Doreen Okeh

Ms. Mary Curtin

Independent Research G/T

18 February 2019

Methods Paper Document Analysis

The following is a list of interviewees which have successfully been interviewed, or have been
contacted for an interview taking place in the near future:

Toyin Fasosin (​​tfasosin@gmail.com)

Dr. Hassan Rapp (hmrapp62@hotmail.com)
Bhealthall Information (bhealthall@blackmentalhealth.com​)
NAMI (info.namihc@gmail.com)

The following are interview questions which are used to question eac mental health professional:

1. Can you please elaborate on the major differences in treating black individuals in
comparison to any other racial group?
2. How can untreated mental illness and neglect of the topic hinder afflicted individuals in a
long-term period?
3. What efforts do you believe can be done to reduce the gap between religious leaders and
mental health professionals in deciding the proper care for a patient?
4. The African American community is in the midst of many demanding issues such as the
continuous battle against police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement. Do you
believe these issues take away from the needed attention and discussion about mental
health within the black community?
5. To what extent do you believe African Americans hesitate to seek professional assistance
due to family opinions and influence?
6. What do you believe is the most important factor for mental health professionals such as
yourself to consider while treating African American patients?
 Transcription of interview with Toyin Fasosin

Doreen Okeh: Hello?

Toyin Fasosin: Hi Doreen!

Doreen Okeh: Hello, Good afternoon Mrs. Fasosin; it is very nice to be in contact with you
again. How are you?

Toyin Fasosin: I’m good; how are you?

Doreen Okeh: I’m fine! This is great. Wow. Just to start off, thank you so much for giving me
your time, this is--this is--I’m very grateful, so thank you.

Toyin Fasosin: You’re welcome

Doreen Okeh: So just as a friendly reminder, I just need you to state your name and your consent
for this interview to be recorded

Toyin Fasosin: uh my name is Toyin Fasosin and I do approve the recording of this uh interview.

Doreen Okeh: Okay thank you so much. Now to begin, my first question is can you please
elaborate a little bit on the major differences in treating black individuals in comparison to any
other racial group or demographic?

Toyin Fasosin: Uh, like I explained in the email I sent to you; I do not provide treatment I
provide mental health first aid because there is a difference. I am not a clinician. But I do provide
mental health first aid techniques like providing CPR for those who have a mental illness or uh a
substance use disorder.

Doreen Okeh: Okay. And also, how do you think unrelated-or-untreated mental illness and
neglect of the topic can like hinder the individuals later on in their life or in a long term period?

Toyin Fasosin: Uh just like any other illness mental illness is just a disease of the brain, so just
like the liver can get sick the brain can get sick, and just the same way it is with any other organ
in the body if you do not catch it early-or even if you are aware of it- if you do not treat it, then it
gets worse; it is a progressive illness it is a progressive thing. Another danger about mental
illness is it may start as one particular condition but because that condition is not treated it might
actually segway into another condition altogether. So, somebody could start off with depression
but because that is not treated they might pick up an eating disorder along the way and things
might actually progress-things could get worse

Doreen: Okay, wow. Thank you. So what efforts do you believe can be done to reduce the gap
between religious leaders and people of religious, um, titles and mental health professionals in
deciding proper care for a patient's treatment because you know the African American
Community holds such a high standard to religion and the church and God, and at times it can at
times hinder the individual from seeking the help that they need. So what efforts do you think
can kind of shorten that gap for individuals who need help?

Toyin: I think the first thing will be for uh the clergy, as in the religious leaders to actually talk
about mental health from their point of view. They need to destigmatize it because there’s so
much stigma attached to it that even when people have a problem the dont want to talk about it
because they don't want a label; they don’t want everyone looking at them weird, they don’t want
everyone drawing back from them. So once that stigma issue is addressed, and once everyone is
made to understand that the brain in an organ, and just like any other organ in the body it can
malfunction. And not demonize all mental illness. Those will go a long way to uh helping the
people that are administering to. And another thing that the mental-oh I’m sorry- uh religious
leaders can do is to also share their own struggles. Because there is a very high incidence of
mental illness among clergy as well. It’s just so they can share their struggles and how they
overcame those struggles. That will go a long way to helping their congregation to realize “okay
I’m not alone; my pastor or my Imam or whoever the religious leader is can go through this; and
still be who they are, then there is hope for me.

