16 Search results for "suicidal ideation"

Treatment for my suicidal ideation has not been a linear journey
Editor’s Note: April is Black Women’s History Month. Throughout this month, Black Youth Project is celebrating Black women. This month is also National Minority Health Month, Autism Awareness Month, Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Child Abuse Prevention Month. We are interested in publishing works that address these topics and the things surrounding them. by Maya Williams […]
The silent pain of transwomen—or, why I don’t have male privilege
Editor’s Note: June is LGBTQ Pride Month. At Black Youth Project, we will be exploring gender, sexuality, transgender issues and queer theory, and we are interested in publishing works that address these topics and the things surrounding them. This essay contains discussions of transphobia, and mentions molestation, suicidal ideation, and r/pe by Jamila Dawn Mitchell […]
A self-harm resource list
by Carrie Hawks Content warning: Mentions of self-harm, cutting, and suicidal ideation Not being seen, not being known, and having nowhere to turn to feel safe is devastating at any age, but it is particularly destructive for young children who are trying to find their place in the world. –Bessel van der Kolk As a […]
Black folks die from broken hearts all the time
*This piece is published in partnership with Breakthrough as part of By & For: Black Youth, a written series documenting the issues affecting Black girls and gender non-conforming youth.* This essay mentions death, suicide and state violence. “Memory is a tough place. You were there. If this is not the truth, it is also not a lie.” […]
How we failed Nigel Shelby and allowed the abuse he endured
This essay contains discussion of suicide and suicidal ideation. by Maximillian Matthews There was Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Audre Lorde, Barbara Smith, bell hooks, RuPaul, James Earl Hardy, E. Lynn Harris, Essex Hemphill, Bayard Rustin, and of course, James Baldwin. I did not know about any of them when I needed them most. I […]
What Future’s fear of admitting his sobriety says about our unhealthy expectation for Black pain
By Arielle Gray Dana Schutz’s “Open Casket” is hard to decipher at first. Its textured and abstract strokes make it difficult to discern the image. But the more your eyes linger, the more easily the distorted face, rendered in geometric simplicity, and the brown coffin outlining the body become clear. After a second lengthy look, […]
Queering Kwanzaa: How the seven principles remind me of QTPOC power
by Loni Amor This essay contains discussions of suicidal ideation. Inspired by First Fruit festivals of Southern Africa, African-American civil rights activist and academic, the extremely problematic Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga established Kwanzaa in 1966. Deriving from the Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza”, which translates loosely to “first fruits of the harvest”, Kwanzaa offers Black […]
‘The Haunting of Hill House’ & the colonial obsession with salvaging a world of suffering for the sake of sanity
Editor’s Note: This essay contains spoilers of season 1 of Haunting of Hill House and discussion of suicide I don’t remember how my parents died in the nightmare, but I woke up screaming bloody murder. I had to have been about 4-years-old. I don’t think I had considered being indefinitely away from my parents before, […]
I thought my transness would betray my Blackness. I was wrong.
by Indigo If I were to introduce myself to anyone today, I would introduce myself as Loni. I would introduce myself as a non-binary afro-boricua whose gender pronouns are exclusively they, them, and theirs. I would introduce myself as someone who is unafraid to correct anyone who refers to me by my given name, or […]
UCPD’s shooting of student in mental health crisis highlights the academy’s role in police brutality
By Cosette Hampton Last Tuesday night, an officer of the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) shot 4th year student Charles Thomas, who was having a mental health crisis. For those familiar with the University’s conflicting statements on safe spaces, trigger warnings and free speech, it should come as no surprise that even students are […]
The other side of #PoorMichelle: Michelle Williams opens up about depression and treatment in ‘The Talk’ interview
“So many people are walking around acting like they’ve got it all together and they are suffering,” pop and gospel star Michelle Williams told the hosts of the The Talk last week. Williams shared that she unknowingly struggled with depression in her early teenage years and throughout adulthood, experienced unresolved trauma as a child, and […]
Reflections on my thirty-four years as a Black man with mental illness
By Kelvin Easiley, Jr July is National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. This is the time when a laser focus is trained on the various complexities people of color encounter while facing mental health stigma and a shoddy healthcare system.The same healthcare system many people of color approach with grave skepticism. There are many people […]