African Americans with mental health issues may feel stigmatized and sometimes left with the belief there's no place to go for help.
The disparity of blacks with access to mental health care concerns behavioral health professionals in Travis County. The Austin/Travis County Mental Health and Mental Retardation is taking a proactive stance to combat the issue.
The organization is distributing cards with the names of famous African Americans who have mental illness. It's an attempt to fight the taboo of mental illness among blacks.
ATCMHMR also spearheads the Central Texas African American Family Support Conference.
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Faith in medicene
The Austin/Travis MHMR is working with churches since many African Americans seek help through faith.
 
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"The center, while trying to have a diverse workforce, also tries to address those significant areas that communities of color have around their help-seeking patterns," MHMR's Marietta Noel said.
One of the places many African Americans first seek help is the church. Pastor Ed Calahan of Austin's Agape Baptist Church champions the cause, often working to overcome extreme obstacles that keep many African Americans from seeking help.
"We face a lot of problems within our community because of stigma. We don't want our brothers and sisters to know what's really going on. But it's important for us to let individuals know that we all have problems," Calahan said.
Sam Higgins is one example of the program's success. He is schizophrenic and takes part in a support group at the MHMR center to bolster his therapy. Higgins said if not for the outreach, he'd have an extremely rough time.
"I would be searching and possibly homeless. They've assisted me through group homes, learning from outreach programs and churches, and through the ability to have a good home living," he said.
Austin Travis County MHMR is also putting outreach centers in new health clinics planned by the city. The need came about as a result of the recent African American quality of life study put out by city officials.
