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Disasters: The Importance of Fighting Mental Health Stigma
The last few decades have seen a steady increase in disasters around the world. Whether caused by humans or nature, for many communities disasters occur with such frequency that they overlap each other. The traditional Phases of Disaster model–anticipation, impact, adaptation, and recovery...
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Mental Health Stigmas in the Black Community
In 2019, the Center of Disease Control and Prevention reported that 47,500 US citizens committed suicide (Suicide, 2022). Of this 47,500, over half identified as Black. This is an estimate of 4 out of 6 suicides committed by People of Color (POC) and 2 out of 6 being Caucasian, Hispanic, and other...
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The Hidden Effects of Combat-Related PTSD on Spouses
The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (2014) reported that approximately 20% of service members who served in Iraq or Afghanistan developed combat-related PTSD. Mental health issues following combat tours are not exclusive to service members. de Burgh et al. (2011) stated that spouses of service...
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The Silent Battlefront of Veteran Suicide and the Measures Being Taken to Help Them
On Friday, May 30th, 2014, I woke up to one of the most devastating phone calls I’ve ever received. My best friend for almost a decade, Joshua Drury, who was in his mid-thirties at the time, had taken his life. Joshua had served many years in the U.S. Army prior to our meeting. While he told us...
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Priming for Post-Traumatic Growth
There is no shortage of media attention to the mental health impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic. It is so important to raise awareness of this, in order to diminish the stigma, normalize the experience, and help give people the tools they need to navigate through these challenging and...
