The topic of mental health and any subsequent issues within this sphere has been one that is largely surrounded by stigma. This holds especially true within minority communities. That is why for my PAC I want to shed light on the issues that arise when the topic of mental health is kept quiet within these communities and the lasting effects that it can have. To achieve this I hope to include testimonials from real life people, who are of a minority status and have struggled with their mental health, and see how their environment either benefitted them or made it harder to deal with. However, as the campaign does need to be able to withstand scientific scrutiny I will also be including throughout the blogs, scientific research and evidence in order to link these testimonials to scientific data in and effort to maybe establish if not a causal relationship between environment and the progression of mental health issues, then at least establish the fact that there is a correlation.
I chose this particular topic because I personally have struggled with mental health, and belonging to the Hispanic community I’ve seen how these types of conversation don’t take place. I personally am fortunate to have parents who have always been very involved and because of that they never made me feel weird or attacked for not being at my best mentally. However, I recognize that not everyone’s situation looks the same as mine and for that reason I want to shed light on this spreading issue of people belonging to minorities, growing up without a safe space to speak on any issues with their mental health they may be experiencing. Not feeling safe enough to speak up leads to not being able to have access to treatment options such as therapy, especially not as adolescents who might not be able to afford these treatments on their own without parental aid.
I also want to speak on this because I’ve seen the effects firsthand even with a support system. I dropped out of school for a year because my mental health took a nosedive, putting my life on pause until I could pick myself back up from the hole I had fallen into. These are effects with a support system, I can’t imagine what it could have been like had I had no one to turn to during that time in my life. The only problem with the campaign is bringing it to people’s attention while making sure that they don’t feel attacked. Speaking for Hispanics, we are a very prideful culture, we value our dignity and usually won’t stand for what feels like a targeted attack so a delicate approach is needed. Minorities from my personal experience tend to be very community bases, so if you angle the campaign to them, from the standpoint of showing how this can affect their child, or their neighbor, or a valued member of their community, they are more likely to be receptive to the campaign rather than a campaign that just point out the things that are being done wrong.
