Where Are You?

When a young male black or brown male has a public emotional or mental issue that turns into a public disturbance or criminal act, one digs into his past and criticizes.  

His upbringing is scrutinized, his mother is criticized, and his father is belittled. 

Looking For Help

But where are the psychologists or psychiatrists? The ones willing to do the real work and not just prescribe drugs to mask the symptoms. The men who understand the challenges of growing up as a young black or brown man. 

Where are the MEN willing to assist another young man who is reaching out for assistance directly? 

We have too many young men dying by suicide, committing crimes, and/or hooked on drugs and alcohol today to sit by and stay silent.  Stay silent while young men seek help from someone to see them, answer their calls, and do their job.

Is Mental Health Subject to a Calendar?

Where are you? When Mental Health Month ends, because the mental health crisis never does.

Let me be fair: men and women struggle to find adequate, qualified help. But a woman can speak to five possible candidates before a young man can talk to one!

And I am generous with my assessment. I have spoken to five women therapists, and I know a young man willing to do the work to heal; yet, he hasn’t received a single call from the three he directly contacted.

Where are you?

I spent ten years ensuring my son had a voice, stopped misdiagnoses, and confronted supervisors in the system who avoided dealing with domestic issues, knowing these caused his fragile state and worsened his behavior.

Now, four years removed from his abuser, he’s willing to work through the pain and suffering he endured, ready to heal the open wounds that cause sleepless nights and reckless habits. Willing to speak to another individual who, like him, understands the struggles of growing up, male, black, and from a broken home.

A person who understands that he has dreams and aspirations to attain once he controls the demons from his childhood.

Childhood Trauma

Childhood trauma is the biggest struggle many adults suffer with today, when they pull back layers of their dysfunction. So why do we point children at 17, 18, or 21 towards medication, push them to succeed, and then question them when they finally snap after understanding their issues?

My son refuses to mask his symptoms any longer, to life lying behind a mask as society has taught so many to do.  I support his discussion, but where are the psychologists who are ready to help?