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Collaborations and Partnerships in Addressing Mental Health Issues in the African American Population in Florida African Americans residing in Brevard County, Florida, face a complex set of challenges as they attempt to maintain their mental health challenges. In addition to the universal issues of depression, stigma, and economic stress, they are also faced with the issues of racism, and health inequities. The above-mentioned issues place the African American population at a huge disadvantage in conquering mental health illness or living with this debilitating disease. Mental illness refers to conditions that affect cognition, emotion, and behavior, including schizophrenia, depression, autism (Manderscheid et al., 2010). Given the severity of this disease, there is parallel transition from a focus on the stigma of mental illnesses to the recognition that mental health is important to overall health. Collaborative initiative is required to address this very important issue. Policymakers, clinicians, healthcare administrators, members of the community, and mental health activists are all important groups that can collaborate forming strategic partnerships aimed at finding solutions for this issue. An initiative that seeks to address the issue of mental health disorders in the African American community is the establishment of the African American Behavioral Health Center of Excellence (AABH-COE). This initiative is a national effort by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse, and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). It was a response to the urgent need for greater equity and effectiveness in behavioral health services for African Americans (Canady, 2021). The AABH-COE initiative was founded in 2020 to mobilize the scholarship and expertise of many distinguished voices in African American behavioral health and health equity, the knowledge and wisdom of multiple national bodies representing a broad spectrum of Black stakeholders, and the established networks of a host of strategic partners committed to marketing and disseminating the new Center’s products and services (Canady, 2021). The Center of Excellence will take a highly collaborative public health approach toward cultural and practical transformation of behavioral health systems, intervention, treatment, and recovery support practices for African Americans facing mental health challenges. Although it is a national effort, Florida has welcomed this initiative and has mandated its local Department of Health to mobilize relevant stakeholders to create awareness and educate the public regarding the benefits of this program. References Canady, V. (2021). SAMHSA launches new African American Center of Excellence. Mental Health Weekly, 31 (8). https://doi.org/10.1002/mhw.32694 Manderscheid, R. W., Ryff, C. D., Freeman, E. J., McKnight-Eily, L. R., Dhingra, S., & Strine, T. W. (2010). Evolving definitions of mental illness and wellness. Preventing Chronic Disease , 7 (1) . https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2811514/

Hello Charnissa! Thank you for your contribution to this week’s discussion post on mental illness among children and adolescents. This is such an important topic given the consequences of this disease to adolescents and children if left untreated. Your contribution has raised some very important concerns about the adverse outcomes if treatment is delayed or absent, including poor academic performance, delinquency, substance abuse, and suicide. Data from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) between 2013 to 2019 indicated that the most prevalent disorders diagnosed among U.S. children and adolescents aged 3–17 years were attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and anxiety, each affecting approximately one in eleven children (Bitsko et al., 2022). Furthermore, in 2019, 36.7% of high school students reported persistently feeling sad or hopeless in the past year, and 18.8% had seriously considered attempting suicide, and approximately seven in 100,000 persons aged 10–19 years died by suicide in 2018 and 2019 (Bitsko et al., 2022). Data is important since it can be used by public health professionals, health care providers, state health officials, policymakers, and educators to form strategic partnerships and collaborative efforts to assist in understanding the prevalence of specific mental disorders and other indicators of mental health and the challenges related to mental health disorders. One such initiative is the Project to Learn About Youth Mental Health (PLAY-MH), a community-based epidemiologic study, examined symptoms of mental disorders in school-aged children and adolescents in four different U.S. school districts during 2014–2018 (Bethell et al., 2019). The PLAY-MH study offers complementary data on both diagnosed and undiagnosed mental disorders among school-aged children and this information can be useful in addressing mental disorders in similar communities. References Bethell, C. D., Gombojav, N., & Whitaker, R. C. (2019). Family resilience and connection promote flourishing among US children, even amid adversity. Health Affairs, 38 (5), 729–737. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2018.05425 Bitsko, R. H., Claussen, A. H., Lichstein, J., Black, L. I., Jones, S. E., Danielson, M., Hoenig, J., Davis-Jack, S. Brody, D., Gyawali, S., Maenner, M., Warner, M., Holland, K., Perou, R., Crosby, A. E., Blumberg, S., Avenevoli, S., Kaminski, J., & Ghandour, R. (2022). Mental health surveillance among children — United States, 2013–2019. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 71(2), 1-42. http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.su7102a1

Hello Ozzie! Thank you for your contribution to this week’s discussion post on obesity among certain racial and ethnic groups, Black and Hispanic individuals. I support your view that to address the issue of obesity in these minority groups, continued intervention and collaborative efforts are required, such as the “CAN DO” (Children AND Neighbors Defeat Obesity) initiative mentioned in your discussion. The initiative demonstrated that by engaging communities, collaborating with organizations, and using existing resources, it is possible to provide communities with better access to a healthy lifestyle with minimal funding. However, Minkler (2005) argues that to increase the likelihood of success with the program, it is important to balance evidence-based practices with the development of a trusting environment and a true partnership with the community during the implementation stage. Notwithstanding, the “CAN DO” initiative was an excellent example of the importance of collaboration and partnerships towards the successful implementation of any program. According to Correa et al. (2010), the success of the CAN DO initiative was the identification of a common goal and vision among partners; building an infrastructure that provided many opportunities for partner ownership; communicating regularly with partners and the communities, including spending ample time in the communities; partnering with both senior- level people and "on the ground" people in an organization; engaging and listening to the communities and allowing the communities to prioritize the initiatives; and remaining positive and enthusiastic when interacting and problem solving with partners, volunteers, and the communities. When you collaborate and establish partnerships with communities, it allows assets and resources in the community to be strengthened and create growth and development (Economos & Irish-Hauser, 2007). References Correa, N. P., Murray, N. G., Mei, C. A., Baun, W. B., Gor, B. J., Hare, N. B., Banerjee, D., Sindha, T. F., & Jones, L. A. (2010). CAN DO Houston: A community-based approach to preventing childhood obesity. Preventing Chronic Disease, 7(4), A88. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2901586/#B16 Economos, C. D., & Irish-Hauser, S. (2007). Community interventions: a brief overview and their application to the obesity epidemic. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics: A Journal of the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 35 (1), 131–137. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748- 720X.2007.00117.x Minkler M. (2005). Community-based research partnerships: Challenges and opportunities. Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 82(2 Suppl 2), ii3–ii12. https://doi.org/10.1093/jurban/jti034

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