Opinion: It’s time in CT to address mental health needs of Black boys and men

Growing up as young Black boys in the 80s, it was something you really just didn’t talk about. If you were sad or angry, you were told to just get over it. If something was bothering you, the response was often to just “tough it out.” Boys who cried too much or wanted to talk about their feelings were called “sissies,” were seen as weak and became targets of derision and bullying. The “it” that we are referring to is emotional and mental health. So, it is hard to blame the boys and young men of that era when their response to emotional or mental issues was to repress those feelings. Of course, that only made things worse because eventually those repressed feelings would rise to the surface and manifest in ways that were destructive to the individuals, families, relationships, and the communities that those boys and young men navigated. Fast forward to 2018 and an extensive study found adult Black males were significantly less likely to utilize mental health services than other groups. Studies examining trauma show that approximately a majority of adult Black men have directly experienced a traumatic event in their lifetime, more than half of whom...