APHA Event Highlights Need for Self-Empowerment in Behavioral Health

Last week, the American Public Health Association (APHA) assembled in Boston to celebrate its 150th anniversary and to conduct its annual national conference. More than 13,000 members and guests participated in these celebratory events. Simultaneously, the APHA’s Mental Health Section marked 75 years of activities originating with the development and passage of the National Mental Health Act of 1946 and the creation of the National Institute of Mental Health in 1949.

Here, I would like to report on the Mental Health Section’s Sunday Symposium, “A Public Health Framework for Mental Health—Where Do We Take It Now: Race, Culture, Ethnicity, and Mental Health Activism.” The theme of this symposium revolved around the urgent need to develop self-empowered communities. These communities can engage all members—including those who have been historically excluded—work to prevent behavioral health conditions, and support those with these conditions.

Panel members were stimulated by historian and author Phyllis Vine, who offered an introductory view of her just-released book, Fighting for Recovery. This text recounts the development of an empowered national consumer movement over the past half century. In her comments, she cited Robert Felix, the brilliant first NIMH director, and Judy Turner-Crowson, the charismatic founder of the much-acclaimed NIMH Community Support Program for adults with serious mental illness, as 2 wonderful examples of leaders who promoted and developed self-empowered communities in the mental health field.

Cheryl Boyce, PhD, from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), described a first-ever, new grant initiative specifically designed for communities to self-organize and confront their health problems, as well as the social determinants of health that sustain these problems. This grant program is the very first in NIH designed to provide resources to communities for self-empowerment. In a similar vein, Nicte Mejia, MD, MPH, FAAN, from Massachusetts General Hospital, offered comments on the key role that the social determinants play in child health and wellbeing. Clearly, these childhood problems begin in the family and community, and they must be addressed there. Minority and immigrant status, and poverty almost always exacerbate these issues.

Dan Fisher, MD, PhD, from the National Empowerment Center, recounted his own struggles with mental illness and his personal path to recovery. Regaining his voice through personal recovery efforts and having a supportive community that listened to his voice were both key in this process. Clearly, self-empowered communities cannot promote wellbeing if they exclude the participation of those with behavioral health conditions.

Much exciting work already is underway in the US and internationally on the development of self-empowered communities. Here, much of this work has been supported by the Hogg Foundation. Already, several key principles are emerging from this work:

• Listen to the community
• Engage historically excluded groups
• Permit indigenous community leaders to emerge
• Conduct communitywide celebratory events

As part of its major program for the coming year, it is hoped that the Mental Health Section will explore this very recent work on self-empowered communities and reach out to the APHA state public health affiliates and local public health departments to implement these concepts broadly. Self-empowered communities can do much to prevent and ameliorate behavioral health conditions.

Our hats are off to Robin Kimbrough-Melton, current chair of the Mental Health Section, and Mary Jane Alexander, PhD, past chair, for developing this excellent symposium.

Ron Manderscheid, PhD, is the former president and CEO of NACBHDD and NARMH, as well as an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the USC School of Social Work.

The views expressed in Perspectives are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Behavioral Healthcare Executive, the Psychiatry & Behavioral Health Learning Network, or other Network authors. Perspectives entries are not medical advice.