RWJF Launches Multicultural Newsroom (posted 8/31)

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has launched its Multicultural Newsroom, a dynamic online resource that aims to provide extensive health-related information for anyone involved in improving the health and health care of African-Americans and Latinos in the United States. Through a multicultural lens and bilingual messaging, the site presents information, images and videos on a variety of health-related resources and activities in the African-American and Latino communities. To access the newsroom click here.

From the newsroom, you can access news releases, research findings and summaries, profiles of key programs and community leaders, expert commentary, video and audio stories and photos that illustrate our issues.

The Multicultural Newsroom includes:

• Profiles of key leaders, programs and projects that RWJF supports in these communities
• RWJF news releases, fact sheets and research findings that are of particular relevance to African-Americans and Latinos.
• Speeches, commentary and discussion by RWJF leaders and other experts addressing issues such as disparities in health care, reversing the childhood obesity epidemic and the impact of social factors on health.

 

New Study on Loneliness and HIV-Related Stigma Among Older Adults (posted 8/18)

Service providers and researchers should "assert more aggressive and innovative efforts to resolve both psychosocial and physical health issues that characterize the graying of the AIDS epidemic in the USA," according to the authors of the current study, 'Loneliness and HIV-Related Stigma Explain Depression Among Older HIV-Positive Adults.'  Thanks to treatment advances, more adults with HIV are living into their senior years. "These aging adults face added social, psychological, and physical challenges associated with the aging process," the authors noted. To read the abstract of the study click here.

Although correlations between depression, loneliness, health, and HIV/AIDS-related stigma have been studied, the team noted there has been little evaluation of these associations among HIV-positive adults over age 50. Data for the current analyses were drawn from the Research on Older Adults with HIV study of 914 HIV-positive men and women over age 50 in New York City. A total of 39.1 percent of study participants exhibited symptoms of major depression (CES-D>23). Multivariate modeling successfully explained 42 percent of the variance in depression which was significantly related to increased HIV-associated stigma, increased loneliness, decreased cognitive functioning, reduced energy levels, and being younger. "Data suggest that focusing efforts to reduce HIV-related stigma and loneliness may have lasting effects in reducing major depressive symptoms and improving perceived health," the authors concluded.

New Reports Show that Place Matters for Health of Young Men of Color (posted 8/11)

Five new reports, funded by The California Endowment, collectively show that place matters when it comes to the health and mental health of African-American and Latino boys and young men. Negative health outcomes for boys and young men of color are a result of growing up in neighborhoods of concentrated disadvantage - places that are more likely to put boys and young men directly in harm's way and reinforce harmful behavior. Each of these reports highlight specific challenges to the health of boys and young men of color and provide recommendations for improving their health outcomes. For more information click here.

• Healthy Communities Matter: The Importance of Place to the Health of Boys of Color

This executive summary combines the collective research efforts of the RAND Corporation, PolicyLink, The Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School and the Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice Drexel University’s School of Public Health and the Department of Emergency Medicine at Drexel University. It highlights how the neighborhoods where African-American and Latino boys and young men grow up directly influence their health outcomes, and points to the need for comprehensive, systems-based policy solutions implemented at the community level.

• Reparable Harm: Assessing and Addressing Disparities Faced by Boys and Men of Color in California

Looking at the data available on boys and young men of color, The RAND Corporation analyzed four broad areas associated with the health outcomes facing boys and men of color. Using a "social determinants" of health frame, they found that the odds for boys and men of color are far worse than they are for white boys and men across all of the areas examined. Using this same "social determinants" frame, they also point to recommendations that can begin to address these disparities.

• Building Equalizing Schools within Inclusive Communities: Strategies that Redirect the School to Prison Pipeline in the Classroom and Beyond

Drawing on the most robust research available, the Houston Institute examined how neighborhoods where African-American and Latino children live, and the schools they attend, directly contribute to the poor health outcomes they experience. The report also offers specific recommendations and highlights promising remedies that align with their analysis.

• Healing the Hurt: Trauma-Informed Approaches to the Health of Boys and Young Men of Color

After analyzing the role of trauma in the lives of Latino and African-American boys and young men, Drexel University outlines how a trauma-informed approach to the issues these young men and boys face can improve their health. They discovered that not only is trauma seldom explored by the systems assigned to help African-American and Latino boys and young men, but that these institutions often take a punitive approach to these traumatized boys precisely when they need them the most.

