How Black female support groups are dealing with the end of Roe

Assertive community treatment teams working through outreach-centered programs in Maricopa County have become an industry standard for treating those with persistent and severe mental illnesses who have recently been incarcerated. They provide a long-term approach, aiming to halt a cycle of incarceration and hospitalization by focusing on underlying issues such as what caused the police interaction and incarceration.

For the tens of thousands of individuals struggling with opioid addiction in the United States, breaking their drug habit is never easy, and is often inhibited even by fellow addicts in recovery programs who stigmatize the use of prescribed medications to aid the recovery process, despite their measured success. In Philadelphia, a group called Porch Light is the city's first ever 12-step program to embrace those on a medication-assisted recovery journey, helping to break stigmas and encourage those on the path to a clean start.

The Neem Foundation brings intensive counseling and 1-on-1 therapy to survivors who escaped the horrific violence of Boko Haram, a terrorist group in northeastern Nigeria. With months of aid and tough conversations, the organization attempts to reunite women and children who fled the violence with their families, many of whom shun the Boko Haram escapees.

Connecting LGTBQ+ teens with peers and adults for support can help reduce depression and the risk of suicide. Organizations like the Four Corners Rainbow Youth Center in Durango, Colorado, and the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center at Fort Lewis College provide safe spaces where youth feel welcome and supported by a network of peers and adults. The centers also act as social spaces where youth, parents, and their communities can come together.

For many people who were deported to Mexico after decades living in the United States, the city of Nogales provides a renewed sense of community. The city is home to the Centro de Sueños rehabilitation center, or Dream Center, a place where many Mexican individuals deported by the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement find shelter, food, support, jobs, and new families. Built by a preacher from Phoenix, the Dream Center gives participants a renewed sense of hope.

Merging accountability with treatment promotes recovery for those charged with drug possession. In Franklin County, Ohio, the municipal court system operates a program called Helping Achieve Recovery Together. The court recovery program provides a two-year track for participants to receive mental health support from peers and the courts, with the goal of moving them from the criminal justice system and into treatment.

Based out of the city of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, a live radio show is tackling the stigma around mental health care by combining their platform with those in the mental health care field. Not only does the radio show discuss psychological issues on air, but it also offers free and reduced-cost mental health services to those that serve as guests on the show.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic limited access to health care facilities, health specialists across Africa were already beginning to turn to technology-based mental health services to offer care with fewer barriers for patients. Despite its growth in use during the pandemic, some doctors caution that it does not necessarily replace in-person consultations, but is still very useful.

The mental health profession can lead to intense burnout, specifically for mental health professionals of color. Some facilities are launching efforts like the Stay Well program to address burnout including promoting cultural competency among all professionals, recruiting and training more practitioners of color, limiting the hours worked per week, emphasizing self-care and providing virtual work options and vacation days.

The Save the Boys Initiative provides counseling, group and family therapy, programming around mentorship and leadership, and other forms of assistance for boys who have experienced sexual abuse.