Issues in African American Psychology:

Reducing Barriers to Mental Health Care Access.

Each One, Reach One

Learn more about the agencies that come to our Class

	CINOH Children in Need of Hugs
	BBE SF Aids Foundation (Black Brother's Empowerment

I am excited about the opportunity that African American Studies at UC Berkeley has provided for me in allowing the space for the academic community to look at mental health care for African Americans.

According to the former US Surgeon General, African Americans are twice as likely to have a mental health diagnosis as whites. However, African Americans are the least likely to seek out routine mental health care. Our class delves into the responsibility of our community to help find solutions that can help African Americans get help quicker. To find out more follow our syllabus, log onto our bSpace class for discussions (email me to get a password) or attend an event in class.

Throughout the semester we will have social services agencies to visit us and propose a research question for our students to tackle.

Issues that will be raised in class include:

	Using sports to motivate at-risk youth
	How to find resources for homeless pregnant teen moms.
	What would constitute synergistic services between the mental health care establishment and the black church,
	How can we find ways to communicate across cultures,
	How can research on multiple diagnosis reduce the rise of AIDS in the black community.

This class is normally taught in Spring Semester.