3 Ways to Support Wellness for BIPOC
A CALL FOR MINDFULNESS AND WELLNESS IN MARGINALIZED COMMUNITIES
It was a Monday evening, sometime in the winter, when my friend invited me to a first yoga class. I remember sharing with her, “I’m not flexible!” and she encouraged me to go to with her for a session with the intention of experiencing relief and release from our long week. But looking back on my thoughts of going to a Yoga class, I only remember thinking and feeling a sense of discomfort that made me feel almost shameful. Let me back up a little. Upon walking into the studio, my friend and I were greeted with smiles and we got a great deal. After a quick scan of the pamphlet, I quickly realized that it was pricey, and we were among the few people of color present. I tried to shake off the guilt of wanting to join but can’t due to the financial restrictions. At that moment, I began to feel increasingly self-conscious about being there and wondered if I liked it would I be able to join? Realistically, I was thinking about my own financial obligations. I couldn’t help but to think of how this could be a deal breaker for other people of color that are restricted financially. The whole experience made me feel ashamed, but I stayed because I really wanted to catch-up with my friend and at the same time practice and feel more centered with myself. That experience left me wondering: “why don’t we see a lot of people of color in search of wellness?
ACCESS TO QUALITY CARE CAN BE A PRIVILEGE
One reason is the fact that the path to wellness can be tricky – The US healthcare system. For people of color, the US healthcare system has eaten away our wellbeing and we are disproportionately affected by an overall lack of proper care and attention. According to the Commonwealth Fund (2014) found that, “many primary-care physicians struggle to receive relevant clinical information from specialists and hospitals, complicating efforts to provide seamless, coordinated care.” Meanwhile the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has helped to ensure health care coverage for millions of Americans. The uninsured rate among African Americans declined after the law included: of the more than 20 million people who have gained coverage 2.8 millions of them African-American (ACA, 2019). Yet, people of color are typically expected to be strong, able to handle whatever life throws their way. But this mentality often leaves many of them too stressed to rest or prioritize their self-care.
MAKING WELLNESS MORE ACCESSIBLE FOR LOW-INCOME AND WORKING-CLASS PEOPLE
As an Egyptian-American woman, how am I supposed to feel when I hear other voices being heard on issues I’m dealing with too? Representation of people of color in the wellness industry is essential. Wellness isn’t whiteness, it’s a state of being and wanting to care for yourself, so let’s drop the pretense that people of color “don’t want to embrace wellness,” when to gain access to wellness is not financially inclusive. As a child living in an immigrant household, I understand first-hand how it feels to being ostracized when buying a $7 green juice, or entering a wellness center and knowing I cannot financially afford a package. This is what bias is – where you can applaud one woman and attack another for the same exact thing. It’s not about buying the $7 drink or entering a wellness center – It’s the fact that our communities are always speaking for and speaking over people of color. To be heard and understood, and maybe even given advice by someone who knows what it’s like to feel what I feel. It is important as healers of the community to check yourself and realize that being an ally means falling back, listening, and supporting people of color by amplifying their voice and narrative in these spaces. Being in good health is something for everyone to think about, and we all have our own journeys to go on – what if… yogi instructors seek out to communities that lack wellness resources? What if… that snowballs into opportunities and resources through a practice that can be both adaptive and accessible? These are all valid suggestions and a way to seek people of color’s mental health as such a crucial component of restorative justice.
When POC do receive care, it is often poorer quality.
My experience is not unique. After listening to other similar experiences of POC’s inabilities to gain access to culturally competent care, left me wondering: why POC receive inadequate services? Were it not for my nurse father’s reassurance at every step, his stories of succeeding and taking care of yourself in spite of rejection and failure, I doubt I would be a social worker. For example, only 5% of psychologists are African Americans. Racism in mental health (medical biases) is not a stranger, and even today, there is inequitably placed on the shoulders of those from racially marginalized backgrounds Our communities are in crisis. People of color are more exposed to experience race-based trauma and PTSD, with Native Americans experiencing significantly higher rates. Asian-American women have the second highest suicide rate in the country. Islamophobia has taken a mental and physical toll on Muslim Americans with nearly one-forth suffering from depression. Both Black and Latinx people face hight rates of depression than white people. (Williams, 2015)
“From the pandemic impacting communities, I recommend that we learn to take care of ourselves and heal our racial trauma.”
Many people of color are not acutely of the explicit disparities of healing and thriving in communities. In the middle of a pandemic, more than ever, inner strength and resilience matters. Findings from large-scale national studies indicate that, while African Americans have a lower risk for many anxiety disorders, they have a 9.1% prevalence rate for PTSD, compared to 6.8% in Whites (Himle et al, 2009). Which highlights that almost one in ten Black people becomes traumatized, and I think these rates may actually be higher since diagnosticians are usually not considering the role of racism in causing trauma (Malcoun, Williams, & Bahojb-Nouri, 2015). Make no mistake, radical resistance is the true definition of loving ourselves. Research studies have demonstrated that the struggles along the path to foster mental health and practice restorative healing. Lack of mental health accessibilities contributes to black and brown individuals being more likely to thrive in wellness and healing.