Doreen Okeh: Wow. Okay, thank you. So, In addition, the African American community is in
the midst of many other demanding issues such as the continuous battle against police brutality
and the Black Lives Matter Movement. So do you believe these issues rtake aar from the needed
attention and discussion about mental health within the black community?

Toyin Fasosin: I think it does sadly but in a way that they are interrelated. Because um, like for
depression in teens, the female teen, their symptoms are symptoms of withdrawal, isolation,
being sad, you know all the typical sign and symptoms of depression. But the way depression,
uh, the typical symptoms of depression in young males is aggression. It just makes you wonder
how many boys are locked up for aggression who are actually slowly dying from depression, you
know. Which is something, you know, which can use mental health first aid training. A lot of
police officers and those in that field are being traded so that when they respond to a situation
they’re made aware so that they know this is a mental health issue and figure out a way to
de-escalate it and come in with guns later. My thinking is need to work with both of them
alongside each other because they are interconnected.
Doreen Okeh: Let me just write this down...okay. And so to what extent do you believe African
Americans hesitate to seek professional assistance due to family opinions and familial influence?

Toyin Fasosin: It’s very high, its to a very high influfence. Funny enough, it's not just the
African community. Stigma is present in every rae, every culture, gender. I don’t know, it’s just
the human thing to always try to put your best foot forward and not want to come to terms with
your feelings; especially when it comes to the area of mental illness because a lot of times people
are scared because they don’t understand what’s going on, so that scare from the person
experiencing it, and also those around them, it makes it so hard because everyone’s trying to-a
lot of times, families know, but they keep everything hush hush because they don’t want others
to know on the outside-

Doreen Okeh: (interrupting) Yeah

Toyin Fasosin:-um, of fear of how the family will be viewed, because there’s some areas in
Africa, and I’m sure in other cultures as well, that recognize where a family or one of the
children of the family has a mental illness nobody wants to marry into that family. It now
becomes the case of ‘oh no no no, don’t marry into that family, they have mental health issues’
you know. Those kind of powerful stigmas-once we can deal with those stigmas, I mean-we can-
it’ll just be a release for everyone. People can actually get the help they need.

Doreen Okeh: Wow. Very valid points. And finally, what do you believe is the most valid and
important factor for mental health professionals to consider when in contact with their patient or
dealing with their family; what do you think is something that like, immediately needs to be
recognized and just addressed.

Toyin Fasosin: Culture. I think the most important thing is culture. Because you have to consider
the reputation the different cultures have. Like Western culture is more open to reach out to help,
but other cultures like African or even those from the East who are more hesitant, they actually
need to have a relationship with you before they can open up to you. So, those are things to
factor in in helping people, especially when it comes to mental illness. It's also something based
on society right now, especially for African Americans. Because what i’m saying is especially
when someone is having a meltdown or mental health crisis, we always advise and always
encourage the family or whoever is around to call 9-1-1, but in the African American society
especially, that is not a comfortable thing for people to do. Is is easy to tell a caucasian “call
9-1-1!” But in the African American community they would say “Are you crazy? I’m gonna call
9-1-1 and my child is gonna end up dead?” You know? So, those are things we need to be
cognizant of, so.
Doreen Okeh: Yeah. Wow. Is there anything else you believe could guide my research or
anything else that you feel is important to be stated?

Toyin Fasosin: um, I think we’ve covered a lot of it. The main issue is stigma; once that can be
addressed. And another thing is, when it comes to mental illness just like any other mental
illness, we should always keep our language ‘people first’. So, that person is not a schizophrenic,
that person is a lady or or a man who experiences schizophrenia. That is not an autistic child, it is
a child that has autism. So we need to make it people first; no one is their condition they are
suffering from their condition; it is just something you are going through. But you are you; so if
we can keep our language people first, because a lot of times people who have a condition and
are really sensitive, I think this is the kind of thing that causes them to shut down and they won’t
even open up to whoever tries to help them because they feel like they have already been labeled.

Doreen Okeh: Wow. That’s very true. Thank you so much Mrs. Fasosin.

Interview cut