PSA: Mental Illness IS Black and White

Karyn Washington, Founder of "For Brown Girls" and Advocate, committed suicide at 22 earlier this year.

***DISCLAIMER: I KNOW my views do NOT apply to everyone in any community or race, but it is still an issue for ALL human beings regardless.

Mental illnesses have no biases, yet to me, families of color tend to think so. 

Unfortunately back in April, a woman named Karyn Washington committed suicide. She was known for uplifting the self-esteem of black women who are constantly told by society that their skin color made them "not good enough" or weren't supposed to wear bold colors on full lips... Anything repressing the beauty of black girls, she voiced against and made a huge impact.

Her death wasn't in vain. It sparked conversation about mental illnesses in the black community. I feel that mental illnesses are frowned upon. Looked at as a "white person's problem."

People of color can be told that they're: 

• going through a "phase"
• possessed by the devil
• need to pray it away
• acting white
• to stop acting out

Etc. Etc... The list really does go on and on. But we need to stop telling ANYONE these things. Take calls and yelps for help SERIOUSLY. Black people are NOT too strong for mental illnesses (unfortunately for anyone). NO ONE has the ability to JUST pray away mental illnesses. We're not gonna start off with a "Dear God" and majestically-- with puffs of glitter surrounding us-- become happy and mentally healthy.

No matter HOW strong your faith is in ANYTHING, it isn't that easy and instant. Healing of any sort isn't that easy and instant.

LISTEN WHEN SOMEONE CRIES FOR HELP. Do NOT brush it off as anything but A CRY FOR HELP and take NECESSARY actions: listen, give them hotlines, online sources, suggest therapy, medication... ANYTHING but things that will suggest that they are just being overdramatic and are filled with the devil.

PLEASE. I can tell you that it is not fun to feel like you have nowhere to turn because everyone in your community aren't taking your warning signs seriously.

Please break these habits. Change lives and detrimental perspectives.

If you want to read more people speaking out on Karyn's suicide (a lot of them speak more eloquently than I, and have sources to back them up), here are some:

• http://www.beyondblackwhite.com/founder-black-girls-advocate-us-karyn-washington-committed-suicide-suck/
• http://hellobeautiful.com/2014/04/15/karyn-washington-for-brown-girls-suicide-explained/
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/16/karyn-washington-for-brown-girls_n_5162226.html

You can Google Search "Karyn Washington's Suicide" for even more articles.

And here is Karyn's Legacy: http://www.forbrowngirls.com

Enjoy your day and be sure to make the world a little bit better.

Clarity is in Doing

I had my clinic "midterm" last week, and came to a realization: after four years of studies, I no longer think my path is in speech therapy.

I've LOVED and thoroughly enjoyed everything I've learned in this major, and that's not hard to do. You can love learning, but there's only so much a textbook can do.

Experience is what really tells you the truth about yourself.

I think it's very important to live life. Explore options and get your hands dirty.

Look at what really drives you, and what you enjoy doing in your free time. See that keyword? Doing?

Actions speak louder than words, yeah?

Anyway, although exploring is a wonderful epiphany, I feel I may need a bit more guidance. A great push is this site I found a few years back called theunlost.com. It has hundreds, maybe thousands of articles written in such a casual way. They're filled with "ah-ha" moments, plenty of space to converse with the community, and one of my favorite ways to get my doses of their site in: email subscription.

I subscribed to their Mini-Kit emails a couple of years ago, but lost track and didn't really do much more than skim over each one. I now signed up under my new email address and find the helpful nuggets so refreshing.

There's no way you can lose. You can unsubscribe anytime you want, and each Mini-Kit they send comes around every few days so you're not bombarded with emails day-in and day-out.

Please give it a chance! A nice change from the dreaded emails you have to reply to on a daily basis might be nice.

 

Improve a Day Within Seconds

This morning, I watched a video on TV of a tiny Asian woman who stood near the ledge of a building.

A large group of men leaned on the railing, which was a few feet away from the edge of the platform where the woman stood.

She must've said something that triggered the group, because hands grabbed at her, and pulled her back.

What saddened me was that despite her tiny physique, you could see her foot attempting to cling to the edge so she could finish the "job."

She was fighting to die.

I've seen videos and photos of people being saved from ending their lives, and the look on their face is usually one of exhaustion and tiredness. The almost collapse in an intangible pain.

But this woman tried even harder to fight for her abrupt end.

There are little things we can do to make a difference in someone's day. Not everyone can be helped as effectively as we hope, but why not give some of these 10 tips a try:

1. Smile at strangers.
2. Compliment someone.
3. Leave a sincere Facebook message to someone you haven't talked to in a couple of months
4. Let friends know you're always there for them if they need you (and try your best to follow through).
5. Be "that friend" no one else is willing to be, to someone who is "different" and seems a bit lonely.
6. Leave post-its up in public restrooms, on cars, and/or to your waiter or waitress with a silly pickup line or compliment.
7. Offer to help someone who looks like they need it, instead of looking away embarrassingly (even if they get mad that they were spotted, feel good that you were even willing to help out).
8. Treat workers respectfully, they're working hard to serve you in retail or at your table, or anywhere in-between, really. Cut them some slack and maybe even compliment their work ethic.
9. On that note, be a good worker. Don't sweat the small things, and don't take out a bad day you're having onto someone else.
10. Catch up with someone you haven't seen in a long time. Offer to meet them for coffee or lunch, and a walk if it's nice enough outside.