The Community Context for Mental Health Treatment
As a fabric between the socio-economic and political circus, community workers in the social context enable communities to function correctly. It is quite essential to have them in the community because of the extensive work that they do that has proved to be so effective in changing lives and behaviors across the streets.
As we engage persons day in day out, the community environment for each of the activities is diverse and unique, which therefore require novel approaches. I had a chance that put me in place and made me one of the community workers in a local community. The community majorly consists of the black population. Just like any other community, this population has both old and young people, girls and boys, military veterans and service members, and generally encompasses people with and in families. Engagement in this particular community has been a unique experience to be in my bid to soften the psychological states of people in this place and offer healing to them from their various life traumas. To say it simple to work here is quite insensitive because there are many challenges around.
African Americans, just like other populations, are faced with mental issues, which are explained by factors like racial prejudice, economic disparities, and discrimination. Given this fact, it is basic knowledge that this is the community that is in dire need of therapy. With reasonable, sensitive, and objective sessions, improvement is inevitable. As shocking as it sounds, African Americans are rare in therapy sessions in solving issues parental, marital, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. They do not subscribe to this school of thought due to the emotional hurdles they have. With close observation, one can quickly realize that there are quite many factors that contribute to this. The community’s culture has been a deterrent factor towards the realization of success in this area. People get stigma misjudgment. Many others underestimate the effectiveness of therapy due to would be due to a lack of enlightenment. There is also the problem of lack of insurance cover and the cost of treatment: black people are hit with this often.
However, increasing treatment participation would cut down this mental health treatment gap. Making treatment more affordable would lure more people with mental health issues to go for therapy since they will not strain. It is also important that we enlighten them on treatment options for mental health disorders. All that will improve patient experience and relatively raise the bar for individuals who need help to come forward.
References
Garthwait, C. (2016). The social work practicum: A guide and workbook for students. Pearson.
Turner, G. W. (2019). A private practice field education site: illuminating a unique social work
practicum placement through autoethnography. In Ending Gender-Based, Family and Community Violence: SSWR 2019 Annual Conference, January 16-20, 2019, San Francisco, CA.