>>Coming up on "American Black Journal," mental health, it's a topic that is often taboo, especially in the African-American community.

We are gonna talk about it though and talk about how we stay healthy in our minds during the holidays.

We'll also have a conversation about mask wearing in public in the African-American community.

And we will hear a discussion about how Detroit spends the $826 million it is getting through the American Rescue Plan Act.

Stay right where you are.

"American Black Journal" starts right now.

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(upbeat music) >>Welcome to "American Black Journal," I'm Stephen Henderson, your host, and as always, thanks for tuning in.

Life has certainly looked different for many of us over the last year and a half.

From the pandemic, to the rise in gun violence, and the new focus on the roots and reasons behind systemic racism.

All of those things cause a lot of stress and anxiety and those feelings can get worse, in fact, during the holidays.

That's why it's important to stop and get a mental checkup.

That's just as important, in fact, as a physical exam.

I spoke with Michael Garrett , who is the president of CNS Healthcare, about the resources and support that are available to make sure that we all stay mentally healthy during the holidays.

So, I think this is an important topic to be talking about all of the time.

There are several things right now that make get an even more urgent topic I think.

One, of course, is the pandemic that we've all been living with for a year and a half.

And all of the other things.

Disruptions that have happened as a result of that.

The other is the holiday season which is often pretty stressful for people.

I think it's even more stressful in some ways right now.

And then, of course, this past week we saw a mass shooting in a school here in southeast Michigan.

>>Yes.

Of course, that is one of the most stressful things I can remember experiencing.

My kids don't go to that school.

I don't live in that community.

But, it's so close and you can see yourself and your family in the eyes and the responses of the people involved.

So, talk just a little about what that's like, what you are seeing in terms of the mental health needs that people have right now.

>>Well, the mental health needs for the general population is actually through the roof right now.

We all remember in 2020, the images and the media reports and the sound bites of the doctors and the nurses working in the physical healthcare hospital systems about how overwhelmed they were in the emergency rooms and all of that.

Now in 2021, while that's somewhat abated a bit at times, it's the mental health system that we're now seeing our biggest surge of people seeking mental health care than we ever have at any point in time.

So, a lot of people don't typically equate mental health care with the larger physical healthcare space, but your mind is just as important as your body.

So, literally we are slammed every single day with almost more people than we can take seeking mental health care.

And they're presenting with things such as substance abuse issues, depression disorders, usually stemming from loneliness and isolation and people who need grief counseling as well.

Because as you know, during 2020, a lot of people weren't able to grieve the loss of their loved ones in the traditional way that we've been accustomed to because of social distancing and lockdowns and things like that.

Now we're seeing the symptoms of mental illness manifest themselves.

And literally, we're almost at our breaking point for how many people we can continue to serve through the door.

And it's not just us.

It's across the mental health care system.

>>Yeah.

So, I wanna talk a little about what I would refer to, and I don't know if this is the technical term, but as community trauma.

The sense that the things we experience aren't just about us as individuals, but about the things that we experience collectively.

And as African Americans, of course, that looks really different than it does for other populations.

I'm not gonna get into whether it's worse or better.

It's just different.

Talk about the things that we've seen in the last year that as a community affect us in particular ways >>Well, you know, I'll start by saying that we all are familiar with the term post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD.

We've typically thought of PTSD as something that you see returning soldiers coming home from the battlefield experiencing.

But, one of the technical definitions of PTSD is the inability to recover from an event, a horrifying event, either witnessed or experienced.

When you look at it in that context of the definition that can fit anyone of any particular community.

And when you talk about communities of color, minority communities, when you have children, seeing their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, lost to senseless violence, whether that be domestic abuse or whether that be gun violence, or anything like that, those traumas remain with those individuals.

And the longer they go untreated, the longer that they stay undiagnosed, they manifest themselves into alternative behaviors or violent behaviors as they age and get later on in life.

In particular, in communities of color, we do see incidences of those happen more often than other communities.

So, they're definitely, while mental health doesn't have a demographic age or race component because it can affect everyone, there are certainly some communities that are more at risk for mental health conditions than others, and that is absolutely true.

>>And at the same time, I know of the cultural reluctance in the African-American community, in some cases, in many cases, to acknowledge the importance of mental health, to acknowledge that you may be having a problem with mental health and then to seek the kind of support and help that you need.

That makes it not just a problem, but a problem that kind of folds back on itself and creates an even larger problem.

>>You're completely right Mr. Henderson.

Stigma, which is what we call it, is the biggest barrier to people receiving mental health treatment that there is.

It's the notion that people, particularly your family members and friends, are going to look down at yo, are going to think less of you because you're currently experiencing a mental health issue.

No one is ashamed to say that they have diabetes, that they've had a heart attack, that they have any type of other physical health care disorder.

But for some reason, particularly in communities of color, when you talk about mental health issues, it comes with the stigma that someone is going to label you crazy.

One of the things that we fight against is the notion that at any given point in time, it's okay to not be okay.

Your mind needs just as much attention as your body.

