African American Youth Mental Health: Interview Insights
This paper presents findings from an interview with a youth wellness consultant and Black Mental Health Alliance volunteer who specializes in treating anxiety, trauma, mood disorders, and sensor-related disorders among African American youth. Drawing on her personal loss, professional training, and community advocacy, the interviewee discusses key federal policies addressing youth mental health, structural and racial gaps in service access, the role of spirituality in therapy, and the obstacles that social media surveillance and restrictive policies pose for activists. The paper also explores her self-care practices and details the Black Mental Health Alliance's mission to expand mental health services to underserved African American adolescents.
- Overview: Interview context and consultant's credentials
- Social Problem and Advocacy Origins: Personal loss motivates focus on Black youth
- Policies and Legislation: Federal mental health laws and their limits
- Gaps Faced by Those Impacted: Racial and economic disparities in care access
- Self-Care Practices and Spirituality: Consultant's routine, faith, and therapy approach
- Obstacles Impacting Activism and Program Description: Social media surveillance and NGO program scope
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What makes this paper effective
- Grounds abstract policy discussion in a personal narrative, making the stakes of mental health advocacy concrete and emotionally resonant.
- Moves logically from individual experience to systemic critique, covering legislation, service gaps, and organizational responses in a coherent sequence.
- Balances direct quotation from the interview subject with the student's own analytical framing, demonstrating competent qualitative interview reporting.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper uses primary source interview data as its evidential backbone, supplemented by cited legislation and peer-reviewed literature (e.g., Klineberg et al., 2006; Uldam, 2018). This mirrors qualitative research methodology common in social work practice courses, where practitioner interviews serve as windows into real-world policy and service delivery contexts.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with an overview of the interview subject's credentials and context, then proceeds through seven thematic sections: the social problem that motivated advocacy, relevant federal policies, gaps in service provision, self-care, spirituality, obstacles to activism, and a description of the Black Mental Health Alliance program. Each section corresponds directly to the interview's discussion topics, giving the paper a clear and transparent organizational logic typical of practitioner-interview assignments at the undergraduate or early graduate level.
Overview
This paper summarizes an interview with a youth wellness consultant about her work in the field of youth mental health. She was selected because of her diverse experience in mental health care as a consultant with the Black Mental Health Alliance. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Social Work. She is also a certified art therapy life coach and provides treatment for anxiety disorders, sensor-related disorders, trauma, and mood disorders. Based on her experience as a mental health therapist, she was an ideal interview subject.
Given her busy schedule, a face-to-face meeting was not possible, so the interview took place via Zoom on November 29, 2022. The discussion addresses the social problem she is working to solve, relevant policies and legislation, gaps in survivor services, activism and social justice, and self-care and spirituality.
Social Problem and Advocacy Origins
The consultant lost her childhood best friend, Mitchell, to suicide. Mitchell suffered from depression due to family problems but did not open up to anyone about what she was experiencing. The consultant reflected on this loss, saying: "After losing my childhood friend, I battled trauma and depression as I blamed myself for her death. I felt I had failed as a friend, and that is why she did not open up to me about the issues she was encountering."
This experience drove her to become a youth therapist, with the goal of creating a safe space where young people can talk about their mental health challenges. Her advocacy journey began through a social media page on Instagram called "Your Mental Health Matters," which was designed primarily for youth. The page allowed young people to open up about their mental health, and she was able to identify severe cases and offer free therapy.
When asked why she focuses specifically on African American youth, she explained that her research indicates mental health disorders are particularly common among African American children, especially males between the ages of 13 and 18. Despite these elevated rates, many do not speak out due to stigma and cultural beliefs, making targeted advocacy all the more necessary.
Policies and Legislation
The United States has developed several policies addressing youth mental health. The first is the Children's Health Act of 2000 (SAMHSA, n.d.), which was designed to reduce mental health issues and substance abuse among adolescents. The act outlines ways to curb the use of Schedule III, IV, and V substances and includes provisions against discriminatory practices. The consultant regarded this as a significant step, particularly in addressing bias within the sector, as it required the government to respond to all communities in need of mental health services.
The second policy is the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act, which funds programs that advocate against suicide among youth. This policy directed government agencies to allocate funding to schools, campuses, and youth programs with the aim of reducing youth suicide rates.
The third and most recent policy is the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act of 2018, which is primarily concerned with decreasing opioid use among youth.
However, the consultant argues that these policies do not address the full range of mental health challenges in America, as they are heavily focused on substance abuse. While she does not dispute that substance abuse is a leading contributor to mental health disorders, she emphasizes that other causal factors also need to be addressed. As an advocate, she looks forward to pushing for additional legislation in Congress, particularly measures that reduce discrimination against African American youth with mental health disorders.
References
Elkonin, D., Brown, O., & Naicker, S. (2014). Religion, spirituality, and therapy: Implications for training. Journal of Religion and Health, 53(1), 119–134.
Klineberg, E., Clark, C., Bhui, K. S., Haines, M. M., Viner, R. M., Head, J., ... & Stansfeld, S. A. (2006). Social support, ethnicity and mental health in adolescents. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 41(9), 755–760.
SAMHSA. (n.d.). Laws and regulations. https://www.samhsa.gov/about-us/who-we-are/laws-regulations
Uldam, J. (2018). Social media visibility: Challenges to activism. Media, Culture & Society, 40(1), 41–58.
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