As a black male paired with my stature, I experience racial trauma daily. Racial trauma has subconsciously shaped my social norms across a variety of situations and taught me how to shrink to make others feel more comfortable and safer. I have realized that the more I embrace my own culture despite my level of education, my ability to code switch, friendly disposition, and bright smile I am still often viewed as a potential threat. Something as simple as driving, especially at night can be a highly anxiety inducing situation. Just the sight of any flashing lights (break lights, Christmas lights, blinking lights) or sounds of sirens (fire trucks, ambulance, police) causes a litany of physical and emotional responses. Thoughts of becoming another sensationalized news story, widowing my wife, leaving my daughters without a father or my mom having to bury her only son plague my mind and run rampant. Imagine a 15-minute drive to work with a 5-minute cool down period in the parking
As a clinician, I believe that e liminating mental health disparities for minorities, will take communication , treatment interventions and federal policies that provide the culturally sensitive outreach and education al support necessary to train a diverse workforce to meet the mental health needs of our people. Low treatment of minorities with mental illness is a major public health problem , best treated by providers who are clinically and culturally adept at helping minorities overcome environmental, cultural, spiritual, and traditional trauma. Minorities often suffer from poor mental health outcomes due to multiple factors including : • inaccessibility of quality mental health care services • cultural stigma surrounding mental healthcare • systemic discrimination, • an overall lack of awareness about mental health. These factors can present challenges when communicating mental health concerns. Minorities have less access to mental health services than do whites, are le