Alicia Mousseau, PhD and Alan Rabideau
May is Mental Health Awarness Month. Taking care of mental health is essential to overall health and wellbeing. Mental health can be influenced by experiences, chemical imbalances in the body and brain including hormones, and patterns of thinking. In turn, mental health can have an impact on performance, relationships, and self-concepts. Thus, the relation between mental health and overall health and wellbeing is interrelated and needs to be understood and addressed as such.
American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) organizations, communities, families, and individuals are disproportionately affected by mental health issues. The Office of Minority Health reported that, compared to the general US population, AI/AN populations have some of the highest mental health disparities, including substance use disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and suicide. In turn, these mental health disparities have been attributed to intergenerational historical trauma from governmental eras of forced removal, relocation, and assimilative policies1. Other risk factors for AI/AN populations include high rates of poverty and trauma2.
Risk factors for AI/ANs have been developed over the years by outside forces, but are being combatted by traditional practices and ways of life. Protective factors of culture, kinship, traditional health practices, and an enduring spirit have been noted by the American Psychiatric Association2 and other national organizations, which are finally recognizing the strength and purpose of AI/AN, and other minority groups’, traditional ways of knowing and living.
The Tribal Youth Resource Center (TYRC) encourages and promotes holistic healing and wellness opportunities to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Juvenile Healing to Wellness and Tribal Youth Program grantees as well all other American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) programs and entities that provide services to tribal youth. The TYRC understands the unique challenges of AI/AN communities as well as the strengths, which are promoted as prevention, intervention, and healing. The TYRC utilizes culturally and contextually appropriate practices as well as community- and strengths-based approaches when working with AI/ANs to provide the most effective services. For more information please visit our website at www.tribalyouth.org
Resources:
For further information about National Mental Health Month and related resources and events, visit:
- Youth.gov’s Mental Health Youth Topic
- Office of Adolescent Health, Adolescent Mental Health
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, Caring for Every Child’s Mental Health
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration Mental Health Services Locator
- Native Hope’s Mental Health Awareness Month Blog
- National Indian Child Welfare Association Children’s Mental Health
- Indian Health Service’s Division of Behavioral Health
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Tribal Training and Technical Assistance Center
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrations National Children’s Mental Health Day (Tribal Specific Begins at 47:54)
Citations:
1. Office of Minority Health. Mental Health and American Indians/Alaska Natives https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4&lvlid=39 : U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health; 2017 [cited 2019 May 5]
2. American Psychiatric Association. Mental Health Disparities: American Indians and Alaska Natives. https://www.psychiatry.org/File%20Library/Psychiatrists/Cultural-Competency/Mental-Health-Disparities/Mental-Health-Facts-for-American-Indian-Alaska-Natives.pdf; 2017 [cited 2019 May 5]
