It's been a few months since I have posted here. Actually, it has been a lot longer than I thought. In recent months I have found writing and posting content more of a challenge. I have thoughts, but they seem all over the place and I struggle to form something substantial and coherent. As a commitment to myself to keep this blog going I am sharing a few of the Health Equity Reflections that I provided on a weekly basis.
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“While
individual-level interventions are beneficial, characterizing them as efforts
to address social determinants of health conveys a false sense of progress”
(Castrucci and Auerbach, 2019). As behavioral health leaders, we have a solid
understanding of the multiple factors that contribute to an individual’s
overall health. We understand how the social determinants of health affect an
individual’s mental health and wellbeing. Things like poverty, violence, and
homelessness have a direct impact on an individual's total health. While there
has been a trend to try to address the social determinants of health, we must
be careful to avoid thinking that addressing an individual’s needs is impacting
the social determinants of health. While we need programs like shelters, food
pantries, and clothing drives, we also need policies that address the social
conditions that create environments that support inequities. Recall the
groundwater approach. To address health inequities and the social determinants
of health- we need to focus on the environment (policies and structures) and
not just programs that focus on addressing individual need.
***
Change is the only constant in life – Heraclitus. One
of the harder aspects of this change is the continual evolution of language.
Back in July, we reflected on the term BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of
Color). Another term that some are embracing is ‘people of the global
majority’. As with other terms – minority and people of color – understanding
the aspect of racial identity becomes dependent on comparing it to another
group. These terms are also Americanized and are centered on the American
experience. People of the global majority is an inclusive term for all
non-white people around the world, but also makes racial identity independent
of whiteness. Lim states in his article about the term,
“it speaks to an identity that is free from being in lesser-than relation to
whiteness”. While it may take some time for people to integrate this term into
common use, if it is a term that even becomes widely adopted, we begin to see
how we even speak about things changes how we think about things. People of the
global majority has a much different connotation than referring to someone as a
minority or as a person of color.
***
November 1st marks the beginning of National
Native American Heritage Month. It is interesting that so many people claim
Native American ancestry without fully understanding their ancestry. Families
across the United States have lore about being descended from an Indian
Princess, most often Cherokee. These families’ stories become ingrained, so
much so that few people question their authenticity. In this article
the author states, “By claiming a royal Cherokee ancestor, white Southerners
were legitimating the antiquity of their native-born status as sons or
daughters of the South, as well as establishing their determination to defend
their rights against an aggressive federal government, as they imagined the
Cherokees had done. These may have been self-serving historical delusions, but
they have proven to be enduring”. During Native American Heritage Month, we
would do better to recognize the land we call Ohio that was once occupied by many
different nations, than to assert some false native identity. Wondering
what a land acknowledgement is – check
here.
