Dear Black man, please consider getting professional help for your mental health
--
Did you know among it being Pride and Black Music Month it’s also Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month? I didn’t know about this until a few years ago.
So that being said, to my fellow Black men out there, I simply want to ask the following: are you taking care of your mental health? Are you able to get professional help and are you doing so?
I want to reinforce that I’m not speaking to everyone, I’m talking to Black men, and no I don’t not mean just cishet Black men.
When was the last time you remember seeing anything about mental health for men specifically focusing on Black men?
This of course doesn’t mean there aren’t spaces and platforms that do this work for Black mental wellbeing–they out there! I just wanted to speak to you about this because it probably feels like there’s not enough of us doing so.
I suppose the easiest thing to say is this, we all could benefit from having a licensed therapist. It’s true we all have different relationships with our mental care. Time with a professional helps you develop tools to understand ourselves, and navigate life from good to bad to soul crushing.
All our life experiences and expectations aren’t monolithic. However we have a lot of general overlap when it comes to life. Though admittedly, I’m still speaking from a cishet perspective here. So, when you wake up and look in the mirror, do you ask yourself: How are you today?
Is that a question you ask yourself often? When you do ask, how are you answering that question ? Is it from the framing that you are a provider or getting to become one? Is it from the point of view that you’re achieving a lot in life? Is it from the consideration that you’re making good money? So on and so on.
The problem with the above brother is that it’s not necessarily you. It’s a version of you tied with work. It’s difficult to ask yourself what your feelings are, removed from being a provider.