And just about every mental health issue out there is treatable with treatment, just like you can treat certain illnesses and infections with antibiotics, you can treat mental health issues as well with therapy and certain medications as well.

So, it's not some type of a lifelong sentence that you just have to struggle with alone and without support.

Help is out there, the technology's out there, and we can help people along their road to recovery.

And most of the people that we see through therapy and our interventions go on to live normal, productive, healthy lives with healthy relationships and healthy employment opportunities.

And most people would never know.

>>And I do wanna give you a chance to talk some about this, the school shooting that we saw here in southeast Michigan.

Oxford's a community that I don't know that well, I don't feel a lot of connection to that community.

It's really different from where I live in Detroit.

And yet, I find myself really jarred by what happened there and scared about the prospects for the same kind of thing to happen closer to home or someplace where my children are.

How do we explain these things to our kids?

How do we explain these things to our family in a way that accounts for the mental health impact of this kind of thing?

>>Well, when you talk about Oxford, Oxford is actually one of the areas that we do service.

Out here in one of our locations.

It is completely tragic and unfortunate that that issue had to happen.

We have to start realizing that our kids are dealing with things that we'd never, that older people as myself never had to deal with.

When I was coming up, when I was in high school.

The advent of social media, this whole more connected society where anyone can have a platform about anything from bullying to body shaming, to all the things that kids deal with these days.

One of the things that we've been primarily focusing on in lots of our school-based services is suicide prevention, for example.

We have to start to pay more attention to what our kids say, to what our kids think, how they're feeling, and to actually sit down and talk to them about things that are going on in their lives.

Oftentimes you hear parents say, "You know, there aren't enough hours in the day and we're too busy."

And some of that is true, but you have to start to find time to get more involved in your kids' lives and pay attention to the things that they say.

Things about, "Oh, I feel like killing myself today."

That's not a throw away line.

That's not something you ignore, something that you ride off as someone just simply having a bad day.

Those types of things need to be talked about and investigated and see what the actual root cause is behind that.

Now, I'll tell you another thing about school-based services.

We have a very robust program and we're in over 20 schools right now with our mental health care services.

By and large, the students are not the issue.

We have students who come to see our social workers where they're lined up outside the door in the morning, waiting for the social worker to come in, because they need that outlet of someone to talk to them.

Someone that can help them.

Oftentimes the biggest barrier to children receiving treatment is the parents.

>>The parents?

Wow.

>>You normally wouldn't think that, but it's the parents.

There are only so many services that we can deliver to a child in Michigan, because of state laws, without consent.

Prior to that, you need to have parental consent.

Now, I'm not saying that every parent is like that.

Most parents are like, "Hey, little Michael needs help.

Sure, where do I sign?

Sign them up, keep the services going."

But, there are some parents who refuse to admit that little Michael might actually have an issue that he needs some support with.

And it takes a Herculean effort with us, the schools, and everyone else to sometimes try and get that parent to come around and say, "Hey, we're not looking to cast you as bad parents.

We're not looking to take your child out of the home.

We're just looking to provide the help that this youth needs at this moment."

And some parents agree and some parents, unfortunately, don't.

>>Okay, Michael, it was really great to have you here to talk with us about this.

Thanks so much for joining us on "American Black Journal."

>>Thank you very much for paying attention to this important issue.

>>One of the things we've learned during the pandemic from health experts is that wearing a mask is probably one of the best ways to make sure that you are not spreading the coronavirus.

But ask around, there are still lots of opinions about how efficient masks are and whether and when you should wear them.

And that's especially true in the African-American community.

"American Black Journal" producer, AJ Walker, and community journalist, Dasia Moss, took a look at the wide range of opinions about masks in the African-American community in this critical report for the COVID-313 Community Coalition.

>>I have my N95.

Another little disposable one.

And this is my shield.

I always wear it when I got to the back group, like busy places.

>>The LOL mask is my favorite.

>>Before Annissa Tuft heads out, she makes sure she and her daughter Kendyl have their masks.

She has lupus and is also visually impaired.

So, she makes sure that even if people around her are not masking up, they do.

According to the CDC, people with underlying health conditions are more likely to get severely ill from COVID-19.

That's why Frank McGhee says he wears his mask indoors around other people.

>>I didn't have type two diabetes.

I've also had a struggle of asthma and bronchitis as a kid.

And so, quite naturally, I'm most likely prone to contracting the virus.

Even if I'm vaccinated if I get sick.

The truth of the matter is a mask really gives you the edge and it may not be cool looking to some people, but to me, I'm confident that I'll be safe.

>>Although there is currently no statewide requirement to wear a face mask in most settings, the state of Michigan does recommend that you wear one.

Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive with the state of Michigan, says COVID rates are higher than they were this time last year.

And there are several things to consider when deciding if you will wear a mask.

>>Michigan is at high transmission, really around the state.

We're seeing a lot of transmission.

We're seeing our percent positivity being much higher than we'd like.

We know that there's COVID transmission occurring in the community more than we would like there to be.

And the CDC and MDHHS recommend wearing a mask when you're in an indoor setting with people outside of your household.

