According to the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI),¹ July was designated “Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month” by the United States House of Representatives in 2008.  Bebe Moore Campbell was an author, passionate about turning her words into awareness concerning mental health in communities of color. Campbell advocated for people of color and journeyed to abolish the stigma surrounding mental illness for those in communities of color. Following her death in 2006, Ms. Campbell’s close friends, family, and others suggested the dedication of a month in her honor to memorialize her inspiring desire to end the stigma surrounding mental illness in underserved communities.

According to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance,² stigma continues to contribute to disparities in mental health care for people of color.  Research has revealed that people from racial and ethnic minority groups continue to be less likely to receive mental health care, despite having similar rates of mental illness.³ Additionally, when they seek care, it is not always quality or culturally competent care.⁴

ConcertoCare recognizes one size doesn’t fit all and therefore prioritizes delivering personalized care to patients in order to provide exceptional care. To deliver exceptional care we must understand how cultural and systematic influences impact how patients of color interact with us as they navigate the health care systems and shift from cultural competency to cultural humility.

As we recognize Minority Mental Health Month consider the following (4) tips to support cultural humility in health care and achieve exceptional care:⁵

1. Remove “colorblindness”; a person’s culture is a part of their picture, and an open mind can reduce unconscious bias
2. Ask questions and seek to understand; bias and prejudice often hide in the assumptions we make
3. Understand our own background and culture; this will give us greater understanding of the lens through which we view others
4. Deliver person-centered care; remove power imbalances and promote shared-decision making

This July and beyond consider opportunities to promote cultural humility in health care delivering exceptional care to all.

References:

¹National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). About Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. Accessed June 14, 2024 from https://www.nami.org/get-involved/awareness-events/bebe-moore-campbell-national-minority-mental-health-awareness-month/about-bebe-moore-campbell-national-minority-mental-health-awareness-month/

²DBSalliance (2024). Statistics About Disparities in Mental Health Care. Dbsalliance.org. https://www.dbsalliance.org/education/disparities-mental-health-care/. Accessed June 13-14, 2024.

³Budhwani H, Hearld K, and Chavez-Yenter D. Depression in Racial and Ethnic Minorities: the Impact of Nativity and Discrimination. Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2015. 2(1):34-42.

⁴Primm A, et al. “African Americans,” chapter in Disparities in Psychiatric Care. Ruiz and Primm editors. Washington, DC: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins. 2010

⁵Schuster, D. (2021). Honing Cultural Humility Skills Can Improve Health Care as a Whole. Pennmedicine.org. https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-blog/2021/may/honing-cultural-humility-skills-can-improve-health-care-as-a-whole