Black Mental Health Campaign
AFRO is honoured to have been selected by Lyle Halman's Foundation for a three years Mental Health Campaign project.
The Black Mental Health Campaign (BMHC) is an afterschool program that strives to promote the mental health and well-being of Black & African children and teenagers in Kitchener-Waterloo. The BMHC seeks to shatter the stigmas surrounding mental health in the Black community by redefining the narrative, normalizing help-seeking behaviours and instilling confidence in youth to seek community resources for their well-being.
AFRO’s BMHC is about initiating conversations about mental health with children and youth who will, in turn, be encouraged to share these conversations with their parents and caregivers. The goal is to increase the frequency at which families talk about what they are feeling and how they can be supported by each other. This is an excellent opportunity to build community and friendships and engage in shaping culturally responsive programming. For this very reason, the BMHC is innovating and one of a kind!
The key areas we anticipate addressing through this campaign are:
Increasing mental health awareness about 'big emotions' among Black children & youth
Normalizing conversations about emotions, mental health, and well-being for children & youth
Engaging families to have broader conversations about mental health in their own homes & communities
To improve help-seeking behaviour (recognize what is happening and empowered to ask for help)
To improve agency and navigation skills of mental health services
What we do:
Check-In: Being in a circle together, youth hold on to a stuffed hand sewn Kente elephant from Ghana as they take turns sharing about their day, including feelings and emotions, to help normalize talking about their physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellness
Icebreaker/warm-up activities (*these lead into the main program activity/discussion): Building trust, rapport, community, comfort, and friendship is essential to children and youth developing a healthy understanding of mental health and wellness. Therefore, all our conversations and activities seek to foster a sense of belonging, validation and
Main activity: Examples of mental health activities include ‘Rose, Bud & Thorn,’ signing out books by Black authors & sharing a summary with the group, ‘Jeopardy ft. Black Mental Health’ (discussed themes such as cyberbullying, anxiety, depression, how to identify mental health concerns, wellness practices, i.e., meditation, etc...), ‘What’s in a name?’ (self-esteem, identity formation & unpacking racism) – to name a few
Free for all: Balance is essential! Conversations about mental wellness are not always easy, so we embed some free leisurely time for participants to decompress, including games, food, and one-on-one time with the mental health counsellor
To learn more about this program, or to register, contact us using this form.
This project is funded by the Lyle S Hallman Foundation
