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Introduction: Public discussions in the media (e.g., social media and reality shows) about Black women's mental health have become more common. Notably, celebrities have become more vocal about their own mental health challenges and sought to normalize seeking care. This study aimed to gain a better understanding of Black women's: (1) past and current causes of stress, anxiety, and depression, and coping skills used; (2) their attitudes and perceptions toward mental health and receiving mental health treatment; and (3) times in their life they felt anxious or depressed, and what type of support or resources would have been helpful to have access to. Methods: Focus groups were conducted with 20 women (mean age 36.6 years, SD 17.8 years), with 5 participants per group. Descriptive qualitative content analysis of the focus group transcripts was conducted. Results: Results consistently showed that intersectional identities of being both Black and a woman resulted in feelings of both hypervisibility and invisibility, representation matters when it comes to mental health providers, an increased openness to therapy across age groups, and a willingness to try digital health tools (e.g., smartphone app) for mental health needs. There is still work to be done to normalize mental health treatment among Black women. Discussion: Subgroups within the community (e.g., young adults) have less stigma around mental health and are acting as catalysts for change. Intentional inclusion of Black women in mental health research and evolving treatment paradigms is important to eliminate inequities in access to culturally relevant mental health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With medications that improve cognition and advances in knowledge of successful rehabilitative approaches, adults with psychiatric disabilities are increasingly able to pursue desired personal and career goals in their communities. This article focuses on supported education (SEd) -- one of the newest psychosocial rehabilitation (PSR) models for adults with mental illness. The mission, principles, and service components of SEd are presented, reflecting its basis in PSR practice. Evidence of the effectiveness of supported education, based on research and evaluation studies, is provided. The authors conclude with a discussion of why PSR and SEd are important to social work and how social workers can effectively use this evidence-based practice to maximize opportunities for consumers with a mental illness.

Musical Intervention (MI) is a public space that supports individuals who seek opportunities for creativity and connection with the broader community. This study sought to evaluate and understand MI through surveys, qualitative interviews, and ethnographic observations. Data revealed that participants 1) described the space as a socially integrated community and a nonclinical therapeutic and sober environment; and 2) described their personal experience using MI. Public spaces like MI can provide integrative and transformative sober spaces for marginalized individuals to spend time outside of clinical settings as well as therapeutic opportunities through creative expression, supplementing the efforts of service providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Men frequently delay seeking health care. An ecological framework is used to explore factors identified in the literature as influencing male help-seeking: perceptions of illness; masculinity; social roles; health socialization; gender relations; financial access; workplace policies; and healthcare institutions. Strategies employed from a male primary health care center are presented as practical suggestions to health educators, outreach workers, and program planners seeking to improve men's help-seeking behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to pilot test newly developed personalized imagery procedures to investigate the impact of racial stress on alcohol craving and emotional and physiological response in Black adults with alcohol use disorder (AUD). Twenty Black adults (45% women, mean age =37.05, SD age =13.19) with AUD participated in two sessions. In the first, participants described a stressful personal event involving their race and a neutral relaxing situation and these descriptions were used to develop scripts for the subsequent laboratory exposure session. The second session was an experimental provocation session in which participants reported on alcohol craving and emotional response before and after imagined exposure to stress and neutral conditions using personalized racial stress and neutral/relaxing scripts. Conditions were randomized and counterbalanced across subjects, and heart rate and blood pressure were assessed before and after each image. Alcohol craving and negative emotions significantly increased, and positive emotions decreased following the racial stress script relative to the neutral/relaxing script. We found no differences in physiological response. Exploratory analyses found that increase in alcohol craving was correlated with racial identity exploration but not racial identity commitment, men reported greater reductions in anger than women in the neutral condition only, and income was correlated with fear in the racial stress condition only. This study provides evidence that personalized racial stress procedures elicit a stress response and increases alcohol craving and emotional response but not physiological response among Black adults with AUD. These findings warrant replication in a larger study. • Racial stress is associated with increased alcohol use among Black adults. • Laboratory designs can inform the impact of racial stress on alcohol craving. • We conducted a pilot study of 20 Black adults with alcohol use disorder. • Personalized racial stress increased alcohol craving and negative emotionality. • This study should be replicated utilizing a larger sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]