mental health awareness

BIPOC Mental Health Month

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As we turn to the month of July, we focus our awareness on black, indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) individuals and families and the state of UN-wellbeing that persists due to the systemic factors that obstruct access to mental health services within these communities.  Studies conducted over the past 20 years have concluded that even though we understand more about the challenges these groups face – poverty, trauma, gang lifestyles, and intergenerational trauma – the numbers and outcomes show very little to indicate improvement in wellbeing among BIPOC individuals.

By the Numbers

Here is a striking overview of how specific racial/ethnic groups fared compared to white individuals. This data can provide us a gateway to explore the detailed findings so that solutions can continue to be sought, validated, and implemented.

  • Among adults with any mental illness, Black (39%), Hispanic (36%), and Asian (25%) adults were less likely than White (52%) adults to receive mental health services as of 2021. (KFF, 2023)
  • 2020 data reflect that AIAN (American Indian/Alaska Native) people had the highest rates of drug overdose deaths compared with all other racial and ethnic groups. Drug overdose death rates among Black people exceeded rates for White people as of 2020, reflecting larger increases among Black people in recent years. (KFF, 2023)
  • Black and Latinx youth were 14 percent less likely than white children to receive treatment for their depression in 2020. (SAMHSA, 2020)
  • The suicide death rate for Native/Indigenous people in America between the ages of 15-19 is more than double that of white youth. (CDC, 2023)

In another finding, the prevalence of mental illnesses among BIPOC individuals was similar to the prevalence among white people. However, when it came to accessing mental health services, racial/ethnic minorities were either less able or declined to access the help available due to mistrust and fear of treatment, the stigma surrounding mental health, racism and discrimination, and differences in language.  This suggests that peoples of color carry a greater burden of disability from mental illness, e.g. more likely to suffer from prolonged, chronic, and severely debilitating depression that affects them, as well as family and community members compared with whites because they often received less care and poorer quality care.

Changing the Narrative

Community is vital to well being. Inclusive communities create a sense of support and belonging, psychological as well as physical safety, and strong connection. Historically, BIPOC communities have created culturally responsive spaces, advocated for community resources, and been at the forefront of social change. It is critical to include the people within the community being served when considering behavioral health and education.

LEAD with Horses provides quality, inclusive services, and we are working toward making these services more accessible. This work is not easy, and it starts with creating welcoming, safe spaces for all of those we serve. We have the benefit of a Healing Herd of horses who assist us with building trust to create connection and community, the foundation of inclusion. Youth are invited to create the guidelines for their time at LEAD with Horses and encouraged to share their stories. We will continue to partner with others and examine our offerings, our approach, and our team to remove barriers to care and to continue to nurture all of our youth so that they will thrive.

Grief Takes Many Forms

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This week we will address grief and loss not due to a death,. We can enhance our own emotional surroundings by being open and even curious about how to abide with losses that we know of, and losses we might not even be aware of, because we ignored them. We will take a glimpse at grief, including the seemingly inconsequential losses that build up. and the consequences of not mourning. We will look at how our own Healing Herd stands present with those who are carrying powerful feelings of loss by simply holding a sacred, non-judgmental space in which a child can grieve well.

How Children and Teenagers Grieve

We all grieve. It is one of the truths about being human. The sad reality among so many of us is that we often don’t even consider grieving a loss if it wasn’t due to a death in the family or community. Until recently, even the death of a pet or another animal was not considered to be a loss that we ought to mourn and grieve. Many of us were warned by our parents,“don’t get too attached” so as not to hurt so deeply from the loss of something. As parents, we often trivialize our children’s losses as not significant enough to bother with grief or mourning. When kids act out their feelings over losing something important to them, such as parents getting divorced, a friend moving away, or loss of a prized possession, we assume that their behavior is due to “a stage”, “not getting their way”, or just plain old “disrespect”.  

My grandson has been unusually aggressive, needy, and clingy over the past year and even got suspended recently from kindergarten for fighting another child. As our family looked back to what was going on roughly a year ago it dawned on all of us that this was about the time of his parents’ divorce and his father’s move to another state. He is learning to tend to his grief as best as a 5-year-old can and we have all reminded ourselves and one another to be open to hearing what he has to say about it.  

