Addressing Differential MOUD Prescribing Practices for Black Patients
Toolkit
Publication Date: 1/17/2025
Author(s): African American Behavioral Health Center of Excellence, PCSS-MOUD and the Opioid Response Network (ORN)
In the summer of 2024, the PCSS MOUD, African American Behavioral Health Center of Excellence (AABH CoE), and the Opioid Response Network (ORN), partnered to develop a 3-part learning series "Addressing Disparities: Equitable Prescribing of Medications for Opioid Use Disorder in Black Populations." This toolkit is intended to share the wealth of information that was developed by our planning partners, subject matter experts, presenters, and learners who attended the live events. Consider using the materials to discuss these topics with your teams, share the resources included, and expand your learning on this important theme.
Urgent Call to Action: Addressing the Crisis of Black Maternal Health Disparities
Policy Brief
Publication Date: 8/29/2024
Author(s): AABH CoE & Central East PTTC
The issue of black maternal health in the United States is a crisis that demands immediate attention and action. The staggering disparities in maternal health outcomes between black and white women reveal systemic and institutionalized inequities within the healthcare system. Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women, irrespective of income, education, or socio-economic status. This alarming statistic underscores the urgent need for comprehensive, targeted interventions and policy reforms to address the root causes of this disparity.
The African American Behavioral Health Center of Excellence and the Central East Prevention Technology Transfer Center has forged a collaborative relationship to address and inform providers about the alarming maternal health disparities for black women. To delve into this complex, yet important topic, the two centers have developed a workgroup to equip providers in better understanding these disparities and best practices to working with their clients. To begin the dialogue this document introduces our readers to the alarming facts and sets the tone for our future work.
Suicide Prevention, Intervention, and Postvention for African Americans: An Equity-focused Review of Resources
Literature Review
Publication Date: 8/27/2024
Author(s): Santerrius J. Barlow, MA, Technology Transfer Specialist;
Cameron Allen Cunningham, MDiv, Training and Technical Assistance Manager; Pilar Jackson, BS, Training and Technical Assistance,
Manager
Many complex and interwoven circumstances contribute to the ongoing crisis of death by suicide in the African American community, magnifying the need for and importance of preventive services, resources, tools, and safety measures tailored to address the unique challenges that African Americans face. Studies show that Black Americans utilize therapy and clinical treatment/counseling at lower rates than their non-Black counterparts. This may be due to a number of factors, including the legacy of serious medical mistrust carried down through history (Pederson, 2023), but the scarcity of culturally relevant/appropriate resources may be a significant factor as well (Congressional Black Caucus, 2019).
The following is a brief review of these and other major challenges to the prevention of suicide and the promotion of mental health and safety for African Americans
Black Resiliance: It's An Inside, Outside, And Side-By-Side Job
Essay
Publication Date: 8/26/2024
Author(s): Pamela Woll, MA, CPS
Resilience is a dance, back and forth between the shadows and the light. It might be the most important dance—and the most beautiful dance—human beings can ever learn. This leaves the behavioral health field with a valuable gift and a heavy responsibility, as we struggle to address all the symptoms, all the trauma, all the pain, and all the complexity that history has left in its wake.
Black resilience is a powerful force for healing—in individuals, in families, in communities, and in the world. In the behavioral health field, it is our job to look for Black resilience, learn about it, acknowledge it, encourage it, nurture it, and believe in it.
Essay: Prioritizing and Eliminating Bias
Essay
Publication Date: 4/8/2024
Author(s): Pilar Jackson, Training and Technical Assistance Program Manager
One thing that makes it hard for many people to look at our own biases is that we think we should be completely without bias. We think all biases are harmful or negative, so having biases must make us “bad people.” This essay offers an introduction to biases, the harm they can do, and a few steps that organizations can take to make our services safer and more effective for African Americans.
Prioritizing Self-Care: A Guide for Faith Leaders
Guide
Publication Date: 3/26/2024
Author(s): Santerrius Barlow, Training and TA Specialist
The goal of this guide is to identify some of the challenges of Faith leaders and provide strategies they can use to address these challenges. It is important that Faith leaders take the steps necessary to adopt a healthier lifestyle and involve themselves in activities that will enhance their overall health and well-being.
