There is nothing like feeling: Seen, heard, and supported! thank you Kids Help Phone Team

BY KAHA GEDI

“One of the biggest barriers is that people don’t know about Kids Help Phone but they also don’t know that there is a whole group who is dedicated to working towards helping Black youths’ mental health.”

That group is the Black Advisory Council (BAC). They are a diverse group of people made up of 12 members. BAC was created to bring a diverse range of experiences, perspectives and a shared commitment to pushing the agenda of Black excellence and taking charge of our mental health.

Recently, I had the pleasure to interview Tracy, who is a new member of the Black Advisory Council. In case you didn’t know, the BAC is an important part of Kids Help Phone (KHP), who are dedicated to ensuring Black youth across Canada receive culturally relevant and accessible mental health support. Through their initiatives, the BAC plays a significant role in shaping policies, programs, and outreach efforts that directly address the unique challenges faced by Black youth.

During our conversation, she told me the reason why she joined the BAC. For her, not only does she have a degree in psychology, but she has also been passionate about mental health in black communities, because there are many different barriers we face. As well as, that it would be a good way to give back to her community, especially in something she is passionate about.

From this, she mentioned some barriers that are affecting Black youth. “In August 2021, through the RiseUp program, KHP engaged with more than 200 African, Caribbean, and Black youth to find out about those barriers, and the main ones were: awareness of services, distrust of service providers, representation and relatability, stigma and misinformation (one of the biggest ones), and systematic and anti-Black racism when trying to seek help.”

““Hey, there is a whole group dedicated to working towards helping Black youth’s mental health!”

Going back to stigma, she explained how it is still very prevalent in our communities and just having a discussion to debunk any misinformation can go a long way.

KHP doesn’t work alone when it comes to getting feedback from Black communities. Tracy explained how the KHP had collaborated with the “Feel Out Loud Community” creator space web where the youth are encouraged to express themselves as they want, so there is direct involvement.

In addition to that, they collaborate with Black community leaders and organizations so that they can stay in touch with what our community needs. For example, they are currently working with a “Black Girl Talk Collective,” which is a fellowship program, and through this, they have gotten some fellows in that program to participate as volunteers in the RiseUp program (a national bilingual Online Mental Health Service that provides free and 24/7 wellness support across Canada).

Tracy explained how some of our youth are experiencing challenges such as: making new friends, bullying, exam stress, family dynamics, and work.  On the other side of things, they are experiencing racism, which causes a lot of stress, especially in cases of black youth, or younger children who don’t even know what they are experiencing.

So, these volunteers at RiseUp are given the freedom to come up with innovative ways to help and discover what their community needs. Essentially, mental health challenges are not a one-size-fits-all, everyone is dealing with something different and unique to them and they start in different places in their journey. So, they are doing this to ensure they are being diverse in the solutions they are giving to the black community.

On the topic of mental health challenges, I asked her how they can better support Black youth who feel isolated. She circled back to the Feel Out Loud Community creator space, “One thing that it does is that it allows young people to explore and share creative content giving their feelings a constructive outlet. This could be done in many ways like art, or writing, and the best part is that it can be done from anywhere, so it removes that isolation and makes them feel seen.”

It caters to people who: are introverted, or don’t feel comfortable one-on-one, and they feel more encouraged when others are expressing themselves.

The Black Advisory Council (BAC) is playing an essential role in addressing the unique mental health challenges faced by Black youth in Canada. Through their work with Kids Help Phone (KHP), they are tackling barriers such as: stigma, misinformation, and a lack of representation by offering culturally relevant resources and support. The BAC’s commitment to creating a space where Black youth can feel seen, heard, and supported is evident, especially through programs like RiseUp and collaborations with organizations such as the Feel Out Loud Community creator space and the Black Girl Talk Collective. By partnering with these groups, KHP ensures that Black youth have a platform to express themselves and that their voices are key in shaping mental health services that truly meet their needs.

By listening to the experiences of Black youth and incorporating feedback from community leaders, the BAC can continue to create genuinely impactful programs. The work being done is not only about offering mental health support, but also about providing a sense of: community, connection, and understanding.

As Tracy mentioned, mental health challenges are unique to each individual, and finding the right support requires diverse solutions. The BAC and KHP are proving that by: innovating, collaborating, and amplifying voices from within the Black community. For any Black youth feeling isolated or struggling with their mental health, resources like KHP and the Black Girl Talk Collective offer support at their own pace, with the assurance that they are not alone in their journey.

Anyone seeking help can always reach out to Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868 (call or text) for support.