With the tragic and untimely deaths of DJ Avicii and Chef Anthony Bourdain, suicide and mental health awareness have been at the forefront of conversations and collective consciousness. According to Mental Health America, over six million men suffer from depression per year and approximately 1 in 5 men develop alcohol dependence during their lifetime.
Prevention Institute research has shown, boys and men of color are at higher risk of mental illness due to multi-generational trauma, fewer economic opportunities, higher exposure to poverty, violence, and mass incarceration.
Making Connections for Mental Health and Wellbeing Among Men and Boys in the U.S. is a national initiative working at the forefront of addressing this issue through partnered community coalitions. One of the initiative’s coalition sites is located in City Heights at the United Women of East Africa Community and Cultural Center and programmed through United Women of East Africa Support Team (UWEAST). UWEAST is a non-profit aiming to be “the pipeline of culturally competent health services, education, and advocacy for the improvement of East African women and families’ health and well being.”