Resources:
Rylee Barnsdale's Feature Article: Free mental health care available to young Black men through new program in Ypsi Township
Community Family Life Center (CFLC)
Interventions for African American Males (I-AAM) Program
Transcription:
Rylee Barnsdale: You're listening to 89 one WEMU. I'm Rylee Barnsdale, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. A new program has launched at the Ypsilanti Community Family Life Center based at Grace Fellowship Church to provide local Black male youth and young adults with accessible trauma-informed therapy. The Interventions for African American Males, or I-AAM, Program hopes to increase pro-social behaviors and address trauma for these young Black men by covering topics like gun violence, generational trauma and substance abuse and depression. I'm here with I-AAM program founder and clinician Leah Mills to learn more about how this program got started and the need for a program like this in the Ypsi community. Hi, Leah! Thanks so much for being here!
Leah Mills: Hi there, Rylee! Thank you for having me!
Rylee Barnsdale: I would love to start with just the inspiration for the I-AAM program. Where did it come from and what were the initial goals that you had set when the program first launched?
Leah Mills: I would say that the initial thought came about from just kind of looking at the landscape throughout the eastern side of Washtenaw County. We were going through an uptick in gun violence. We were having a large amount of our young Black men that were traversing in and out of our juvenile detention facility, or detention home as they like to reference it. And so, that became troubling for me. And it had always been kind of my initiative as an individual--just clinician--to service this population as I had worked alongside others within the field of juvenile justice. And so, the opportunity kind of came about when I was spearheading the Black Lives Matter Task Force fir Washtenaw County Community Mental Health, and we had met with, at that particular time, the community engagement director, Derrick Jackson. And he shared that when we're looking at majority of the organizations that are within Washtenaw County that renders therapeutic services, this population was one that was often avoided. And so, that kind of broke my heart to hear that clinicians did not see these individuals, these youth, right?
Rylee Barnsdale: Right.
Leah Mills: Because of the behaviors that were being exemplified that instead of leaning in to want to aid them more, people were shying away from. And so, that's kind of the root of where the I-AAM program started.
Rylee Barnsdale: And I know that the program's existence was announced sometime this past summer. But when did the program first start seeing clients?
Leah Mills: I would say that the program really began to start bringing in clients at the top of this academic year, so your later portion of August, early September. We often say in this field, even within the educational sector, that there's a honeymoon period that happens with our young people. And so, your September, early October, we know that things are starting to kind of get a bit more difficult for our students and our young adults. And so, we knew that we needed to have our structure totally in place, totally set, so that we could make certain we could bring them in at the point of need. So, yeah, again, I would say the end of August, early September, we were up, ready to go and started to begin to have the trickle in of young Black men into the program.
Rylee Barnsdale: Within that portion of time of getting things sort of set up and up and running, were there any challenges that you ran into maybe getting folks aware of the program or ensuring that the services you were offering were what the community was looking for?
Leah Mills: Well, we had already kind of done a bit of an assessment, right, looking at, again, kind of what the community needs were. Along with the Community Family Life Center, there are other, smaller groups that they run within this particular organization, right?
Rylee Barnsdale: Right.
Leah Mills: And so, the need was already kind of embedded within the program, if you will. But to get the marketing out or the word out into the larger community itself, I would say I didn't run too much into a hardship with that either, simply because of the relationships that had already been formulated, the work that I had already done, as well as the clinicians that are also working along with the program. And so, they know that the passion towards this particular demographic was already present. So, with some of the stakeholders, community stakeholders, for instance, Washtenaw My Brother's Keeper, I work along with those administrators, if you will, of that particular program already. So, it was an easy transition, if you will, between the two of us, or referral process would probably be a better way of putting it, again, simply because they knew the work that I already been doing within the community. So, they entrusted the youth that they have within their mentoring program over right to us at the Community Family Life Center and the I AAM program. So, that's one instance meeting with some of the executives within the county--our chief assistant prosecutor, Victoria Burton-Harris, I met with her. We've had great rapport and had done some work in the community previously. And so, again, individuals that already feel safe and secure in the work that I have been doing as a clinician within our area. They knew that any sort of referring to our program would be a safe space and a safe haven for the youth that were being brought in. Our school systems, the Ypsilanti school systems, I've done work with them, training, coming in and doing some interventions within the school system at various schools there in, again, made it a very easy road for them to feel safe and secure about any sort of referrals to families. And so, one school, Erickson Elementary, I have a very beautiful relationship with their principal there, which is very near the Community Family Life Center. I would say, the flagship space, right, which is over in Sugarbrook, our program is stationed over off of Jefferson on the south side of Ypsilanti, because we service all of 48197 and all of 48198. But over at Erickson, I have had a longstanding relationship with the principal there and done a lot of various types of interventions and training of staff. When I went and met with her, she was like, "Hey, we have Family Night coming up. Please come on over with your program." And so, we were able to get, at that particular event, probably about ten youths just at that one evening. So, it's been some great work that's been going on in bringing in our young Black men within our community into this space. And the program is building up, and it's going quite well.