And that's regardless of whether you're vaccinated or not.

>>And with the winter weather and holiday season approaching, masks should be a part of your planning.

>>As people gather around the holidays as people come together and spend more time indoors, there are usually increases in our COVID rates after those holidays.

So, we're going into the holiday season with a higher rate at baseline and not just that.

With the colder weather, so not only does that drive people indoors, into spaces that are not as well ventilated, but also we do see other respiratory viruses circulating at this time.

So, things like influenza and RSV.

>>Some people say they get nervous around people who are not wearing masks.

>>I don't like it.

It makes me very nervous.

I get up at like 6:30 in the morning so that I am at the grocery store when the doors open 'cause that is the place I see lots of people without masks and I'm just like, nope, not for me.

Honestly, when I can't avoid it and I'm in places where there are a lot of maskless people, in the back of my head at all times I'm thinking like, oh my God, what if I get COVID from this?

Like, I won't be able to work.

I'd have to take my kid out of school.

I'll have to call everyone that I know to say, "Hey, you've been exposed."

>>But not everyone feels this way.

We noticed Tyrone Hammond making a quick stop to a nearby store without his mask.

>>What made you go into the store without your mask today?

>>I feel safer when I have a zip up hoodie I can cover my face like this, but yeah, I mean, as long as I stay six feet away from people, I'm good do to go.

>>He also says he thinks it's up to a place of business to make sure their patrons have a mask.

>>Usually a stores, some stores, I know last year they was handing them out.

Right now, no, I don't see no stores handing out masks no more.

>>Was it helpful to you when the stores would hand the masks out?

>>I believe it was helpful, but I still feel the same.

I never caught COVID or nothing.

>>Very inconsiderate of others because not everyone is vaccinated.

You know what I mean?

So, if you don't have your mask on and I'm not vaccinated, you giving me a bigger risk than getting already.

>>Betty Wright says she waits until right before she enters a store before she puts on her mask, but she says she always wears one.

>>So, I put it on and then when I came out, I take it off.

It's a little phobia for me to keep having it on all the time.

>>And do you always wear your face mask in stores and all that?

>>Yes.

>>And why do you do that?

>>Because I don't wanna get sick.

I don't wanna get sick at all.

>>While there are many different types of face masks to choose from, Bagdasarian says your selection should come down to these basic considerations.

>>Any sort of mask that you may be using, the two things to look for are filtration and fit.

So for filtration, make sure that it's a multi-layered mask and that small particles can't get through too easily.

And for fit, make sure that it fits close to your nose and the sides of your face.

>>And a reminder, you can watch the COVID-313 Community Coalition's virtual town halls on Detroit Public Television's Facebook page, every Thursday at noon.

Now, some of you joined us recently for another town hall held by "American Black Journal" and "Bridge Detroit."

This one took a look at all of the federal money that is coming to Detroit.

The American Rescue Plan Act is gonna bring $826 million to the city to help it recover from the pandemic.

I spoke with a number of people about how that money should be spent and how the city should be different after it's all done.

Take a look at that conversation.

>>It is a finite amount of money.

And so, that is something that is important to remember and consider when thinking about this money that the city is getting.

And one question that we ask of the Citizens Research Council is whether that $400 million is enough to regress the city's fiscal shortfalls.

>>The number one thing actually, the most specific thing was, in fact, access to internet.

And home repair was also another huge issue.

But also, small business support.

So, it's a mix of areas and categories that the mayor defined and community output.

>>On our last survey that we administered this summer, we found data demonstrating that about 90,000 Detroit residents are living in housing that the census would likely classify as being in severely inadequate condition.

This is housing in which residents say they have really significant heating problems or a lack of heating, electrical problems like exposed wiring, a broken furnace, or a lack of hot or running water.

>>The biggest problems that we are having in our community that have been worsened by one, the pandemic, and two, we keep leaving this out, the flooding that we had in the city.

But, we have people right now that I'm dealing with that don't have furnaces, they may have even bought a new furnace and because of the flooding that happened in their home, those furnaces are out and they cannot be repaired.

They have to be replaced.

>>You know, one of the things that these challenges have brought out are the health disparities among our people and especially among seniors, not being able to get to a doctor or, you know, we had a major flooding in one of the buildings and 15 of our seniors were displaced and we know we as an organization, as a city, was totally unprepared for that displacement.

And so, emergency housing for seniors is certainly an issue that we need to address and bring up in matter.

As a matter of fact, the emergency preparedness for the entire city at a grassroot level.

>>We're focused on outcomes and the mayor is quite urgent about us using these dollars, Stephen, as you pointed out.

Making them transformative because you're right, this is once in a lifetime.

We're never gonna get money like this again, ever.

>>Yeah.

>>And so, we have a responsibility to spend it carefully, to spend it in a fully compliant manner and that's what we're doing.

>>And you can watch that entire town hall on "American Black Journal's" Facebook page.

That is gonna do it for us this week.

You can find out more information about our guests at americanblackjournal.org.

And as always, you can follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.

Take care of yourselves and we'll see you next time.