Washtenaw County Community Mental Health (WCCMH) believes that BLACK LIVES MATTER.
- We firmly stand in solidarity with the Black community, now and always
- We speak out when we see injustice
- We empathize with the pain, fear, anxiety, and anger so many are feeling; while recognizing that we will never understand the full extent
- We listen for understanding
- We believe that Black Lives Matter
WCCMH has spent the past few weeks closely monitoring and tracking the powerful and impactful movement of Black Lives Matter (BLM) worldwide. This historical moment is an important and emotional time for everyone but acutely heightened for our Black community members. WCCMH strives to be both a partner and participant in BLM and feels it paramount to raise our collective voice with each of you to reiterate the POWER and PASSION we must lend to BLM.
As with so many statistics, we are acutely aware that the number of Black community members who struggle with mental health issues is disproportionally higher from those in the White community. In addition to supporting the mental health needs in the Black community, our agency is also committed to combating the systematic racism that most certainly contributes to this disproportionality.
WCCMH may not always get it right, but we are here with ears to listen, an open mind to receive feedback and a heart that yearns for meaningful progress. We are committed to incorporating implicit bias training throughout our agency and sharing training opportunities with our community and partners. Over the upcoming days, WCCMH will begin assembling a BLM task force to begin this important and necessary work and provide future updates to the organization.
Always looking forward,