For Immediate Release
September 23, 2014
Contact Information

Anisha Lewis
ABPsi Executive Director
301-449-3082

(BPRW) Black Psychologists and Activists to Focus on Creating a Culture of Emotional Wellness

(BLACK PR WIRE) – The Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi) and Community Healing Network, Inc., (CHN) today announced that they are sponsoring a Congressional Black Caucus Forum during the 44th Annual Legislative Conference on Thursday, September 25, 2014, from 2pm to 4pm at the. Washington DC Convention Center, Room 145A. The Forum, entitled "From Trauma to Wellness," will address the underlying causes of mental health disparities and strategies for creating a culture of mental health and emotional wellness in the black community.

Panelists will include: Dr. James Jackson, Director of the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan; Dr. Jacqueline Mattis, Professor, Department of Psychology, Interim Director, Center for the Study of Black Youth in Context, University of Michigan; Dr. Taasogle Daryl Rowe, President, The Association of Black Psychologists; Dr. Cheryl Tawede Grills, Immediate Past President, The Association of Black Psychologists; Enola Aird, Founder and President, Community Healing Network, Inc. ; Dr. Lonnie Snowden, Professor of the Graduate School, Health Policy and Management Program, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley; and Cheryl Mayo Williams, Senior Director of Population Health, Children's Medical Center.

"Our community's mental health," said Dr. Rowe, "depends on our healing from the emotional legacies of enslavement and racism."

This Forum is a key part of ABPsi's and CHN's continuing efforts to mobilize the Black community to overcome and overturn the myth of Black inferiority, the underlying cause of mental and physical health disparities in the Black community, the devaluing of the lives of Black children, and many of the other challenges facing the Black community.

"At the root of so much what ails our community," said Aird, "is the toxic idea that our lives are less valuable than the lives of others. Overcoming and overturning that idea is the key to transforming our lives."

According to Dr. Grills, "the cumulative effects of four hundred years of historical and continuing trauma must be addressed.”

About ABPsi–ABPsi is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization that promotes the profession of African psychology and develops programs to alleviate problems of Black communities and other ethnic groups. www.abpsi.org

About CHN–is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization working to build a global grassroots movement to overcome and overturn the lie of Black inferiority. www.communityhealingdays.com