She started having suicidal thoughts at 11 or 12. She didn’t know the words to name it. She had no idea what it was, but she consistently had these urges to end her life.
“I just wanted to be dead,” she says.
One night when she was 24, and already long diagnosed with clinical #depression, she succumbed to the feelings.
“I couldn’t suppress these thoughts anymore,” she recalls. “I had thought about ending my life for eight straight months.
“I texted a friend and said, ‘It would be better if I wasn’t here.’ That friend did not know that I had already taken substances in the hope that I would go to sleep and not wake up. And while I was waiting to die, the police showed up.”
T-Kea Blackman, now 29, survived that attempt and dedicated her life to helping others navigate the darkness of #depression and #mentalhealth crises.
#Suicide, long thought of something that affected other racial and ethnic groups, is fast becoming an epidemic in #black communities, particularly among school-age #children.
A recent study in the Journal of Community Health showed that #suicide rates among #black #girls ages 13-19 nearly doubled from 2001 to 2017. For #black #boys in the same age group, over the same period, rates rose 60 percent.
Additionally, for children ages 5 to 12, #black #males are committing #suicide at higher rates than any other racial or ethnic group, said Dr. Michael Lindsey, the executive director of New York University’s McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research.
“If #suicide was a #black phenomenon and all of a sudden there was an uptick in white kids committing #suicide, there would be a national outcry,” Lindsey said on a panel, “Mental Health: A Hidden Crisis in Schools?” at this year’s Education Writers Association national conference.
It’s not just data points that are sounding an alarm.
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, began seeing more and more personal stories of youth #suicide in her Facebook and Twitter feeds.
“I said to my staff, ‘We gotta do something about this’,” Watson Coleman said. “I don’t know to what extent we have control over anything, but the least we should be doing is raising the concern so that this issue could be addressed.”
Watson Coleman approached CBC Chairwoman Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., and together they created the Emergency Taskforce on #Black #Youth #Suicide and #MentalHealth.
Launched at the end of April, the task force has 15 representatives, including Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., and freshmen Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. and Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.. There is also a working group, led by Lindsey, that includes clinicians, clergy, researchers and social justice practitioners. Also enlisted was actress Taraji P. Henson, a #mentalhealthadvocate, who on numerous occasions has shared her own struggles with #mentalhealth.
#JamesDonaldson notes:
Welcome to the “next chapter” of my life… being a voice and an advocate for #mentalhealthawarenessandsuicideprevention, especially pertaining to our younger generation of students and student-athletes.
Getting men to speak up and reach out for help and assistance is one of my passions. Us men need to not suffer in silence or drown our sorrows in alcohol, hang out at bars and strip joints, or get involved with drug use.
Having gone through a recent bout of #depression and #suicidalthoughts myself, I realize now, that I can make a huge difference in the lives of so many by sharing my story, and by sharing various resources I come across as I work in this space. #http://bit.ly/JamesMentalHealthArticle
“The more we get into this,” Watson Coleman said, “the more frightening the situation becomes to me, the more we recognize that #suicide in general is a problem across communities, but it has a particular impact in the #black and #LGBTQ communities.”
The task force and working group are scheduled to present their findings in December. But Coleman says that so far, all the evidence for the spike in suicides points to multiple factors.
“The lack of access to #mentalhealthcare,” she says. “Teachers who don’t know what to look for, or communities that don’t have the tools to deal with the issue.”
“Bullying has been identified,” she said, “and discrimination and harassment of the #LGBTQ community have been raised as having an impact on how our young people process their life experiences.”
None of this comes as a surprise to Blackman, whose company, Fireflies Unite, addresses #mentalhealthissues that she notes are born out of childhood trauma. Her book, “Saved & Depressed: A Suicide Survivor’s Journey of Mental Health, Healing and Faith,” documents her struggle.
“My (suicidal) thoughts go back to my father being incarcerated for most of my life and my mother being verbally and physically abused,” Blackman said.
There were also cultural and community pressures that for years kept her fearful that she would be locked up or sent to “the crazy house.”
“I was told that I would have to go to therapy, but that therapy was for rich, white crazy people,” Blackman said. “I don’t fit the rich, white demographic.”
The response from the church, the foundational institution in most black communities, was troubling.
“I was told to speak in tongues for 20 minutes a day and that my suicidal feelings would go away, or my #depression would go away,” Blackman said “I was told not to take my medication because that would make it worse or to just pray harder.”
Watson Coleman expressed the same concerns.
“You were always told, ‘You got Jesus on your side and you don’t need anything else, he will work it out for you,’” she remembers. “But #mentalhealth is an illness of the mind, and if you had an illness in your leg, like I did, and needed a new knee you go to the orthopedist.”
Blackman works to direct people with #mentalillness to the resources they need. She thinks one of the solutions is that all schools need to train their staff on mental health first aid, which is an eight-hour course where individuals can learn to better identify the signs of some #mentalhealth conditions, like #depression and bi-polar and #anxiety disorders.
“There are many signs if someone is having a #mentalhealthcrisis,” she says, “and the major ones for children is if they begin to withdraw from regular activities, or if their grades begin to suffer. Another thing, if they start giving away possessions. Also, please monitor their #socialmedia, because sometimes it’s there that you will see what they’re going through.”
But the most important piece of advice, she noted, is not to dismiss what your child is saying and to listen to them, judgment free.
“Parents too often dismiss what their child is saying about how they are feeling,” Blackman said. “They say, ‘Oh, you have a roof over your head and clothes on your back. … You don’t have any real responsibilities.”
“We still pass down generation trauma,” Blackman said. “#Depression is a disease, just like diabetes.”
Resources: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org
Written by: Nick Charles
James Donaldson is a Washington State University graduate (’79). After an outstanding basketball career with WSU, he went on to play professional basketball in the NBA with the Seattle Supersonics, San Diego/L.A. Clippers, Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks, and Utah Jazz. He also played for several teams in the European Leagues in Spain, Italy, and Greece, and he toured with The Harlem Globetrotters to wrap up his career. James was an NBA All-Star in 1988 while playing center for the Dallas Mavericks. In 2006, James was inducted into the Pac-10 Sports Hall of Fame and also the Washington State University Athletic Hall of Fame. In 2010, James was elected as a board member for the NBA Retired Players Association.
James frequently conducts speaking engagements (motivational, inspirational, educational) for organizations, schools, and youth groups.
In 2010, James was the recipient of the NBA Legends of Basketball ABC Award, awarded for outstanding contributions in Athletics–Business–Community.
He believes in being a role model for success and professionalism to the scores of young people to whom he devotes so much of his time. He currently serves on several boards and committees and is a member of many organizations.
James believes in developing relationships that create a “Win-Win” environment for everyone involved, and in being the best he can be!
For more information about James Donaldson or to request he speak at your event, contact him at:
www.StandingAboveTheCrowd.com
[email protected]
1-800-745-3161 (voicemail & fax)
James Donaldson is the author of “Standing Above The Crowd” and “Celebrating Your Gift of Life” and founder of the Your Gift of Life Foundation which focuses on mental health awareness and suicide prevention, especially pertaining to our school aged children and men.
If you’re interested in having James come and speak to your group of young adults, business entrepreneurs, aspiring political and community leaders, and athletic teams, please contact him at [email protected] and or leave a personal message for him at 1-800-745-3161. Keep up with him and read about how he is reaching out and making a difference in the lives of so many around the world at www.yourgiftoflife.org