Essay: Limitations of Research and Evidence-based Practices with Black/African American Populations
Essay
Publication Date: 2/1/2024
Author(s): Cameron Cunningham, MDiv
Evidence-based practices (EBPs) are widely acknowledged across a variety of healthcare disciplines (e.g., psychology, public health, social services) as the gold standard for effective clinical solutions. In mental health, an evidence-based practice is "an approach to treatment that is grounded in the best available scientific evidence.
An African American Holiday Self-Care Guide
Guide
Publication Date: 12/1/2023
Author(s): Pilar Jackson and Santerrius Barlow
For many in the African American community, the holiday season can bring on feelings of isolation, grief, stress, family challenges, and trauma. it’s important for each of us to reflect on our own journey and see what that tells us about our needs. This means observing how we engage with the holiday season.
Depression and Racial Trauma in the African American Community
Infographic
Publication Date: 11/1/2023
Author(s): AABHE-CoE Staff
Infographic illustrating the effects and ongoing impact of racial trauma on the african american community.
Improving Mental Health Outcomes for Vulnerable Black Children and Youth
Toolkit
Publication Date: 9/1/2023
Author(s): Pamela Woll, MA, CPS; Dawn Tyus, PhD, LPC, MAC, NCC; Cameron Cunningham, MDiv
This brief toolkit provides eight one-page briefs, offering mental health practitioners information and suggestions on key topics to prepare them for more effective work with African American children and youth.
Culturally Appropriate Ways of Engaging African American Women in Mental Health and Substance Use Treatment
Essay
Publication Date: 8/1/2023
Author(s): Tanya Jules, MPH
How do practitioners serve individuals of color in ways that will, not only protect their vulnerabilities, but also increase their levels of safety, engagement, and successful recovery? This essay explores some of the common obstacles to culturally appropriate services for Black women and highlights two promising tools for culturally appropriate engagement of this population.
African Americans as Health Partners: Getting the Most Out of Mental Health and Wellness
Resource List
Publication Date: 7/1/2023
Author(s): Pamela Woll, MA, CPS
This simple tool for general audiences introduces the concept of a “health partner”—a patient or client who knows how to make the most of health care services—and provides concrete suggestions for becoming an effective health partner. Divided in two panels, this document can be photocopied double-sided to produce half-page quick reference cards that can be handed out to patients, clients, students, constituents, and community members.
Practical Strategies for Communities and Providers Engaging the African American Community
Infographic
Publication Date: 7/1/2023
Author(s): Cameron Cunningham, MDiv and Kaneisha Gaston, MPH
This visual “infographic” tool is a companion to the essay on “The Tragic Effects of COVID-19 on African American Behavioral Health.” It presents strategies that community and behavioral health organizations can use to mitigate the loss of life and potential left by the COVID-19 pandemic and the opioid epidemic that still ranges in many Black communities.
12 Ways Racial Trauma Affects Your Work with African Americans
Other
Publication Date: 6/27/2023
Author(s): Pamela Woll, MA, CPS
This 23-page “presentation content” document is a full narrative version of the concepts and examples developed for the June 27 webinar by the same name. This document explains what racial trauma is, why it is so profound and so common, and why it is such an important challenge to address in behavioral health services.
Supporting Black women In Their Efforts to Heal From Historical and Personal Traumas
Infographic
Publication Date: 5/1/2023
Author(s): Dawn Tyus, PhD and Tanya Jules, MPH
This graceful visual tool offers suggestions for providers that can enhance the safety, empowerment, and healing of African American women in behavioral health services.
Why Is The Struggle For Behavioral Health Equity So Hard?
Essay
Publication Date: 4/11/2023
Author(s): Pamela Woll, MA, CPS
A well-loved piece of wisdom is this quote from Chicago columnist Sydney J. Harris: "The three hardest tasks in the world are neither physical feats nor intellectual achievements, but moral acts: to return love for hate, to include the excluded, and to say, 'I was wrong’."These words give us a few clues about why behavioral health equity is so hard to build. In this essay, we explore insights from beloved Black authors on how to transcend these challenges.
Combined Language Guide
Policy Brief
Publication Date: 12/1/2022
Author(s): AABH-CoE and Partners
In the behavioral health field, the words we use to refer to individuals, families, communities, and cultures are enormously important. When words have been used in ways that deny the power, worth, or individuality of human beings, they tend to grow toxc, and they need to be replaced.
