GK Folks Foundation Mental Health
Program: “Let’s End the Stigma”
Destigmatizing mental health among the Black and African diaspora community in Utah – A pilot project
LOCATION: UTAH
DATE: October-November 2020
LOCATION: UTAH
DATE: October-November 2020
The Challenge: Immigrants and refugees are often confronted with significant barriers to accessing mental health services. These barriers comprise a lack of awareness about mental health, the stigma associated with mental illness in their home countries, and the financial strain associated with accessing mental health services (Derr, 2016). Utah is home to roughly 200,000 foreign-born immigrants who face similar challenges in accessing mental health services.
The Opportunity: Although Utah has a long-standing commitment to immigrants and refugees, there are limited mental health awareness initiatives tailored to Black immigrants in Utah. We believe it’s possible to increase awareness about mental health while breaking the stigma associated with mental health in Utah immigrant and refugee communities.
Our Strategy: Our overarching goal is to increase mental health awareness and reduce the stigma associated with mental illness in immigrant and refugee communities. To do this, we are implementing a pilot project that will consist of a series of 5 online discussion-based workshops. Each session will comprise two components:
Storytelling, featuring black immigrants’ personal experiences dealing with mental health issues;
A 50-minute discussion on mental health facilitated by a licensed mental health professional.
A 50-minute discussion on mental health facilitated by a licensed mental health professional.
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This 50-minute discussion will include the following topics on the following dates listed below.
Oct 22nd at 6:30 pm: Introduction to Mental Health, barriers, and stigma Oct 29th at 6:30 pm: Anxiety and Depression Part 1 – Warning signs and triggers Nov 5th. at 6;30pm: Anxiety and Depression Part 2 – Coping skills Nov12th at 6:30 pm: Knowing when to seek help. Nov 19th at 6:30pm: Wrap up & Summary, Self-care recommendation PARTICIPATION GUIDELINES
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PRIZES
Participants who complete all sessions will receive a $25 Gift Card Participants have an additional opportunity to enter a drawing for the grand prizes $200 Gift Card |