Rylee Barnsdale: WEMU's On the Ground Ypsi I'm talking with I-AAM Black Male program founder and clinical therapist, Leah Mills. Leah, you mentioned that the program has been seeing clients since around this past September. And it sounds like the reception of it is generally positive so far. Can you share any anecdotes from folks that have received services and had a positive outcome from it?
Leah Mills: Sure. One in particular, actually, is more recent. And this particular family was elated to just simply know that A) there were some Black clinicians that have come together and built an organization to service this population. Oftentimes, you will hear, with families, they are looking for someone that is culturally aware. Now, in the field of social work and other fields therein, you will hear individuals utilize this phrase, and that's "cultural competency." And I oftentimes say that to become culturally competent, you must have walked in the shoes of the individuals that you are right holding as subject matter. And so, the term is kind of like thrown out there quite frequently. And I push back on it often because if you have not walked the shoes of the individuals, it's very hard to be competent. And so, I like to use better, right, "culturally aware" or "culturally humble," right, meaning that the clients that are coming in and the family systems that we're working with, they are the ones to educate us, right? We should not go into this thinking that we know more. And so, this particular family system had just relocated here from the Chicago area and had been looking for African American clinicians that could work with her son, who had a diagnosis of autism--he was on the spectrum. And so, we were connected through My Brother's Keeper of Washtenaw. And again, she was just so overjoyed that there were some clinicians that would be able to be more relatable, to be more humble and interfacing with her son than those that she had met with in the past. Another anecdote, this particular family system had been looking for someone and had interface with one of our larger organizations here that rendered therapeutic services and had not found anyone that they felt was relatable and that understood kind of the plight of this particular young man and family system in total. The young man started out in school and was doing very well, had gotten into sports and did not make it in the sports arena at that particular time. And so, he began to feel that maybe he just didn't belong. And a lot of times when our youth feel that they are ostracized or that they are rejected from something that they desire to be a part of, they tend to have what we would call large target behaviors, right? So, they become behavioral challenges within our school systems, and it trickles into the home. And then, it kind of like spreads out into our community at large.
Rylee Barnsdale: Sure.
Leah Mills: And so, this particular young man had begun to engage in some behaviors that were not pro-social behaviors. And so, the family was overjoyed because they were able to connect with us after speaking with me. And in a earlier conversation prior to bringing them into the program, they just kind of felt that the expertise of the staff would be able to work along with the challenges that were presented. And so, they have been actually doing very well. And we've kind of gotten the family, right, some services outside of just helping the youth. And I do want to stress that, Rylee, is that when we work along with children, if we do not engage the family system, that a lot of what you're doing within the clinical sessions will actually be undone if the family is at a point where they're not at their best, right, at their healthiest. And so, the way we have shaped our program is that we want to make certain that we are helping to build a more robust, resilient and healthy family system and not just the youth in and of themselves.
Rylee Barnsdale: Absolutely! Well, thank you so much for being here, Leah! We really appreciate you sharing about this program. And I know I look forward to seeing how it grows and continues to impact not just these families and individuals, but the whole community that they're a part of.
Leah Mills: Thank you so much for having me, Rylee, and for allowing me to share about the program, the work that we're doing and to also let your listening audience know that we are here and available to be able to aid and to assist, and we're hoping to expand the program as well. So, yeah, we're here for the long haul for our community!
Rylee Barnsdale: For more information on today's topic and links to the full article, visit our website at wemu.org. On the Ground Ypsi is brought to you in partnership with Concentrate Media. I'm Rylee Barnsdale, and this is your community NPR station, 89 one WEMU FM Ypsilanti.
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