our region the most technologically modern and socially aware place in the world.

It’s time to rebuild communities by forging new relationships. This can only happen when we share solutions to our problems. It starts by knowing yourself and tapping into what gives you spiritual peace. Then remember the ways of your elders and ancestors that helped people deal with the day- to- day issues of society. Then we will overcome our lower nature functions and truly allow our human consciousness to elevate. As each one elevates, so does the community.

The Association of Black Psychologists, Bay Area Chapter (ABPsi-Bay Area) is committed to providing the Post Newspaper readership with monthly discussions about critical issues in Black Mental Health. The ABPsi-Bay Area is a healing resource. We can be contacted at (bayareaabpsi@gmail.com) and readers are welcome to join with us at our monthly chapter meeting, every third Saturday at the West Oakland Youth Center from 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Art Harris, LMFT School Psychologist

Posts by Art Harris, LMFT School Psychologist

Related Topics:Association of Black Psychologists mental health bay area saNKOFA

Up Next

The SixTripleEight: ‘No Mail, Low Morale’

Don't Miss

Time to Ring Census Alarm Bell, Advocates Warn Congress

Art Harris, LMFT School Psychologist

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

Published

5 days ago

May 25, 2025

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Bay Area

Chevron Richmond Installs Baker Hughes Flare.IQ, Real-time Flare Monitoring, Control and Reduction System

While the sight of flaring can cause concern in the community, flares are essential safety systems that burn pollutants to prevent them from being released directly into the atmosphere. They activate during startup and shut-down of facility units or during upsets or equipment malfunctions. The typical flare stack is about 200 feet high so that vapors are well above street levels.

Published

2 weeks ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Image courtesy The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

Chevron Richmond recently installed flare.IQ, a real-time, automated system that will improve the facility’s flaring performance.

The technology, developed by Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business, uses sensors to monitor, reduce and control flaring in real time. It collects and assesses data on refinery processes, such as temperature, pressure, gas flow and gas composition, and adjusts accordingly to ensure flares burn more efficiently and cleanly, leading to fewer emissions.

“The cleaner the flare, the brighter the flame can look,” said Duy Nguyen, a Chevron Richmond flaring specialist. “If you see a brighter flame than usual on a flare, that actually means flare.IQ is operating as intended.”

“A key element in Baker Hughes’ emissions abatement portfolio, flare.IQ has a proven track record in optimizing flare operations and significantly reducing emissions,” said Colin Hehir, vice president of Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business. “By partnering with Chevron Richmond, one of the first operators in North America to adopt flare.IQ, we are looking forward to enhancing the plant’s flaring operations.”

The installation of flare.IQ is part of a broader and ongoing effort by Chevron Richmond to improve flare performance, particularly in response to increased events after the new, more efficient hydrogen plant was brought online in 2019.

Since then, the company has invested $25 million — and counting — into flare minimization. As part of the effort, a multidisciplinary refinery team was formed to find and implement ways to improve operational reliability and ultimately reduce flaring. Operators and other employees involved in management of flares and flare gas recovery systems undergo new training.

“It is important to me that the community knows we are working hard to lower emissions and improve our flaring performance,” Nguyen said.

Also evolving is the process by which community members are notified of flaring incidents. The Community Warning System (CWS), operated by Contra Costa County is an “all-hazard” public warning system.

Residents can opt-in to receive alerts via text, e-mail and landline. The CWS was recently expanded to enable residents to receive notifications for “Level 1” incidents, which are considered informational as they do not require any community action.

For more information related to these topics, check out the resources included on the Chevron Richmond, CAER and Contra Costa Health websites. Residents are also encouraged to follow @chevronrichmond and @RFDCAOnline on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), where additional information may be posted during an incident.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland Hosts Town Hall Addressing Lead Hazards in City Housing

According to the city, there are 22,000 households in need of services for lead issues, most in predominantly low-income or Black and Latino neighborhoods, but only 550 to 600 homes are addressed every year. The city is hoping to use part of the multimillion-dollar settlement to increase the number of households served each year.

Published

2 weeks ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Magaly Muñoz

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department hosted a town hall in the Fruitvale to discuss the efforts being undertaken to remove lead primarily found in housing in East and West Oakland.

In 2021, the city was awarded $14 million out of a $24 million legal settlement from a lawsuit against paint distributors for selling lead-based paint that has affected hundreds of families in Oakland and Alameda County. The funding is intended to be used for lead poisoning reduction and prevention services in paint only, not water or other sources as has been found recently in schools across the city.

The settlement can be used for developing or enhancing programs that abate lead-based paint, providing services to individuals, particularly exposed children, educating the public about hazards caused by lead paint, and covering attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing litigation.

Most of the homes affected were built prior to 1978, and 12,000 of these homes are considered to be at high risk for lead poisoning.

City councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents a few of the lead-affected Census tracts, said the majority of the poisoned kids and families are coming directly from neighborhoods like the Fruitvale.

“When you look at the [kids being admitted] at the children’s hospital, they’re coming from this community,” Gallo said at the town hall.

In order to eventually rid the highest impacted homes of lead poisoning, the city intends to create programs and activities such as lead-based paint inspections and assessments, full abatement designed to permanently eliminate lead-based paint, or partial abatement for repairs, painting, and specialized cleaning meant for temporary reduction of hazards.

In feedback for what the city could implement in their programming, residents in attendance of the event said they want more accessibility to resources, like blood testing, and information from officials about lead poisoning symptoms, hotlines for assistance, and updates on the reduction of lead in their communities.

Attendees also asked how they’d know where they are on the prioritization list and what would be done to address lead in the water found at several school sites in Oakland last year.

City staff said there will be a follow-up event to gather more community input for programming in August, with finalizations happening in the fall and a pilot launch in early 2026.