Doreen Okeh

Period 2

Transcribed Interview #1

DO: Hello?
TF: Hi Doreen!
DO: Hello, Good afternoon Mrs. Fasosin; it is very nice to be in contact with you again. How are
you?
TF: I’m good; how are you?
DO: I’m fine! This is great. Wow. Just to start off, thank you so much for giving me your time,
this is--this is--I’m very grateful, so thank you.
TF: You’re welcome
DO: So just as a friendly reminder, I just need you to state your name and your consent for this
interview to be recorded
TF: uh my name is TF and I do approve the recording of this uh interview.
DO: Okay thank you so much. Now to begin, my first question is can you please elaborate a little
bit on the major differences in treating black individuals in comparison to any other racial group
or demographic?
TF: Uh, like I explained in the email I sent to you; I do not provide treatment I provide mental
health first aid because there is a difference. I am not a clinician. But I do provide mental health
first aid techniques like providing CPR for those who have a mental illness or uh a substance use
disorder.
DO: Okay. And also, how do you think unrelated-or-untreated mental illness and neglect of the
topic can like hinder the individuals later on in their life or in a long term period?
TF: Uh just like any other illness mental illness is just a disease of the brain, so just like the liver
can get sick the brain can get sick, and just the same way it is with any other organ in the body if
you do not catch it early-or even if you are aware of it- if you do not treat it, then it gets worse; it
is a progressive illness it is a progressive thing. Another danger about mental illness is it may
start as one particular condition but because that condition is not treated it might actually segway
into another condition altogether. So, somebody could start off with depression but because that
is not treated they might pick up an eating disorder along the way and things might actually
progress-things could get worse
Doreen: Okay, wow. Thank you. So what efforts do you believe can be done to reduce the gap
between religious leaders and people of religious, um, titles and mental health professionals in
deciding proper care for a patient's treatment because you know the African American
Community holds such a high standard to religion and the church and God, and at times it can at
times hinder the individual from seeking the help that they need. So what efforts do you think
can kind of shorten that gap for individuals who need help?
Toyin: I think the first thing will be for uh the clergy, as in the religious leaders to actually talk
about mental health from their point of view. They need to destigmatize it because there’s so
much stigma attached to it that even when people have a problem the dont want to talk about it
because they don't want a label; they don’t want everyone looking at them weird, they don’t want
everyone drawing back from them. So once that stigma issue is addressed, and once everyone is
made to understand that the brain in an organ, and just like any other organ in the body it can
malfunction. And not demonize all mental illness. Those will go a long way to uh helping the
people that are administering to. And another thing that the mental-oh I’m sorry- uh religious
leaders can do is to also share their own struggles. Because there is a very high incidence of
mental illness among clergy as well. It’s just so they can share their struggles and how they
overcame those struggles. That will go a long way to helping their congregation to realize “okay
I’m not alone; my pastor or my Imam or whoever the religious leader is can go through this; and
still be who they are, then there is hope for me.
DO: Wow. Okay, thank you. So, In addition, the African American community is in the midst of
many other demanding issues such as the continuous battle against police brutality and the Black
Lives Matter Movement. So do you believe these issues take away from the needed attention and
discussion about mental health within the black community?
TF: I think it does sadly but in a way that they are interrelated. Because um, like for depression
in teens, the female teen, their symptoms are symptoms of withdrawal, isolation, being sad, you
know all the typical sign and symptoms of depression. But the way depression, uh, the typical
symptoms of depression in young males is aggression. It just makes you wonder how many boys
are locked up for aggression who are actually slowly dying from depression, you know. Which is
something, you know, which can use mental health first aid training. A lot of police officers and
those in that field are being traded so that when they respond to a situation they’re made aware
so that they know this is a mental health issue and figure out a way to de-escalate it and come in
with guns later. My thinking is need to work with both of them alongside each other because
they are interconnected.
DO: Let me just write this down...okay. And so to what extent do you believe African
Americans hesitate to seek professional assistance due to family opinions and familial influence?
TF: It’s very high, its to a very high influfence. Funny enough, it's not just the African
community. Stigma is present in every rae, every culture, gender. I don’t know, it’s just the
human thing to always try to put your best foot forward and not want to come to terms with your
feelings; especially when it comes to the area of mental illness because a lot of times people are
scared because they don’t understand what’s going on, so that scare from the person
experiencing it, and also those around them, it makes it so hard because everyone’s trying to-a
lot of times, families know, but they keep everything hush hush because they don’t want others
to know on the outside-
DO: (interrupting) Yeah
TF:-um, of fear of how the family will be viewed, because there’s some areas in Africa, and I’m
sure in other cultures as well, that recognize where a family or one of the children of the family
has a mental illness nobody wants to marry into that family. It now becomes the case of ‘oh no
no no, don’t marry into that family, they have mental health issues’ you know. Those kind of
powerful stigmas-once we can deal with those stigmas, I mean-we can- it’ll just be a release for
everyone. People can actually get the help they need.
DO: Wow. Very valid points. And finally, what do you believe is the most valid and important
factor for mental health professionals to consider when in contact with their patient or dealing
with their family; what do you think is something that like, immediately needs to be recognized
and just addressed.
TF: Culture. I think the most important thing is culture. Because you have to consider the
reputation the different cultures have. Like Western culture is more open to reach out to help, but
other cultures like African or even those from the East who are more hesitant, they actually need
to have a relationship with you before they can open up to you. So, those are things to factor in in
helping people, especially when it comes to mental illness. It's also something based on society
right now, especially for African Americans. Because what i’m saying is especially when
someone is having a meltdown or mental health crisis, we always advise and always encourage
the family or whoever is around to call 9-1-1, but in the African American society especially,
that is not a comfortable thing for people to do. Is is easy to tell a caucasian “call 9-1-1!’ But in
the African American community they would say “Are you crazy? I’m gonna call 9-1-1 and my
child is gonna end up dead?” You know? So, those are things we need to be cognizant of, so.
DO: Yeah. Wow. Is there anything else you believe would guide my research or anything else
that you feel is important to be stated?
TF: um, I think we’ve covered a lot of it. The main issue is stigma; once that can be addressed.
And another thing is, when it comes to mental illness just like any other mental illness, we
should always keep our language ‘people first’. So, that person is not a schizophrenic, that
person is a lady or or a man who experiences schizophrenia. That is not an autistic child, it is a
child that has autism. So we need to make it people first; no one is their condition they are
suffering from their condition; it is just something you are going through. But you are you; so if
we can keep our language people first, because a lot of times people who have a condition and
are really sensitive, I think this is the kind of thing that causes them to shut down and they won’t
even open up to whoever tries to help them because they feel like they have already been labeled.
DO: Wow. That’s very true. Thank you so much Mrs. Fasosin.

Interview cut
Reflection- I conducted an interview with a mental health professional over the phone. Her name
is Toyin Fasosin and she is a Youth Mental Health First Aid Instructor. Mrs. Fasosin has spoken
on the behalf of teen minorities and their mental health in several national conferences
represented by the John Maxwell team . She provided information about the cultural aspect of
mental illness, and elaborated on why religious leaders and mental health professionals must
work together to help the public. She explains how members of the clergy should be more
accepting of mental illnesses because these individuals typically face a mental health crisis as
well. Fasosin states that by clergymen and women being more acceptive and open to mental
health care outside of the church, it will aid in helping remove stigma in the church.