The BLUES Project will host a community health fair for moms-to-be and in observance of Minority Mental Health Awareness Month on Wednesday from 9 a.m.-noon at the Glenwood Recreation Center, 2610 E. 3rd St.
The event will include pregnancy, wellness and mental health information, door prizes, snacks, and activities.
The BLUES Project is a community outreach and research project that provides education, counseling, social support and community resource referrals to participants during pregnancy until the child’s second birthday. For more information call 778-5721 or email bluesproject@uthsc.edu.
The U.S. House of Representatives proclaimed July as Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month in 2008, aiming to improve access to mental health treatment and services for multicultural communities through increased public awareness. Since then, individuals and organizations around the country have joined NAMI in celebrating the month and increasing awareness.
In one of the last interviews she gave, Ms. Moore Campbell discussed her family's experiences with mental illness, and the solace she found in support groups. "We don't want to talk about it," she explained to Kenneth Meeks of Black Enterprise, of her involvement in the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, whose Inglewood, Ca., chapter she co-founded. "I didn't want to talk about it, either. I went into denial. I was ashamed. I was very stigmatized by this illness that had no business in my family."