“When I’m feeling down, I’m like, ‘Girl, what would your mama tell you right now?’ Because if my mom was here, she’d be in my ear like, ‘What you doin’? You can do better than that.’ … I always have to keep her words in the back of my head to keep me going,” Megan said.
Work has also become an outlet for Megan, who likes to keep busy when she’s going through something.
“I work through my emotions, too. When people start to see me a lot or when my schedule gets really full, I’m probably going through something because I wanna keep my mind busy,” she shared.
Upon entering the site, you will find a list of free therapy organizations, a national crisis text line, a suicide & crisis lifeline, substance abuse, and mental health administration national helpline, among other resources. The site also offers resource directories for projects benefitting the Black community, including therapy for Black women and men, the LGBTQ Psychotherapist of Color Directory, and Black mental wellness, to name a few.
When to seek help
According to the Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, Black adults in the U.S. are more likely than white adults to report persistent symptoms of emotional distress, such as sadness and feeling like everything is an effort.
If you are experiencing any of the following, it may be time to seek help:
- Excessive worrying or fear
- Feeling excessively sad or low
- Confused thinking or problems concentrating and learning
- Extreme mood changes, including uncontrollable “highs” or feelings of euphoria
- Prolonged or strong feelings of irritability or anger
- Avoiding friends and social activities
- Difficulties understanding or relating to other people
- Changes in sleeping habits or feeling tired and having low energy
- Changes in eating habits, such as increased hunger or lack of appetite
- Changes in sex drive
- Difficulty perceiving reality (delusions or hallucinations, in which a person experiences and senses things that don’t exist in objective reality)
- Inability to perceive changes in one’s own feelings, behavior or personality (”lack of insight” or anosognosia)
- Overuse of substances like alcohol or drugs
- Multiple physical ailments without obvious causes (such as headaches, stomach aches, vague and ongoing “aches and pains”)
- Thinking about suicide
- Inability to carry out daily activities or handle daily problems and stress
- An intense fear of weight gain or concern with appearance
Fortunately, Megan has made finding help even easier. All the tools you need are in one place.
To visit her website, click here.
