DETROIT - Children rode ponies, petted farm animals, played games and ate ice cream and hot dogs while the Recovery Band played a mix of soul and jazz.
While it looked and felt like just plain fun on the grounds of the Detroit East Community Mental Health Center, the organizers of Summer Blast had a serious intent.
"We want people to see mental health facilities as a place open to everyone, not a place people should be frightened to come to," said Marilyn Snowden, executive director at the outpatient mental health facility on Detroit's east side. "We get referrals as a result of people coming to the fair."
Summer Blast, held July 9, addressed a key challenge - getting minorities to seek treatment for mental illness. So important is the issue that in 2008 the U.S. House of Representatives designated July as National Minority Mental Health Month, thanks in part to the efforts of author Bebe Moore Campbell, an advocate for greater mental health awareness among minority communities.
Minorities face many obstacles to seeking treatment for mental health issues, including concerns about costs, transportation, lack of familiarity with available resources and language barriers. But one of the most significant appears to be cultural stigmas against admitting and getting help for mental illness.
"My opinion is that the stigma associated with mental illness compounds the racial and ethnic issues that impact the African-American experience in our country," said Veda Sharp, executive director of the Detroit-Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency, " fear of being ostracized, not fitting in, being thought of as a second- class citizen.
"The experiences of poverty - including lack of education and health education in particular - along with the myths associated with mental illness, all contribute to the stigma experienced.
"The negative portrayals of African-Americans and other persons with mental illness in the electronic media and movies also impact how people with mental illness perceive themselves and their willingness to step forward and ask for assistance or identify themselves."
A National Institute of Mental Health study published last year showed that only about half of Americans diagnosed with major depression in a given year are treated, and only one in five of those get treatment consistent with American Psychiatric Association guidelines. African-Americans and Mexican-Americans had the lowest rates of those getting the care they need.
For African-Americans, 14 percent of those diagnosed with depression received the acceptable standard of care; for Mexican Americans, it was 12 percent, the study showed.
"First and foremost, identifying the problem is the big challenge," said clinical psychologist and Wayne State University professor Hector Gonzales, the lead author on the study. "Some cultures, particularly a lot of people in the black community, are not open or receptive to admitting to mental health problems.
"People end up acting out their mental health issues in ways that are destructive to themselves and others," Gonzales said.
The stigma stems from a lack of understanding and knowledge about mental illness, Gonzales said.
"Some people don't see it as a medical disorder. There's this whole notion that you should be able to snap out of it or pull yourself up by your bootstraps," he said.
Sheldon Hill and Gerald Butler almost let the shame surrounding mental illness keep them from getting help. But both now work as peer educators and counselors in different programs helping others through the Detroit -Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency.
"I didn't care if you knew I was a crack head, but I didn't want you to think I'm crazy," said Hill, 52.
He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2006. But he spent most of his life before seeking treatment abusing drugs and alcohol. He was homeless for several years, living in a city park directly across the street from the Community Mental Health headquarters.
Hill was violent and aggressive, but he never considered seeking treatment though he knew something was not quite right. Two years after his girlfriend told him that his outbursts were a sign of mental illness and it appeared he was going to lose that relationship, he sought treatment.
Now he counsels others and speaks freely about mental illness.
Therapy and medication helped him cope with his illness, and he's no longer ashamed to admit it.
"I have to tell my story because it will encourage other people to seek help," Hill said. "I know now that it's like any other illness, heart disease or diabetes. Y ou can manage it, and managing the disease allows me to function as well as any other individual. I know there are things I have to do and things I can't do."
Butler, 56, plays a mean flute - he's one of six members of the Recovery Band he started four years ago to help each other cope with their illness and to help the community see mentally ill and addicted people as being like everyone else.
Music offers comfort and a sense of worthiness, he said. "We use the healing power of music to spread hope and encouragement to those who have given up. Instead of saying, 'I'm a schizophrenic,' you say, 'I'm a musician who happens to have a disease.'
"I used to come home from work feeling tense and tight, and I'd pick up a drink. Now I pick up my flute," said Butler, who said he suffered from mental illness and alcohol abuse from age 11 to 43.
He said he believes it was the grace of God that helped him stop drinking and seek treatment. He said he'd heard voices in his head since he was a child - and began drinking to quiet them - but kept it to himself because he didn't think anyone would understand or would look down on him.
He used to wish for death to take him out of his misery. Early one morning, he walked the streets of Detroit hoping a crack addict would kill him because he didn't have the nerve to kill himself.
One of his brothers helped him get into a treatment facility for alcohol abuse, and that led to treatment for mental illness. Now he helps others get the help they need, through the band or direct peer counseling.
"I promised God if I made it through, I'd spend the rest of my life helping others," Butler said. "I have every intention of keeping that promise."
Bringing awareness to the issue through designations such as National Minority Mental Health Month and community fairs helps spread knowledge and encourage treatment, experts said.
Mental illness is as disabling as cancer and heart disease as far as premature deaths and loss of productivity, said Dr. John Dziuba, chief of psychiatry at Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit. "More people die from suicide than breast cancer. But mental illness, a major factor in suicides, is not at the forefront of people's awareness."
Sharp summed it up this way: "It's a national problem. We have to help people feel comfortable seeking service and feeling comfortable letting others know they're in need of assistance. The stigma is one of the major barriers that keeps people from getting help."
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(c) 2011, Detroit Free Press. Distributed by Mclatchy-Tribune News Service.