Whether psychological, symbolic, or abstract in nature, a loss of identity, autonomy, trust in the world, dreams or hopes for the future, and a loss of personal meaning are intangible losses. The invisible nature of these losses makes these types of experiences difficult to express.  Claudia Elsig, MD

How to Be Supportive

To be fair, how many of us can actually say we were given instructions on how to grieve our losses and how to tend to emotional pain?  Were we ever given a hint as to how to recognize a grieving child if we saw one, or if the child was our own?  Did we ever stop to think about the losses associated with the Covid pandemic, and the effects of the drastic measures of lock-down upon, not only our kids, but us adults, too! So much of how we abide with our pain, when and if we allow ourselves to feel it, is left to guesswork or based on what we observed growing up and watching our parents grieve their losses. But loss creates pain and because humans avoid pain as much as possible, it gets exiled. We hide it, cover it, numb it.

Why do we do that?  Much of that has to do with our nonconscious fear of emotional pain. Pain is messy. We think that if we have pain, we are doing something wrong. We do not feel safe in sharing our pain with another because we do not want to risk being open and vulnerable only to hear from our listener that we have nothing to be sad about. But there are dire consequences to our overall well being when we stow away feelings of loss and grief. In children, teens, and young adults, look for the following: 

Signs of depression and/or anxiety.Dangerous risk taking.
Drop in grades.Self-destructive behaviors.
Threatening to hurt self or others.Violent play.
Use of drugs or alcohol.Total withdrawal from people and environment.
A dramatic change in personality or functioning over a long period of time.Any of the “normal” behaviors happening over a very long time or to an extreme.

We can provide support by first acknowledging and validating a child’s experience and encouraging open communication. It can be useful to have a ritual to process the loss. And of course, get help if it feels overwhelming. We don’t have to do this alone. 

At LEAD with Horses, a goal is to facilitate our clients’ ability to abide with the pain of loss while at the same time building a sense of peace about it. Grief and Pain sitting side by side in the presence of horses. The horses and donkeys are highly sensitive to our emotions and react to our body language and non-verbal cues. Interactions with these gentle and intuitive creatures are well-known as helpers rebuilding trust, overcoming fear of emotional pain, and in processing difficult emotions, like grief, in a non-verbal way.

We provide our grieving kiddos and their families with the space to observe and interact with our Healing Herd in an environment that is filled with love, empathy, healing, and compassion. 

Resources

Bereavement During Childhood and Adolescence https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK217849/

Horses helping heal anxiety, grief, depression like no other animal. https://youtu.be/ThUFtndFEOI

Discovering true self. https://youtu.be/fKt3wi1bzDc

In the Presence of Horses

This entry was posted in LEAD Contributors and tagged behavioral health breath work breathe equine assisted psychotherapy horse breath mental health mental health awareness mind body awareness Mindful mindfulness therapy horse on by

What do horses, our surroundings, our bodies and senses, and a 2,500-year-old practice all have in common?  What can we learn from them collectively if we are seeking to experience joy, happiness, wellness, and in between, be eager to seek more?

Here’s a helpful hint. Research into the treatment of depression, anxiety, and the effects of childhood trauma is showing that – despite the medications, treatment modalities, protocols, and theories – it is the ancient practice of mindful meditation, breathwork, and full awareness of our body’s response to our surroundings that could actually achieve greater healing and relief from these maladies of the mind and body. There is plenty of research into how horses connect and communicate through their breath. Horses will breathe slower and deeper to regulate either their own anxiety or that of another herd member.

In observing our clients and healing herd at LEAD with Horses, we have seen that humans can also be calmed by simply paying attention to a horse’s breathing pattern and then matching it with their own breath. Because horses are fully self-aware and finely attuned with their surroundings, our clients tend to follow suit. We see its efficacy in helping our kiddos regulate their own anxiety or unhealthy responses when they are activated, even though memory of experience is retained at a non-conscious level. What’s really amazing in all this is that both horses and humans already have the tools necessary to be fully present and connected in the moment and, therefore, the ability to heal.