FOUR WAYS PEOPLE OF COLOR CAN FOSTER MENTAL HEALTH AND PRACTICE RESTORATIVE HEALING
1. De-stigmatized mental health.
The stigma of mental health care is a barrier. It is something that must be addressed when aiming to increase treatment seeking behavior (Alvidrez, Snowden, & Kaiser, 2008). Improvements need to be made in educating cultures on the efficacy of mental health care and the myths of mental illness, According to Vogel, Wade, and Hackler (2007), an increase in the knowledge of stigma, both in consumers and providers,’ leads to an increase in the amount of practical interventions designed to encourage counseling. Therefore, destigmatizing mental health by breaking down barriers to seeking help – is a first step. While the experience of psychological distress and prevalence of mental disorders in people of color may be comparable to their counterparts in other racial groups – results in the power to share our narrative. What is power of our narrative? It is an act of self-love, liberation, and reclamation. I have provided bullets of resources to broaden awareness and dialogue:
Be conscious of words and language that stigmatize mental illness.
Watch Youtube videos by yoga instructors or anyone specialized in wellness and mindfulness. All of this is an intersection of mental health and radical self-love!
Try out one of these 12 mental health apps, each designed for a specific purpose (to ease insomnia; improve mood; stop self-harm; etc.).
Look up apps that help POC find their therapists with similar cultural background.
2. Practice self-care
As we are #alonetogether throughout this pandemic, it is important to unpack our heavy hearts. Do yourself a favor and allow yourself to create a space of healing for love, power, and joy. What are ways you can gradually protect and care for yourself?
Listen to these 5 mental health podcasts by therapists of color.
Read these 5 mental health blogs created for people of color.
Bookmark this Black Lives Matter Meditation for healing racial trauma
Visit Activist Trauma Support to get tips on handling panic attacks, PTSD, and burnout.
Learn how 11 Black Queer and Trans Women practice self-care.
Lead the Young People of Color Self Help Guide, which provides insight on the specific mental health issues affecting young people of color.
3. Seek mental-health treatment
Action is what makes this conversation so powerful. We cannot simply talk about mental health, we must be brave enough to step into the uncharted, often numbed away, potentially disconnected side to us. Here are some places to start:
Find Black therapists at AfricanAmericanTherapists.com and The Association of Black Psychologists.
Find outpatient services tailored for Asian Americans using Hyphen Magazine’s resource guide.
Islamic Counseling is based in the UK, but their helpful links page has some counselors available for Skype sessions. Watch their 4-minute video about Islamic Counselling.
FINAL MESSAGE
I find motivation in knowing that faith requires action. I’m so proud of our community members who have showed up and prioritized the health of one another. I am often asked how I can work to dismantle racist patriarchy every day without burning out. It is hard, exhausting, and at times traumatizing work, there is no question. But through it all it taught me valuable lessons that I would have never learned without it; educating myself and finding solace and peace in my meditations and positive affirmations – I am so grateful. This work is part of my healing and my healing is my salvation. I believe people of color, especially black and brown women, will continue to rise and pave the way for inclusive and accessible health and wellness, and we will ALL be better for it.
REFERENCES
Bowen Garret and Anju Gangopadhyaya, “Who Gained Health Insurance Coverage Under the ACA, and Where Do They Live?” Urban Institute and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, December 2016, https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/86761/2001041-who-gained-health-insurance-coverage-under-the-aca-and-where-do-they-live.pdf.
Carter, R. T. (2007). Racism and psychological and emotional injury: Recognizing and assessing race-based traumatic stress. The Counseling Psychologist, 35(1), 13-105.
C'de Baca, J., Castillo, D., & Qualls, C. (2012). Ethnic differences in symptoms among female veterans diagnosed with PTSD. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 25(3), 353-357.
Chae, D. H., Lincoln, K. D., & Jackson, J. S. (2011). Discrimination, attribution, and racial group identification: Implications for psychological distress among Black Americans in the National Survey of American Life (2001–2003). American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 81(4), 498-506.
Himle, J. A., Baser, R. E., Taylor, R. J., Campbell, R. D., & Jackson, J. S. (2009). Anxiety disorders among African Americans, Blacks of Caribbean Descent, and Non-Hispanic Whites in the United States. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 23, 578–590.
Malcoun, E., Williams, M. T., & Bahojb-Nouri, L. V. (2015). Assessment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in African Americans. In L. T. Benuto & B. D. Leany (Eds.), Guide to Psychological Assessment with African Americans, New York: Springer. ISBN: 978-1-4939-1003-8.
Janel Jones, John Schmitt, and Valerie Wilson, “50 Years After The Kerner Commission, African Americans Are Better Off In Many Ways, But Are Still Disadvantaged By Racial Inequality,” Economic Policy Institute, February 26, 2018, https://www.epi.org/publication/50-years-after-the-kerner-commission/.
Sara R. Collins, Herman K. Bhupal, and Michelle M. Doty, “Health Insurance Coverage Eight Years After The ACA: Fewer Uninsured Americans and Shorter Coverage Gaps,” The Commonwealth Fund, February 7, 2019, https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2019/feb/health-insurance-coverage-eight-years-after-aca.