Community Groups Honored With APAF Awards for Advancing Minority MH

The APA Foundation (APAF) has announced the six recipients of its 2021 Awards for Advancing Minority Mental Health.

The awards, established in 2003, recognize community-based organizations that have made innovative efforts to raise awareness of mental illness in underserved minority communities, as well as improve the quality of care for members of underserved minorities, particularly those in the public health system and/or with severe mental illness.

Here are brief descriptions of this year’s winners:

• All Walks of Life LLC: Over the past 15 years, All Walks of Life LLC has provided developmentally and culturally appropriate mental health care to underserved urban populations in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., areas. The program utilizes a holistic, community-oriented approach that engages the individual’s family, support system, and other community partners in treatment. Since its founding, the organization has served more than 13,000 African American, Latino, and Hispanic men, women, and children.

• Another Life Foundation: Another Life Foundation in Colorado Springs, Colo., delivers education programs and campaigns that raise awareness of mental illness, provides support to residents, and advocates for health equality for the African American community. The organization recently launched the COVID-19 Virtual Counseling Support Program, which connects individuals to mental health professionals.

• Fusion Partnerships Inc./Intercultural Counseling Connection: Intercultural Counseling Connection and its nonprofit sponsor organization, Fusion Partnerships Inc., provides culturally responsive, language-appropriate, and trauma-informed therapeutic services for asylum seekers, refugees, and other forced migrants living in Maryland. In 2020, the partnership provided direct services to 104 forced migrants from 30 countries, and therapists delivered 816 hours of services.

• Girls Place Inc.: Girls Place Inc., begun in 1983, provides gender-specific programming that promotes health, character development, and academic achievement for girls aged 4 to 18 in Gainesville, Fla. In 2015, the organization began the BrainPower Initiative, which provides on-site mental health consultations, assessments, and treatment. The organization also offers an educational program to destigmatize mental illness.

• LifeAct: For nearly 30 years, LifeAct has worked to reduce youth suicide in Ohio by teaching middle and high school students to recognize the warning signs in themselves and their peers and to seek professional help. Since 2000, LifeAct instructors have delivered their in-school educational program to more than 230,000 students in more than 200 Ohio schools.

• Maternal and Child Health Consortium of Chester County, Pa.: Since 1991, the Maternal and Child Health Consortium of Chester County has empowered families to build healthier and brighter futures for their children by providing access to quality, culturally competent health care and services that assist in overcoming social and environmental barriers that lead to poor health outcomes. The organization serves about 5,000 families annually, 46% of whom are Latino and 21% African American. ■