July is BIPOC Mental Health Month. Formerly Minority Mental Health Month, it’s a chance to call attention to the way that our minds work affects us all, regardless of skin color. 2020 has been an exceptionally difficult year on many fronts and mental health awareness groups are doing all that they can to normalize the experience of living with bipolar disorder, depression, psychosis, and other issues.
One group in particular, the Siwe Project, will celebrate No Shame Day on Monday, July 13. No Shame Day will encourage people of color to tell their stories of life with a mental health struggle in an effort to break the stigma and share in solidarity.
“Between the impact of COVID-19 on Black and Brown communities, the most recent public murders of Black people, and the continuous fight for social justice, 2020 has been, to put it simply, a lot,” the Siwe Project posted to its Instagram. “Now, more than ever, it is important that we, as a community, prioritize our mental health. We know it hasn’t been easy, and the fight to stay safe in our bodies and in our minds, has been challenging.”
The Siwe Project is a global, non-profit organization designed to promote mental health awareness among the black community. Their hope is to promote a dialogue among the public that encourages people of African descent throughout the world to seek treatment without a sense of shame.
While formal plans were still coming together for No Shame Day at the time of this writing, you can follow thesiweproject.com to learn more.
The goal is to facilitate early identification of those experiencing extreme states in order to decrease the duration for untreated symptoms and reduce disruption to the young person’s psychosocial development through a collaborative, recovery oriented intervention.