FORUM
Devon Davis and mental
health in our community
KimyaN.
Dennis
I Guest
Columnist
Devon Davis was one
of over 2,000 North
Carolina inmates released
last year after being impris
oned with a mental illness.
This prison release is an
example of changes to
North Carolina's mental
health system.
Unfortunately, this
release also shows how dif
ficult it is to bring incarcer
ated people back into soci
ety. There are programs
and organizations dedicat
ed to prison re-entry and
reintegration. But not every
former inmate has access
to these programs and
organizations. Not every
program and organization
discusses mental health
and mental illness.
Devon Davis is strug
gling with unemployment
and homelessness. He
sometimes stays with fami
ly. This is a lot to deal with
while also dealing with
mental illness. The story of
Devon Davis is familiar in
many communities ?
unemployment, homeless
ness, or moving from one
place of living to another.
Many communities are less
familiar with mental health
and mental illness. This
unfamiliarity is not
because mental health and
mental illness are uncom
mon in our communities.
Instead, many people do
not know the meaning of
"mental health." Many
people do not get diag
nosed and treated for their
mental and emotional diffi
culties. This is similar to
how many people do not
get diagnosed and treated
for physical difficulties.
The phrases "mental
health" and "mental ill
ness" (and "mental health
condition") are commonly
used. But when you ask
some people what these
phrases mean, some people
are not sure. National
Institute of Health (NIH)
defines mental health as
how we think, feel and
behave. Mental health is
about how we deal with
things that happen in our
lives and how we make life
decisions. How we deal
with our prohlems and
stress. How we deal with
other people.
Mental health does not
mean there is a mental ill
ness. Everyone has mental
and emotional health (and
physical health). Our
thoughts and feelings can
be temporary and short
term (example: sadness) or
they can last a long time
(example: depression). We
need healthy ways to
express our emotions.
Ways that do not harm our
selves or anyone else.
When feelings and
actions become uncontrol
lable and unhealthy, there
might be a mental illness.
Mental illnesses are health
conditions that harm how
we think, feel, and behave.
Health conditions are con- -
nected to genetics, family
background, things hap
pening in our lives, and
things that stress us out.
When should we con
tact medical and mental
health professionals?
?If we cannot control
our thoughts and actions
?If we struggle to start
or keep relationships with
coworkers, friends, and
family
?If a loved one is strug
gling
Mental health is impor
tant. We need to pay atten
tion to how we think and
feel; pay attention to how
we behave and treat other
people. Let's get rid of the
silence and shame with
mental health and mental
illness. Let's talk to each
other, listen to each other.
As a community, help each
other get professional help.
As individuals, get profes
sional help if we need help.
We must take care of our
selves so we can take care
of the people we love and
our communities.
For more information,
go to:
?The Mental Health
Association in Forsyth
County: http://www.triad
mentalhealth .org/what-is
mental-illness/
?Mental Health
America: African
American Communities
and Mental Health
http://www.mental
healthamerica.net/african
american-mental-health
Kimya N. Dennis is a
criminologist and sociolo
gist with interdisciplinary
research and community
outreach on suicide and
self-harm, mental health,
and reproductive freedoms.
Her work places particular
emphasis on underserviced
communities and
Blacks/African diaspora.
She is a member of the
Board of Directors for The
Mental Health Association
in Forsyth County; North
Carolina chapter of
American Foundation for
Suicide Prevention; and
LEAD Girls ofNC.
One can see straight
through
"I think
Bill they're all
going to hell
l\mier in a hand
basket,"
Guest snaPPed
grandmother.
Columnist then 70 years
rxlrl in InnA
?V/1U All </ U11V
1966, when I
asked her what she thought of my genera
tion.
I was 20 as we thumbed through the
pictures and briefs in Jet Magazine. That
week's cover story: James Meredith shot
on his March through Mississippi. Rev.
Dr. Martin Luther King and others took up
Meredith's March, with Stokely
Carmichael creating worldwide commo
tion by raising the term "Black Power."
Percy Sledge popularized the romantically
passionate tune "When A Man Loves a
Woman."
Last week, I found myself having the
same reaction to the younger generation as
my Grandma did a half century ago while
I watched - blushing at times - the BET
Awards Show, along with my 15 year-old
granddaughter.
Music, acting, sports and fields of
entertainment are the current plots and sto
rylines for black millennials. Whereas Jet
carried the scenes, sights and sounds of
social change and what black people had
on their minds a half century ago, BET
now focuses the spotlight on what black
celebrities don't have on either their minds
nor their bodies.
Beyonce opened the show bouncing
about briskly in fewer threads than Eve in
the Garden while co-emcee Tracee Ellis
Ross - who changed into fewer clothes
between each segment - slinked about
once in a skintight snakeskin. Taraji
Henson wanted first to "Thank God" after
she sashayed onto the stage in a see
through skirt exaggerated in silver to
accept the Best Actress Award for her role
as "Cookie" on the hit show Empire.
"You know 1 was going to wear that
outfit," said co-host Anthony Anderson,
the star of Blackish - as he pirouetted dra
matically to show his bare butt cheeks,
framed in white pants - to Janelle Monae,
who paid tribute to Prince while showing
off her unadorned rear-end at the same
time. Transgender star of "Orange is the
New Black," Laverne Cox, wore a plung
ing, very, very skimpy jumpsuit acces
sorized with some killer body chains all
below an auburn mermaid hairstyle. Jesse
Williams' acceptance speech for the BET
Humanitarian Award seemed almost out of
place.
At least I could discuss the anatomy of
Williams' speech with my granddaughter.
"How long have you been saying *
young black people would go to hell in a
hand basket?," I asked my Grandmother.
"For at least 50 years," she replied. I won
der what Grandmother would say about
the new pictures presented on BET: where
things and people are going.
Dr. Bill Turner is a noted educator,
writer and thinker who called Winston
Salem home far many years. Reach him at
bill-turner? comcast net.
"How long have you been saying young black people
would go to hell in a hand basket?"
Photo by Man Sayfea/Iavtsion/AP
Taraji P. Henson accepts the award for best actress at the BET Awards at the
Microsoft Theater on Sunday, June 26, in Los Angeles.
^ I
? M W I I