Mental Health

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AAPDEP MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAMS

AAPDEP Mental Health programs seek to provide a space for Africans to get support in matters related to mental health and well-being. AAPDEP understands that the main contradiction the produces Mental Health problems in our community is Colonialism. Our programs use the theory of African Internationalism to address the material contradictions in our community while also providing resources, skills organization and the tools needed to put us in the best possible position to fight back.

Ask The Dr. Series Episode 12: Collective Mourning, Organized Resistance. 

Why Mental Health?

The purpose of the Mental Health Programs is to improve the conditions impacting the overall health and quality of life of African people everywhere. AAPDEP is taking on this question of mental health to call into question the colonial conditions within this social system that require African people to experience all kinds of mental illness or unwellness. We understand that what we are experiencing is Colonialism; and that we have to take control of the narrative around mental illness and mental health. 

Our mental health programs will provide a therapeutic space for community members to discuss the impacts of Colonialism on their emotional, physical and psychological health and well being. Utilizing the skills of movement members, volunteers and those in solidarity to provide information and activities focused on health, such as exercises, breathing techniques, yoga, stretching, and resources to share in our collective struggles, to put African people in the best possible position to fight back against the grip of oppression. 

Ask The Dr. Series Episode 12: Collective Mourning, Organized Resistance. 

Sixteen percent (4.8 million) of Black (African) people reported having a mental illness, and 22.4 percent of those (1.1 million people) reported a serious mental illness over the past year.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services | Office of Minority Health