Eliminating Stigmatization in African American Communities

This Capstone offers PSU students training and experience in learning an Afrocentric approach to accesses mental health and primary health care.  Course participants will learn about cultural, social, and political taboos regarding mental illness and mental health treatment among African Americans, and will work with community agencies on a stigma reduction campaign. Through this experience PSU students will learn about the structural and systemic obstacles that African Americans encounter in publicly and privately funded mental health settings. The students will learn the importance of culturally centered community education to reducing stigma among African Americans.  They will participate in writing grants to foundations to fund the sustainability of funding and enhancement of a model system of Afrocentric mental health care and racially competent services within a primary health care system with community linkages to communiy providers and county managed human service systems and supports.

Course Objectives:

• Students will be able to communicate problem based learning effectively in a cross-cultural setting;
• Students will present their ideas effectively in writing and class discussion;
• Students will assess stigma related issues that affect African American populations and develop constructive approaches to working with cultural difference;
• Students will understand their advocay roles and responsibilities to issues that affect African American populations; and,
• Students will design and implement a personal mental health management and balanced nutrition and physical fitness program for Spring term.