• The Promise of a Healthy California: Overcoming the Barriers for Men and Boys of Color 

PolicyLink assessed the context of California's systemic failures when it comes to the health of young men and boys of color. They examined the process to develop public will for change and the need for place-based solutions. Finally, their report highlights successful practices and makes recommendations for policy change and interventions.

Summer Issue of Focal Point on Youth in Transition (posted 8/4)

The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center for Pathways to Positive Futures at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon has released their annual issue of Focal Point, a research review focused on healthy youth transitions.  This issue entitled "Transitions to Adulthood" focuses on the developmental and institutional transitions that young adults with serious mental illness go through in their journey towards adulthood.  The articles in this issue provide an overview of the field of transition research and devleopmental psychology, specific programs that are designed to help youth in their transition to adulthood, and personal experiences from youth and family members.  For more information and to download a copy click here.

Celebrating Mental Health in Diverse Communities Part II

Celebrating Mental Health in Diverse Communities Part II

This NNED Network in Action Forum call that took place on July 28, 2010 is the second of a two part series featuring efforts taking place in communities across the nation to celebrate Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month (to view the recording of Part I click here).  This call focused on the Asian American, African American, and LGBT communities.  Speakers provided both a national overview of the efforts taking place to enhance public awareness of mental illness and mental illness among minorities and focused on local efforts in New Jersey and California.  To learn what other communities are doing and see how you too can celebrate this important month, download presentation slides from the webinar below.

Presentation Slides:
Asian American Presentation
DJ Ida (1.6MB)
Kavoos Bassiri (7.0MB)

African American Presentation
Kathy Wright

LGBT Presentation
Caitlin Ryan

Speakers:
DJ Ida, Executive Director, NAAPIMHA
Dr. D.J. Ida has over thirty years experience working with the Asian American Pacific Islander communities and received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Colorado.  She has a long history of community organization and helped establish several organizations including the Asian Pacific Development Center, a specialty mental health clinic in Denver, the National Asian American, Pacific Islander Mental Health Association, NAAPIMHA, and the National Alliance of Multi-ethnic Behavioral Health Associations. 

Kavoos Bassiri, President and CEO, Richmond Area Multi-Services, Inc.
Kavoos G. Bassiri is President & CEO of Richmond Area Multi-Services, Inc. (RAMS), a private non-profit mental health agency in San Francisco.  He is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a Certified Group Psychotherapist with over two decades of clinical and administrative experience in the field of mental health. He is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UCSF School of Medicine and maintains a private psychotherapy & consultation practice.

Kathy Wright, Executive Director, New Jersey Parents' Caucus
Kathy Wright’s experience as an advocate, mental health professional, educator and marketing professional has spanned over two decades. Most recently, she has been instrumental in developing and implementing programs and supportive services that empower parents, caregivers and family members who are raising children with severe mental health challenges. She Executive Director of the New Jersey Parents' Caucus (NJPC) and is the developer of NJPC’s New Jersey Model of Parent Empowerment and Collaboration & Parents Empowerment Academy and remains dedicated to working with families to become self-sufficient, overcome the stigma placed on them by society and work with dignity as collaborative partners with professionals.

Caitlin Ryan, Project Director, Family Acceptance Project
Caitlin Ryan is the Director of the Family Acceptance Project.™ Caitlin is a clinical social worker who has worked on LGBT health and mental health since the 1970s, and AIDS since 1982. She received her clinical training with children and adolescents at Smith College School for Social Work in inpatient and community mental health programs, and began her social work career in school-based psychoeducational settings. Caitlin pioneered community-based AIDS services at the beginning of the epidemic; initiated the first major study to identify lesbian health needs in the early 1980s; and has worked to implement quality care for LGBT youth since the early 1990s. She developed the Family Acceptance Project™ with Rafael Diaz in 2002 to promote family support, decrease risk and improve well-being for LGBT youth.

** This webinar was offered in partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Multicultural Action Center, National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health, National Latino Behavioral Health Association, First Nations Behavioral Health Association, National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association, and the Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health. **

Celebrating Mental Health in Diverse Communities Part II from Change Matrix LLC on Vimeo.

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