Children’s Mental Health Symposium at Arthur Ashe Institute

By: |Published on: Dec 9, 2023|Categories: health, health education, Wellness|

Pat with Dr. Sideny Hankerson
Pat with Dr. Sideny Hankerson

I attended 31st Anniversary of Legacy of Resilience: The Arthur Ashe Institute Mental Health Symposium, an educational symposium on the state of mental health in our communities, hosted by the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health and SUNY Downstate Health Science University. There are so many disturbances in the world that reveal how fragile our children are. We must tend to their needs and protect them.

The keynote speaker was Dr. Sidney Hankerson III, Vice Chair of Community Engagement in the Department of Psychiatry and Director of Mental Health Equity Research at the Institute of Health Equity Research at Mount Sinai Hospital. He spoke at the White House on men’s health during the Obama Administration. His research is on racial and ethnic disparities in mental health treatment.
 
He said that depression is the number one cause of disability in the World and in the US, it is especially disabling in communities of color, but our communities are less likely to have access to treatment. He called it a “silent epidemic”.
 
As you know, my years as an educator made me focus closely on what Dr. Hankerson said about our children. He said that from 1999-2019, suicide rates for Black children ages 5-12 were double the number compared to White children. That was BEFORE the pandemic and the other events that our children have witnessed since 2019.
 
Can you believe that it was once thought that someone of color who didn’t own property and/or could not fully participate in society could never suffer from mental illness, and that people trying to escape slavery were considered mentally ill and that could be CURED by whipping? Dr. Hankerson shared that in his presentation. The Arthur Ashe Institute Mental Health Symposium brings community members together to learn how we can help others. The Institute provides various services, even though according to “experts” of previous centuries, people of color aren’t supposed to have problems.
Institute CEO Marilyn Fraser MD and her staff organized an amazing informative inspiring day.
Brett Wright is the Chair of the Institutes board. My friend Hermione Fraser, owner of Hermie”s Salon, has been partnering with the Institute since 2000!

Presenters like Krystal Miller, LCSW also spoke on looking beyond the typical clinical approaches and pay attention to the whole body. During lunch, Jose “Dr. Drum” Ortiz demonstrated how music centers us.

Over the years, I have worked with the Arthur Ashe Institute as a Health Advocate. I coached stylists and barbers on how to spread the word to their clients about breast and prostate cancers (Soul Sense of Beauty and Fades of Health programs) and was a co-author of a study based on the programs. It was published in Journal of the National Medical Association (July 2009). Through SUNY Downstate, I introduced healthy habits to women, men, and youths at events the Hospital hosted.

Just as the Arthur Ashe Institute did with cancers that affect the community, the Institute has trained beauticians and barbers to speak to their customers about mental health wellness. There are also programs, available both in person and virtual, that address how the body affects the mind.

Dr. Hankerson quoted Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Children are our future. Let’s make sure they are healthy in mind, body and soul!

https://www.arthurasheinstitute.org

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