View from the Field: Recruitment and Retention of African American Men in the Mental Health and Substance Use Workforce
Guide
Publication Date: 12/1/2022
Author(s): AABHE-CoE and National Council for Mental Wellbeing Staff
Increasing diversity in the mental health and substance use services field can lead to greater cultural competency and increase the ability of health care providers to offer services that meet the unique social, cultural and linguistic needs of their patients.
Culturally Specific Solutions for Black Recovery Communities
Policy Brief
Publication Date: 10/19/2022
Author(s): AABH-CoE and CAARD
In this collaborative piece, the AABH-CoE and CAARD discuss how favorable outcomes improve for Black people with substance use disorder (SUD) when they engage in Recovery Community Organizations (RCOs) led by Black people. Both organizations make the case for more investment into Black-led RCOs in Black communities.
Preliminary Literature Review: Suicide Amoung Black Youth
Literature Review
Publication Date: 8/15/2022
Author(s): AABH-CoE Staff
In June, 2022, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA) Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) launched a collaborative partnership to stem the rising tide of suicide among Black youth in America. This document is a product of the first step in this initiative, a preliminary literature review drawn from the past 10 years’ research on Black youth suicide and related topics.
AABH-CoE Suicide Awareness
Fact Sheet
Publication Date: 8/15/2022
Author(s): AABH-CoE and National Council on Mental Wellbeing
In efforts to raise education and awareness of suicide in the Black community, the team at the African American behavioral Health Center of Excellence and its partner the National Council on Mental Wellbeing assert the following resources: Preliminary Literature Review, Suicide Among Black Youth and Suicide in U.S. Bkack and African American Communities
Addressing Disparities in Access and Utilization of Mental Health and Substance Use Services Among Blacks and African Americans
Article
Publication Date: 8/1/2022
Author(s): National Council for Mental Wellbeing (Glory Okwori, DrPH; Aaron Williams, MA; Tiffany Francis, MJ, & Ciara Hill, BS)
As one of the AABH-CoE's national partners, the National Council for Mental Wellbeing has developed this white-paper to assist the public in better understanding the health disparities that exist in the access, engagement, utilization, and outcomes for Black/African Americans seeking speciality mental health and substance use treatment services.
Eating Disorders in Black Americans
Article
Publication Date: 7/30/2022
Author(s): African American Behavioral Health Center of Excellence & National Center of Eating Disorders
An infographic introducing the topic of eating disorders in Black Americans.
Lifting the Burdens of History
Infographic
Publication Date: 5/19/2022
Author(s): Pamela Woll, MA, CPS
Explores opportunities for the behavioral health field to address and lift the burdens of history that have lead to behavioral health disparities for African Americans.
Black Gay Men and Health Disparities
Article
Publication Date: 4/26/2022
Author(s): Dr. Lawrence Bryant, Assistant Professor, Kennesaw State University
In this article, Dr. Lawrence Bryant discusses the health disparities faced by Black gay men.
What We Believe
Essay
Publication Date: 3/22/2022
Author(s): Pamela Woll, MA, CPS
This essay opens a discussion of the central premises behind the work of the African American Behavioral Health Center of Excellence. From our beliefs about the population we serve to our views on language, truth-telling, and the complexity of the challenges we face, this essay invites the reader to join the discussion.
Many Rivers To Cross: Critical Challenges and Overarching Goals for the African American Behavioral Health Center of Excellence
Article
Publication Date: 2/20/2022
Author(s): Pamela Woll, MA, CPS
This article explores the four major areas of challenge that the African American Behavioral Health Center of Excellence was founded to address, and the four overarching goals that the center has adopted.
Press Announcement: About the African American Behavioral Health Center of Excellence
Press Announcement
Publication Date: 10/1/2020
Author(s):
This flyer provides information on the newly founded African American Behavioral Health Center of Excellence (AABH CoE).
Founded October 1, 2020, this innovative yet deeply grounded Center has been structured to mobilize the scholarship and expertise of many distinguished voices in African American behavioral health and health equity, the knowledge and wisdom of multiple national bodies representing a broad spectrum of Black stakeholders, and the established networks of a host of strategic partners committed to marketing and disseminating the new center’s products and services.
Publication Date:
Author(s):