in the black community. Mental health is always shunned upon. But in reality we all have some issues of our own that we deal with. We have to do work in our black and brown communities, we need to be also making sure that we're talking about our mental health. You have to let people know that you're hurting or that you're anxious or that you're fearful. Mm Toi Burton was *** teenager when her 23 year old sister Denita DD Morris died by suicide the way I learned to cope with it, she was just trying to make the pain go away. You know what she did? She did it for her after her sister's death toys own mental health suffered. She turned to alcohol and drugs to numb the pain of her childhood traumas and years later she attempted suicide. I just I wanted the pain to stop. It was just so bad the internal pain and to me I was like I was just done with it. Toy spent years working on her mental health and recovery In 2017 she tried to help *** friend find support resources but realize most aren't geared towards people of colour. Mental health knows no race. But when you're looking for *** place to belong, you want somebody to have something that you can connect with. So Toy created deeds cry *** boston area organization dedicated to raising awareness and offering peer support and resources and I'm going to make sure that these resources are accessible to people who live in communities where the people look like me toys organization helps to solve *** gap, but that will only go so far when faced with the perceptions and shame around mental health issues. *** study showed that 63% of black people believe *** mental health condition is *** sign of personal weakness. But the stigma doesn't end there. The stigma is basically what goes on in this house stays in this house. You know, we still have *** lot of that philosophy that runs deep into our generations. In return, many people of the black community seek support from their faith community solely. Statistics tell us that about 25% of African Americans seek mental health care Compared to 40% of whites. Part of protecting our families is protect our secrets and part of protecting our secrets is not allowing somebody from the outside in. But once black people seek help, they are then faced with implicit bias that affects the help they receive or find it difficult to find *** provider of the same race as an african american. We have so much trauma in our, in our history, we have racism that is *** trauma within itself that has gone so unrecognized racial trauma is this ideal that because I identify as *** black person that I am going to be constantly exposed to racist ways of being in the world that are going to contribute to me, thinking less about myself and they're constantly on the lookout for various racist things that happened to me recently, the images of police brutality on the internet Protest across the nation and people of colour battling COVID-19 at disproportionately higher rates are just some of the factors that affect one's mental health. If you're *** person of color in your stress level is higher than *** non person of color because of all of the race and racial factors in this country, then you're more likely to have mental health problems. Many blacks have become desensitized having trouble recognizing the signs and symptoms of mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression, which leads to them underestimating the effects of mental health conditions. By the time they arrive for care, they're really sick. Only 4.7% of psychologists identify as black, which makes it difficult to find *** black therapist to work with and can result in higher caseloads for those who are practicing to combat the lack of inclusion. Some black psychologists are making it *** priority to meet people where they are by creating *** comforting environment and providing resources patients need to heal. We have to reduce the stigma around it and more importantly, we need to address it from *** culturally *** place that's culturally relevant in Milwaukee Tarsha Wiggins, *** licensed clinical social worker created *** different form of therapy. It really just like just hit me. I was just like what if we took trap took this music and we coupled it with therapy. It's like coming to the club. But you're going to leave so much better trap. Therapy consists of group counseling sessions that are heavily inspired by rap music psychologists like Tarsha understand that by embracing culture you can create *** safe space for individuals seeking help. There's *** need for the mental health and mental welfare of *** lot of black and brown people. We want people to normalize the conversation around mental health and so we want people to feel empowered to have those conversations and seek resources. Do not keep it bottled up inside until you talk about it. Okay then you can take the next step about getting receiving help. Here are some general tips on how you can provide support for those dealing with mental health. Listen without making judgments and concentrate on their needs in that moment. Ask them what would help them let them share as much or as little as they want to treat them with the same respect, compassion and empathy you would like to receive. Mhm.