HOST INTRO: The year of 2020 has highlighted many topics of discussion such as racial issues, income inequality, and mental health. With the pandemic putting a huge emphasis on mental wellness more students and faculty are finding ways to increase awareness around it and are trying to make sure students, specifically students of color, are supported and seen. Osvaldo Garcia speaks to college students and faculty about the intersectionality of race, income, and mental health.
AMBI: Nola, (Massaran Cisse’s support animal) meowing in the morning.
TRACK: I am here with Massaran Cisse in her dorm room at Ithaca College as she is comforted by her support animal Nola. She identifies as a Bi-sexual African American student and goes to the small liberal arts college in upstate New York. She was willing to share her personal experiences being a black queer woman in a predominately white school, and how it has affected her overall mental health.
ACT: MASSARAN: It was pretty late, but I’ll tell you, it was freshman year of college. This is when I took it (mental health) more seriously. I’ll say at the end of highschool, my Dell scholarship gave me three free therapy sessions. I thought “I’m broke” and my parents could not pay so I took advantage of that because I noticed something was wrong mentally that my parents were not able to see.
TRACK: While Massaran became more aware of her own mental health, the same could not be said for her family members from the Bronx, who are originally from the West-African country, Ivory Coast. They do not believe in mental wellness.
ACT: MASSARAN: Mental health was not talked about. They mainly identify with something religious, such as “maybe the person is possessed, that’s why they’re going crazy” or “they have depression, maybe they are not praying.”
AMBI: Singing of birds and wind on Ithaca campus.
TRACK: Since Massaran goes to a predominantly white school, it was exciting for her to hear that her counseling center was going to hire their first black therapist.
ACT: MASSARAN: All the black people were like “oh their finally listening to us”, so I signed up. I have been depressed since I have psychothemia which causes me to have depression that lasts 1-2 months. I can fall behind two months worth of school.
TRACK: However, even with a black therapist, Massaran felt that the experience was subpar and that the addition of a black therapist was performative.
ACT: MASSARAN: As a therapist, you shouldn’t make a client feel like everything is being timed, because now I feel like sh*t, I don’t feel like this is really helping me. This was just put there to say they are helping us. But it really wasn’t helping me. After that experience, I never went back.
TRACK: Cindy Lin, an Asian-American student at Hunter College has had a similar experience as Massaran when it comes to mental health in her community.
ACT: CINDY: The whole idea of getting help for mental health is non-existent. We believe in doctors, if we get sick we go to the doctor, but when it comes to mental health, stay home and cover it up.
TRACK: Cindy explains the stress that the rise in Anti-Asian sentiment has had on her mental health.
ACT: CINDY: There’s just that looming fear of somebody messing with you while you’re going about your regular life. I’m going to work, or going home, or like going outside to eat, or even working outside. These are normal things that I should be able to enjoy without being scared.
TRACK: Alicia Bosely identifies as a white queer cis-gendered woman and has a background in psychology. She is a professor at Hofstra University and practices therapy in the New York City and Long Island area. She shares solutions that need to be made as both a therapist and a faculty member to help students of color with their mental health.
ACT: ALICIA: One big thing is to have more therapists of color. Historically, psychologists and therapists have been people who look like me, and some people of color are comfortable with someone like me and others aren’t and that’s okay.
TRACK: A 2019 poll from Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors highlighted how 70 percent of the staff were white and 75 percent were cis-white females. She continued to use current examples such as the anti-asian attacks and the Black Lives Matter protests to explain why more therapists of color are important.
ACT: ALICIA: Someone who is experiencing anti-asian sentiment right now with all the things that are going on in the pandemic might be better supported by a therapist who understands that. I don’t think that is a threat to anyone else, just that we all have a role.
TRACK: The experiences Cindy Lin and Massaran Cisse have shared, highlight the added conflicts students of color deal with when trying to get comprehensive mental health care. Faculty and therapists like Alicia Bosely are addressing these disparity issues to create more equitable mental health resources for POC students. For Baruch, this is Osvaldo Garcia in New York City.