Mental health has become part of health discussions in schools, workplaces, and health care settings. In higher education, there is an increased emphasis on mental health as one of the components of well-being that supports students’ learning and persistence through graduation. lecomte dillAn associate professor of African and African American studies at Michigan State University, she encourages students to take charge of their health more holistically through creative expression, community building, therapy, and more. I realized that.
For 25 years, Dill has worked and researched the intersection of public health, health and social policy, arts and health. She has been writing, publishing, and teaching poetry for even longer. While pursuing her Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, she studied how to use creative expression and writing to understand and articulate health issues, especially for urban youth of color. I researched how it can be used.
LeConte Dill, Associate Professor, Department of African and African American Studies, Michigan State University. Credit: Ryan Frederick.
A certified Mindfulness Instructor, Dill is focused on ensuring that her teaching and research connects with the arts, humanities, and healthcare fields to find ways to center health for all. Her recent funded project at MSU has led her to work specifically with Black women in student and staff roles to explore how spending physical space and time together can foster community building and wellness practices. Now you can better understand what is supported.
Here, Dill discusses how a broader understanding of health may impact modern public health now and in the future.
How does mental health relate to overall health and wellness?
In the United States, mental health and public health are considered different. It affects not only the framework, but also how government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels are run and funded.
I have worked in the public health sector and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where the focus is on physical health and disease. Mental health resides in a separate office or department at the national, state, and county levels, subdividing health and wellness within these institutions and within our own understanding. This fragmentation can lead to poor health and well-being. When we think about people’s overall health, we need to move beyond these silos.
There are eight dimensions of health: emotional, mental, physical, economic, social, intellectual, environmental, and occupational, which give us a more holistic framework. It is also important to consider how we can collectively promote health and consider our responsibilities to each other and to building community.
Why is mental health and wellness important, especially for Black women and girls?
As a Black woman, it’s depressing to hear so much about health disparities, health inequities, and negative statistics and press coverage.
The story is that black people don’t go to therapy, or black people don’t engage in mental health work. Although not without stigma and barriers to access, some of the most marginalized people do indeed participate in and demand mental health support in a variety of ways.
LeConte Dill has worked with Black women as a student and staff member at MSU to better understand how spending physical space and time together supports community building and wellness practices. Credit: Ryan Frederick.
While trained therapists are critical for Black women and girls, there are other mental health professionals in the community as well. an intergenerational “sista circle” of Black women who serve as faith-based leaders, support groups and community leaders, and who practice a wide variety of health and wellness practices and cultural practices. There is a possibility. People are working on it more than we talk about it.
Much of my research focuses on middle school and high school students, and I also work closely with university students. They want and want mental health support right away. They approach and seek different types of therapy than my generation and the generations before them. I’m excited and grateful for this.
What are some of the connections that are being missed by the public health system?
Immediately before completing my Ph.D., I worked in the Department of Public Health for the City of Berkeley, California. Thirty percent of Berkeley’s black population has left Berkeley in the past 10 years, according to the release of the city’s health report. We talk about this casually when discussing social determinants of health, but we have no idea why these people left, where they went, or how it relates to health inequalities. I didn’t really ask if they were related.
My public health doctoral program utilized approaches from multiple disciplines;
Faculty in the MSU Department of African American and African Studies connected the curriculum with the “Nurture Your Roots” program at the W.J. Beal Botanical Garden on campus. As part of their coursework, students developed reflective exercises at stations throughout the garden that encourage visitors to connect mind and body with nature and health practices. Credit: Ryan Frederick.
I went to an undergraduate class asking these questions. They didn’t always call it health or connect it to health, but they were talking about the social and structural determinants that are talked about in the field of public health. Sociology theorized about social factors. Urban planning produced interventions and historical analysis. Education linked change to public institutions and policies. English was the language of social phenomena connected to personal experience.
By studying in these different departments, we learn that while we may be able to talk about social determinants and health equity in public health, we don’t always have the framework or analysis for deeper conversations. I was able to.
What kind of training is important for tomorrow’s healthcare workers?
Because of the structure of healthcare in the United States, psychologists are not in the same learning space as future physicians, social workers, or highly trained public health workers. That may be true, but schools are often not designed that way. And arguably they do not belong in the same learning space as urban planners, educators, historians, and artists. But then again, it could happen. It is clear that these divisions are a hindrance when we think about connecting this learning, this teaching, this training. We need to ensure that practitioners do not deepen their learning and understanding for the benefit of the larger community.
When I teach in public health and medicine, I remind my students that they are constantly telling and collecting stories. Health history, intake conversation — it’s storytelling, and it’s not just for the patient or client, but for the health care worker as well. It helps patients and community members remember the health practices they already practice and the tools that have been the touchstones of their families, ancestors, and culture. These are a treasure trove of knowledge not found in traditional health textbooks.
In the medical industry, many practitioners practice art as a means of expression, but do not always connect it to their methods and practices in their offices, clinics, and waiting rooms. Art teaches us deeper histories as well as strategies for recovery, rehabilitation, and healing.
