[ad_1]
“I’m a bad bitch and I got bad anxiety.”
This line from Megan Thee Stallion’s song “Anxiety” can be heard in the video greeting visitors to her new mental health awareness website, ‘Bad Bitches Have Bad Days Too.’ The animated video depicts a young Black woman drowning as the hip-hop artist opens up about her own struggles.
The recently launched website contains four components, all aimed at providing support, especially for people who identify as Black, LGBTQ+ and Native American.
The site offers Megan’s young fan base 20 links to resources focused on preventative care or emergency services. Included are widely known resources such as the National Crisis Text Line and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, in addition to more community specific resources like the Black Mental Health Alliance and the phone number for the LGBT National Youth Talkline.
“We hope that through Meg Thee Stallion using her platform to share mental health resources to her fans,” Black Mental Wellness, one of the featured resources, said in a statement to Annenberg Media, “that our website and services will reach an even larger audience, resulting in more healing in our communities.”
This group hopes to “normalize conversations around mental health and increase access to mental health knowledge, coping and wellness strategies, and mental health services.”
Megan’s website comes at a crucial time for the state of mental health among youth in America. Black children in California have a higher suicide rate than any other group of children and twice the statewide average suicide rate, according to the California Department of Public Health.
LGBTQ+ youth are four times more likely to report a suicide attempt. According to The Trevor Project, within the LGBTQ community, Indigenous youth were two and a half times more likely to die by suicide than their peers.
“I like how she brings up intersectionality in the Black community,” said freshman public relations major Morgan Wright. “Though I’m not a part of the LGBTQ community, it brings me comfort knowing that there’s somebody else looking out for them that has a big platform like this.”
The website links users to affordable therapy. The average cost of therapy for someone without insurance can range from $60 to $250 per session. Low-income members of marginalized communities often face harder times gaining access to affordable mental healthcare, despite carrying a greater burden brought on by injustice and economic inequality.
Megan Thee Stallion, born Megan Pete, has been transparent about her own struggles with mental health. Following a back-and-forth legal battle over her assertion that she was shot in the feet by rapper Tory Lanez and his vehement denial, Megan told interviewer Gayle King earlier this year, “It’s too much. I feel crazy. I’m sad. And I feel like I have to hold it in because I have to be strong for so many people.”
Megan credits therapy with helping her after the death of her mother and grandmother, who died two weeks apart from each other in early 2019. Her story underscores overcoming adversity while emphasizing that healing is a non-linear journey.
Visitors to the webpage also see a broader message about the truth of bad days: they will come and that is okay.
“[The website] is not just about keeping your mental health,” said Annmarie Easy, sophomore political science major, “but also knowing that when your mental health takes a decline it’s okay.”
Amid the website resources is another “Anxiety” lyric and a call to action that Megan hopes will resonate with fans, “Bounce back like bad bitches always do.”
Mental Illness Awareness Week is Oct. 2 through Oct. 8.
Resources:
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – 1 (800) 273-8255 – 24/7 on call – Free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Anxiety Crisis Textline – Text a Crisis Counselor at 741471
[ad_2]
Source link
