By Chrissie Hodges, President and Founder of OCD Gamechangers
Black History Month has arrived in 2021, and OCD Gamechangers has been contemplating for months what we want to do to support and bring awareness to our black community members with OCD. Acknowledging the cultural discrepancies and barriers individuals in different cultures outside being Caucasian have experienced is common, but acknowledgement and action are two very different responses. We have gotten to a point where hearing feedback like ‘that’s just how it is’ or ‘we don’t know what to do to create change’ has become stale and tiring. We recognize that change begins not by just acknowledging cultural differences, but really taking a hard look at WHY there are differences. Because of our limited understanding of the actual discrimination and prejudice in the mental health system as an all white board, we are seeking lived experience, partnerships, expertise, and individuals willing to share their stories or join our cause (anonymously if needed) to take strides to produce real change.
We have teamed up with our colleague and partner Tawana Watson to help highlight the HISTORICAL boundaries individuals in the black community face when struggling or seeking treatment for mental health with emphasis on OCD. We will provide statistics as well as a commitment by OCD Gamechangers in stepping toward inclusivity and partnership with the black community on how we can help provide support. Many of these barriers present obstacles where we have no idea what the first step is to even begin to create change. And that is where we will ask for your help, your commitment, and your willingness to work with us.
We want to create an opportunity to call for help from our community in bringing awareness to the historic and modern day atrocities individuals in the black community deal with when faced with mental health symptoms and OCD. And instead of elevating people in the black community throughout the month to try to parade that we are culturally competent, we want to expose the realities that our OCD community has historically failed in being culturally competent as a whole. Let’s finally admit it.
OCD Gamechangers wants to make a commitment to figuring out how we can acknowledge and work with members of our minority communities to start chipping away at these barriers. As much as we want to say that we want to smash them down, we don’t want to seem so arrogant as to downplay the generational persistence these barriers represent. What we do want is to say, we want to walk alongside you, listen, validate, and take risks to create change.
And we want to start this month.
I know this may feel uncomfortable for those of us in a position of privilege to see the blind spot of prejudice and racism that exists within the mental health system. But it’s time we adjusted the mirror and make sure our minority communities aren’t being left behind, but are sitting with us in the front seat on this journey.
