Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. 
Eta Nu Sigma Chapter Brooklyn Alumnae

First Lady Chirlane McCray announced Sisters Thrive, a women-led, family-centered volunteer effort to promote mental health literacy in Black communities. The First Lady will spearhead a coalition that brings together six distinguished national service organizations to raise awareness about mental illness and substance misuse, shatter the stigma associated with seeking treatment and encourage a more diverse mental health workforce. Within its first year, the coalition will train 10,000 African-Americans in Mental Health First Aid and help encourage a more diverse mental health workforce - all part of a growing national movement to address unmet mental health needs in Black communities.

“Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority is a global and diverse international service organization that is proud to be an official partner of the Sisters Thrive effort. We salute Chirlane McCray for her courage to bring mental illness out of the shadows in the African-American community.  For nearly 100 years, our sorority has been sounding the alarm to not only address the subject, but educate and remove the stigma attached to a diagnosis. Sisters Thrive aligns well with the sorority’s renewed focus on improving the overall health and wellness of African-American families in our communities,” said Deborah Catchings-Smith, International President of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.
 

MHFA is an eight-hour public education program that teaches individuals how to recognize and respond to signs of mental distress and substance misuse.  Through ThriveNYC, any New Yorker can sign up to take the free Mental Health First Aid course. Certification will be issued upon successful completion of the course. Each new person trained in MHFA is provided with the tools to better support others, empower individuals to seek treatment and make tangible steps towards eliminating mental health stigma. Sisters Thrive will leverage the strong, influential networks of the six participating organizations to increase visibility at the local level and encourage individuals to sign up for MHFA trainings.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, cultural biases can prevent many African-Americans from accessing health care services. A history of inadequate treatment, exploitive testing and a lack of cultural competence by health professionals may explain why today, an estimated one-quarter of African-Americans seek mental health carecompared to 40 percent of white Americans.

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In its first year, Sisters Thrive will: 

• Increase national dialogue about mental health awareness in Black communities.

• Train 10,000 African-American New Yorkers in Mental Health First Aid, free of charge.

• Assemble an Advisory Group to create recommendations to develop an ethnically diverse, mental health workforce pipeline.

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Register Here.