MOVING FORWARD

BLACK HISTORY MONTH COLCHESTER 2021

Celebrating the accomplishments and the achievements of Black Men and Women in the United Kingdom

The Prevention of Suicide Amongst Black Men 2

March 16th Black History Month Colchester and African Families in the UK launched the second phase of The Prevention of Suicide amongst Black Men on zoom. Great session with lots of good ideas and exchanges of information between a groups of black men with a common cause. Safeguarding of mental health in our community.

After a recap of program 1, we had a lengthy discussion around safeguarding and the list of 10 things we could do to reduce the rate of suicide amongst black men. We were able to cover items 1, 2 and 3. Session 2 we will continue to discussion with item #4 Developing Our Male Suicide Literacy. New to the program is Pamoja, a Swahili word meaning together and unity. The group was introduced to the Community Ambassador project, My brothers Keeper. The group was then introduced to the Jenga project, also new to phase 2 of the program. Jenga is our Youth Development and appropriate role models. A very lively discussion started about be ideas of mistrust within the black community and how years of physiological conditioning has created these thoughts and feelings of mistrust. We brought the session to a close with, Each One, Teach One. How we interact with each other to give each other strength. Feedback and comments will be posted in upcoming notifications.