Back the Black campaign helping Black Iowans with mental health

IOWA — One in five adults in the U.S. struggle with mental illness. In the Black community, only one in three Black adults in need of mental health care receive it. In 2023, the Iowa Healthiest State Initiative created the Back the Black campaign as part of their Make It OK mental health initiative. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Black individuals are often less likely to have access to mental health care services, may lack health insurance, experience generational trauma, and in many cases, mental health simply isn’t discussed in families. Back the Black was created by Black Iowans – for Black Iowans – to provide language (how to start conversations), information and resources to address the stigma, and to encourage those who may be suffering from mental illness to seek help. Shawna Lindell supports Back the Black and credits years of counseling and medication for helping her survive a childhood of abuse and neglect. Lindell is a nursing student at DMACC, she’s married and is raising 5-year-old twin boys. She was in more than two dozen foster homes from the time she was seven until she was an adult. After years of therapy, she found herself...