About Us | Black Anxiety

BUILDING

Resilience

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Redefining mental healthcare for Black youth

Exploring and intervening for anxiety among Black families with children in the criminal justice and child welfare systems in Ontario (EIA) is a pilot action study of Black families’ experiences of anxiety induced by encounters with the criminal justice system (CJS) and the child welfare system (CWS). This project is led by Dr. Godfred O. Boateng and Dr. Dlamini Nombuso of York University, with two community partners (Ghana Union of Canada and Gashanti Unity).

In this project, anxiety is defined as an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, and physical changes (1) likely to affect the health and mental well-being of families interacting with the CJS or CWS. Thus, this EIA aims to work with Black families to (a) identify the relationship between the family identity status/ and dealing with anxiety; (b) identify family needs and resources to cope with anxiety (physical and virtual); (c) implement an intervention to help families deal with anxiety; and (d) develop resources and resource space for use by Black families experiencing anxiety.

CENTRAL QUESTIONS TO BLACK ANXIETY PROJECT

What strategies and tools do Black families need to address the mental well-being of their children who have gone through the ‘prison pipeline’ or who have been part of the welfare system?

How can parents and children work together to address the challenges of family community integration and acceptance?

How can parents manage the anxieties associated with having their children in or becoming potential residents of Canada’s CJS and CWS?

Retooling Black Anxiety seeks to examine the effects/stories of anxiety, the strategies that families use to deal with anxiety, and to pilot an intervention that will use tools created with families alongside standard anxiety tools.

The findings of this study will have cultural and academic significance in improving the mental health of Black youth and Black Families in the Greater Toronto Area.

OUR JOURNEY SO FAR

2022

PROJECT IDEA CONCEIVED

The project was conceivedby Dr. Godfred O. Boateng (Director, Global & Environmental Health Lab and Faculty Fellow, Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research) and Dr. Dlamini Nombuso (Faculty of Education) whose work focuses on youth, especially racialized youth within leadership and political systems.

2023

FORMATION OF PROJECT PARTNERSHIP

The Black Anxiety Project's principal and co-investigators formed a partnership with Gashanti Young Women Initiative, Canada, and the Ghana Union of Canada. The organizations act as community implementation partners

PROJECT

OUTCOME

Helping individuals to identify and manage their anxiety levels with co-constructed tools

Emotional well-being promoted, and overall mental health improved

Put a smile on the face of every black youth in Canada