Mental health stories from the Black community

The veil of secrecy and shame surrounding a mental health diagnosis is particularly pervasive in communities of color

In 2017, as part of my year-long FACEing Mental Illness project — which was designed to eliminate, through stories and artwork, the stigma of disclosing a mental health diagnosis — I brought a young woman named Jennifer Marshall to Sarasota for one of the project’s free, public events.

At the time, Jennifer was several years into turning her own experience with bipolar disorder into a nonprofit called This is My Brave, which shared the goal of reducing the secrecy around mental illness through storytelling. Jennifer and her co-founder, the late Anne Marie Ames, had begun producing theatrical shows that allowed people to share their mental health challenges and triumphs in monologue, poetry and song.

Since that day, This is My Brave has hosted dozens of storytelling performances across the United States each year, giving teens and adults a chance to stand on stage and publicly share their personal experiences with mental illness or substance use disorders, many for the first time.

But back when we initially met, it was early in This is My Brave’s evolution and Jennifer, who lives in Virginia but whose parents live in Florida, was generous enough to agree to speak here for nothing more than the price of a plane ticket and a night at the Ritz Carlton. After her public talk at the Selby Public Library — where the 80+ pieces of art created in the FACEing project were on exhibition — I took Jennifer and her parents to dinner.

We spent a lot of time discussing the rewards and challenges of facilitating the the empowerment of a population that has often been scorned or hidden. And we agreed that one of the biggest obstacles we’d encountered was how to successfully recruit people from communities of color to participate in our efforts.

Research shows the prevalence of mental illness and addiction in Black and Latino communities, thanks to health and economic disparities, may even be greater than the one-in-five people in the overall population the National Alliance on Mental Illness cites. Yet it’s long been documented that those in Black, Latino and Asian populations are less likely to reveal their challenges and to seek, commit to and benefit from treatment due to the stigma surrounding mental illness in those communities.

Of the more than 80 participants in my 2016-2017 FACEing Mental Illness project, just one was Black, one Asian and one Latino. The aura of stigma around mental illness is particularly pervasive in communities of color.

The demographics of the FACEing project seemed to bear that out. Of the 80+ people who participated, and the more than 50 who shared their personal stories, there was just one Latino, one Asian and one African American. The latter, at 10, was the youngest, and her participation was largely driven by her mother, who was passionately determined to reduce discrimination against her daughter and others like her.

While I moved on to other ventures after the year-long fellowship that underwrote the FACEing project ended, This is My Brave continued to grow and blossom into a powerful and significant platform for breaking misconceptions and empowering individuals with mental illness. It has now taken its first steps into reducing the racial barrier as well.

The proof will be shared on Martin Luther King Day (7 p.m. EST, January 18), as well as the first day of Black History month (7 p.m. EST, February 1), with its newest presentation, “Stories from the Black Community.”  

Made possible in part by a University of South Florida department of Research & Innovation Understanding Blackness and Anti-Black Racism Rapid Response Grant, the program brings together 15 individuals from across the United States who bravely share stories about mental illness, substance use disorder, treatment, recovery and hope. Denise Davis-Cotton of USF served as “storytelling coach” on the project.

“Our goal with this program is to reduce the stigmas associated with mental illness and open the door for critical conversations about mental health in the Black community, using storytelling in a culturally meaningful way,” said Dr. Kyaien Conner of USF, co-producer and lead researcher for the show.

Registration is open, and tickets are free; with a pay-what-you-can donation model. (And please give generously if you can; this is important work.) A live panel discussion with the cast will occur immediately following the premiers so viewers can ask questions and interact with the cast. Register at https://thisismybrave.org/events; performances will be archived on This Is My Brave’s YouTube channel after the initial air date.

Seeing what Jennifer continues to accomplish with her groundbreaking work and organization makes me fondly remember the exhilaration and fulfillment of being able to shed light on the talents and tales of my brave friends who participated in the FACEing Mental Illness project. I’d love to replicate that some day by featuring the stories and gifts of those within our own Black and Latino communities who are courageously triumphing over mental health challenges.