So, when we talk about being body-aware and mindful of the present and our surroundings, what we are saying is that we are purposefully connecting to what’s going on in our non-conscious mind and raising it into our conscious mind. And this is where being “in the presence of horses” is supportive because shedding light on what’s been kept hidden in the dark for so long is a frightening prospect.

Horses, for the sake of their own survival, are naturally and fully mindful of and present with their surroundings and themselves. Mithros, the wise elder of our herd, would likely have this to say:

We horses have an amazing ability to be fully present in our 4 footed bodies, in our environment, as well as in the moment. This is absolutely necessary because we would be easy pickings for predators if we weren’t. When a threat shows up you humans get all wound up and you obsess over it. But horses? Yeah, we get scared, BUT! We have the ability to take stock of the situation and return to the present once we see there’s no real danger. You humans can learn a lot about being present just by watching us and by practicing a few, simple exercises to center yourself on your own 2 feet.

Ashley Belt, who is our Equine Specialist, explains, “Horses use their breath to relieve stress and ground themselves. If you’ve ever heard a horse blow out or sneeze there’s a good chance that they are grounding themselves. In our program we have a variety of deep breathing exercises that clients can use. One of which is a horse breath where a client relaxes their lips, takes a deep breath in then exhales through the mouth making a raspberry noise just like horses. Other options include several different shapes where clients are encouraged to draw the shapes on the horse to engage all the senses. You can watch the physical changes in the horse when this happens: their head lowers, the eyes soften and sometimes close, a back foot will rest on the ground.”

At LEAD with Horses, we provide our kids well-researched tasks that involve breathing, listening, sensing, relaxing, and paying attention to their bodies to help in understanding the connection between their own breathing, thoughts, and emotions, and how they abide with their families, at school, and in their community.

In all the work I have had the honor to conduct with youth in my career I have never before experienced moments of beauty in silent connectedness, breath by breath, sense upon sense, between a teenager and the horse that held space in the midst of loving kindness. LSH

We invite you to contact us and share a chat with our staff and volunteers. We are passionate about our work and tending to our Healing Herd. In our tending, we are, indeed, attended to.

 

Box Breathing

Here’s a great breathing exercise for you to try on your own. It’s called Box Breathing and it has been adopted by the Navy SEALS for use when they recognize their own need to ground themselves and be mindfully aware of their environment.

Take a deep, full breath. Exhale slowly, fully and completely. Inhale again and count from 1 to 4 (or for as long as feels comfortable). Pause for 4 seconds. Exhale slowly while counting from 1 to 4 (or for as long as feels comfortable). Pause for 4 seconds. Repeat the exercise three or four times. It helps to place both your hands on your sternum, pressing slightly in and downward while practicing this technique.

For more information:

Meditate in the presence of horses. https://fullcirclewellness.uk/Meditate_with_Horses.html

What Horses can Teach us About Breathing Mindfully https://equineguidedgrowth.com/2018/12/01/what-horses-can-teach-us-about-breathing-mindfully/

The Body Keeps the Score https://www.besselvanderkolk.com/resources/the-body-keeps-the-score

Introduction to Mental Health Month

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The month of May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and we at LEAD with Horses are encouraging our staff, volunteers, and the children and families we serve to look closely around and look deep within. From your home, yard, and neighborhood to genetics, many factors come into play when it comes to emerging mental health conditions. We and our Healing Herd encourage everyone to consider how the world around us affects our mental health and overall well-being.

This month we will be exploring how environment affects our state of well-being for both horses AND humans. We will look at how simple changes to our surroundings can make a world of difference in levels of stress, anxiety, or depression. And, of course, we are all more than eager to provide you with what you need to know about how working with our Healing Herd can improve the overall sense of well-being in relationships among family members and with peers and/or co-workers.

At LEAD with Horses, the environment we provide for our herd fosters a healthy and clean-living environment where the horses can be outdoors with lots of room to romp around and play as well as shelter from harsh weather.

As we post information about Mental Health, Horses, and our surroundings, we hope you will be surprised and amazed at how similar the little things are that benefit both horses and humans! You will appreciate knowing how horses also experience mental health conditions of their own and learning that they’re not so different from humans.