Black Boys Better: Mental health programming for middle and high school Black male students
Abstract
Black boys are twice as likely to die by suicide than white youth. In 2014, 80% of suicide deaths in the Black community were men. The suicide rate, according to The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, among Black youth has “risen faster than in any other racial/ethnic group in the past two decades, with suicide rates in Black males 10 to19 years old increasing by 60%. Early adolescent Black youth are twice as likely to die by suicide as compared to their white counterparts.” For September’s national suicide prevention and awareness month, Creative Connections partnered with the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health to create a new program for Black boys in the Atlanta metro area and other rural communities in Georgia called Black Boys Better. The focus of the program is teaching Black male students in a round table intimate set-up how to identify and respond to mental health issues in a healthy manner. The program is led by Black men, with high consideration that Black males make up only 2% of America’s educators. This program places positive Black males in a school setting with unique learning opportunities that most Black boys have never experienced. The program includes sessions designed for Black male students to become emotionally literate so they can effectively express their feelings and emotions. Black Boys Better strives to help Black boys have the language so they can manage interpersonal conflict through methods such as meaning-making discussions, poetry exercises, and other social-emotional learning activities. The program has recently served over 50 middle and high school Black male students in the Atlanta metro and Savannah, GA. The successes of the program have received recognition in the Atlanta Voice newspaper and will continue on to attract more students to this meaningful work.
Keywords
Black male, student, Atlanta, mental health, socioemotional learning
Black Boys Better: Mental health programming for middle and high school Black male students
Black boys are twice as likely to die by suicide than white youth. In 2014, 80% of suicide deaths in the Black community were men. The suicide rate, according to The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, among Black youth has “risen faster than in any other racial/ethnic group in the past two decades, with suicide rates in Black males 10 to19 years old increasing by 60%. Early adolescent Black youth are twice as likely to die by suicide as compared to their white counterparts.” For September’s national suicide prevention and awareness month, Creative Connections partnered with the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health to create a new program for Black boys in the Atlanta metro area and other rural communities in Georgia called Black Boys Better. The focus of the program is teaching Black male students in a round table intimate set-up how to identify and respond to mental health issues in a healthy manner. The program is led by Black men, with high consideration that Black males make up only 2% of America’s educators. This program places positive Black males in a school setting with unique learning opportunities that most Black boys have never experienced. The program includes sessions designed for Black male students to become emotionally literate so they can effectively express their feelings and emotions. Black Boys Better strives to help Black boys have the language so they can manage interpersonal conflict through methods such as meaning-making discussions, poetry exercises, and other social-emotional learning activities. The program has recently served over 50 middle and high school Black male students in the Atlanta metro and Savannah, GA. The successes of the program have received recognition in the Atlanta Voice newspaper and will continue on to attract more students to this meaningful work.
