#MoreStoriesMonday: Brittany Packnett and suicide prevention in black communities

Today I'm starting something I'm calling #MoreStoriesMonday. I shared about this a previous post about what I've been hearing and learning during my Christ on the Psych Ward book tour.

Whenever I give talks, I always begin by saying that I want my story to be the start of a conversation, not the end of it. My story isn't a universal one, and it doesn't touch on or raise all of the topics that we need to be addressing in order to have a full, robust conversation about mental illness in our our faith communities or mental health in this country. So every Monday I'll be sharing different stories, different voices, and different resources that I hope will help us have a bigger, broader, deeper conversation.

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I wanted to start this Monday with a story from Brittany Packnett, an activist and educator who, among other things, was an appointed member of the Ferguson Commission and President Obama's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Recently, after the deaths by suicide of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade, Packnett shared a video on Twitter to raise awareness of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and her own experience relying on the help line, saying "I have battled depression my entire adult life. I have had suicidal thoughts multiple times. When I give you all that suicide prevention lifeline phone number (@800273talk), I’m not just recounting random numbers: I’ve called it. It saved my life.":

I have battled depression my entire adult life. I have had suicidal thoughts multiple times. When I give you all that suicide prevention lifeline phone number (@800273talk), I’m not just recounting random numbers: I’ve called it. It saved my life. pic.twitter.com/7BnfIc3SoS

— Brittany Packnett (@MsPackyetti) June 28, 2018

In addition to sharing her own story, Packnett has addressed the topic in other forums such as Pod Save America, a podcast she co-hosts. In an episode called "Protect the Win," she spoke about recent research about a rise in suicidal behaviors among young people, and specifically about the impact of stigma on suicide prevention in black communities (her segment begins around minute 20):

Black teen rates have actually doubled, and Native youth rates of suicide continue to remain at crisis levels. But even though we now know this is true because people have done more reporting, people of color are historically misclassified and undercounted in suicide data....So we don't know as much as we should know about how this is affecting more marginalized communities....This is deeply related to the fact that mental health is taboo in many communities of color, including black communities. 

I was struck by Brittany Packnett's courage and vulnerability in sharing her story and in spreading the word about potentially lifesaving resources, particularly given the stigma and taboo that she spoke about in her podcast segment.

Her words, and her particular areas of advocacy, reminded me of two other resources I recently came across.

(1) This blog post from the National Alliance on Mental Illness highlighting resources for Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, which is marked every July.

(2) This recent research, covered by PBSNewsHour, on the mental health impacts for black adults of the police killings of unarmed black Americans.

Packnett's story, and resources such as these, contribute to an important conversation about the mutually reinforcing mental health impacts of communal trauma, societal stigma, and cultural taboos, particularly for communities of color.

And, as Packnett says in her video, "If you're still in the midst of this, and you need help and support, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, or text "HOME" to 741741."

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Have a suggestion of a voice or a resource for #MoreStoriesMonday, or want to share your own story? Send me an email!