Minority Mental Health Awareness Month

July was National Minority Mental Health Month. In thinking about this and how it may affect someone. I myself, as well as most other people, might think about our extended family. Where did they come from? What happened on their journey that made them leave where they were and how did they get there? And what happened when they got here?

In my family’s case, they immigrated to the United States after being immigrants in France in 1964, moving to and settling in Germany from 1964 to 1970 before coming here in 1970 from their native home of Portugal. They grew up under a dictatorship and upon immigrating to Germany, there was slightly more opportunity but still, many, many rules for society.

After deciding to leave Germany for this “promise land” called the United States, the fear of the unknown was real as the US was yet another country where they did not speak the language, was at war in Vietnam and rife with political scandal. Here, they scrambled, head down and did what they could to find work and sought every opportunity possible towards legalization.

Without getting into any further details, one can see how minorities’ mental health may be affected as these experiences then extend into the generations ahead.
If your family has already been here for a few generations and/or didn’t immigrate to the United States, what might that have looked like for your ancestors? What we have learned from our beloved Recovery Coach Academy, that everyone has been in a position of power as well as in a position of non-power and at some point, we have all been in majority groups as well as in minority groups.