Social Justice & COVID-19 Recovery - 2021 Summer - Morehouse School of ...
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2021 Summer
Social Justice & COVID-19 Recovery
Chicano Legacy Mural by Mario Torero
By Tabia Akintobi, PhD, MPH
Morehouse School of Medicine Prevention after MSM PRC, to ensure that approaches
This time of year, is
Research Center (MSM PRC) leads or are community-led and translated.
often spent taking
collaborates on several community-led and
a “break”, getting
centered initiatives that promote COVID-19 In this newsletter, we highlight MSM PRC
outside, and enjoy-
testing, communication, and vaccination. initiatives over the past year designed to
ing hot, longer days
The Georgia Community Engaged Research listen, respond, and take action through
and nights. Summer
Alliance (GEORGIA CEAL) Against training, capacity building, and resources
2021 is different
COVID-19 focuses on research and that address the COVID-19 pandemic. In
from all those
outreach to increase vaccine confidence and addition, this initiative reminds us to attend to
before. This year
uptake. For more information email our mental and behavioral health, promote
we are in recovery
georgiceal@msm.edu or visit Community father engagement, create awareness on
from the COVID-19
Engagement Alliance (CEAL) Against the realities of epilepsy, and build strong
pandemic. Many of us are still reeling from COVID-19 Dispari-ties | Community families.
the loss of loved ones, navigating how to Engagement Alliance (nih. gov). Project
safely reengage as our country opens, and PEACH (Georgia Peers for Equity Against For more information on the MSM PRC
making vaccination decisions. We are COVID-19 and for Health (GA PEACH) please email prcinfo@msm.edu, visit
promoting and grappling with the social (in) focuses on increasing COVID-19 testing for Prevention Research Center | Morehouse
justice of our country as well as the horrific people affected by diabetes in rural and School of Medicine (msm.edu), or follow us
senseless losses of George Floyd and urban Georgia. To learn more please visit on all social media platforms: @msm_prc
Ahmad Aubrey, our Asian American sisters, https://www.projectpeach.org. (Instagram), @msmprc (Twitter), MSM
and brothers, among many others. These Prevention Research Center (MSM PRC)
realities also remind us of the collective toll of The National COVID-19 Resilience Network (Facebook).
our times and the importance of attention to promotes awareness and linkages to critical
our mental and behavior health. We are also health information and services, helping I strongly believe that where there is breath,
amidst a new presidential administration families recover from difficulties that may there is hope for recovery with new opportu-
bringing renewed attention to the social and have been caused or worsened by the nities to reboot, reset and reclaim our health
political determinants of health and the COVID-19 pandemic https://ncrn.msm.edu/. and communities. We stand with you as we
policies and systems that represent the paths All of these initiatives include a community work together towards the path forward!
towards health equity for all! governance/coalition board modeled
Retiring Community Coalition Board Member
By Daniel Crimmins, PhD
Daniel Crimmins, PhD, has been the MSM PRC has He served as the CLD Director, since
representative for Georgia State been recognized 2008 and proudly leaves a legacy at
University (GSU) School of Public for its commitment CLD of developing the next generation of
Health to Morehouse School of to engaging leaders for Georgia and the nation;
Medicine (MSM), Prevention Research communities and promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion
Center (PRC) Community Coalition neighborhoods in of people with disabilities from all
Board (CCB) for more than ten years. improving health. backgrounds; and working diligently for
systems and society to adopt practices
He joined the CCB when it was chaired Dr. Crimmins that enrich the lives of the people with
by Mrs. Ella Trammell and the MSM retired from his intellectual and developmental disabilities
PRC was directed by Dr. Daniel position as and their families.
Blumenthal. He has been a proud Director of the Center for Leadership
partner in its continued evolution to the in Disability (CLD) and Clinical
leadership of Mr. LaShawn Hoffman Professor of Public Health at GSU at
and Dr. Tabia Akintobi, as the the end of May 2021.
Unlearning Church
By Pamela Merritt
Have you ever depression, anxiety, and other Check us out at www.therapyntheology.
had to unlearn post-traumatic stress symptoms. com. On the site, you can read more
something? It’s about my background in community-
the worst. It’s Since that presentation, I have branded based mental health. There are also
similar to how and launched Therapy N Theology, and several blogs I’ve written on my personal
our cellular seen an increase in my religious trauma experiences with toxic indoctrination. For
devices come clients. As we are all aware, churches the sake of our mental and emotional
with built in and other ministries all over the US health, it’s time we acknowledge that
apps that suspended in-person gatherings due to religious trauma is more than just church
cannot be COVID-19 restrictions. I discovered not hurt.
uninstalled. having the option to gather in person
It’s called significantly affected the mental health of
“hardwiring.” The data is ingrained into the religious community. Therapy N
the device much like information can Theology provides a space for my clients
be ingrained into us. Hardwiring helps to work through the immense sense of
to explain the difficulty of unlearning, loss they feel without the consistent
working through, and healing from toxic presence of their church community.
theology. In the same way, some apps
can’t be uninstalled, some indoctrination I have walked them through ways to
cannot be undone because it is too connect and find community safely
deeply ingrained. Instead, we learn how during the pandemic. Other clients, while
to work around those unhealthy sitting in virtual churches from home,
behaviors. discovered they had more loyalty to the
routine of church than they had
Last summer, my husband Kristian relationship with The Divine.
A. Smith and I presented on this topic Congregants are agonizing mentally
in our Therapy N Theology segment because they don’t feel the need to
for Morehouse School of Medicine return to the building for every weekly
Prevention Research Center. As the gathering. Many of my religious trauma
Religious Trauma expert, I expounded sessions are spent helping clients lean
by examining the effects of toxic into the personal expression of their faith.
theology on our mental health and
wellness. I explored how the routine of Many people are unknowingly walking
trying to maintain rule-keeping theology around with Religious Trauma every day.
wears on our nervous systems, causing That’s why Therapy N Theology exists.
2 / Summe r 2021
Mental Health First Aid Program:
A National & Local Partnership to Enhance Mental Health
Awareness
By Daphne Byrd, Executive Director and
Kedrick Williams, Former Preceptor Coordinator
For many years, Southeastern Primary Care In addition to participants learning a wealth of knowledge on
Consortium, Inc. (SPCC) Atlanta Area mental health, substance use issues, and first aid responses,
Health Education Centers (AHEC) has this training rendered each participant with full certification as
proudly partnered with Morehouse School of
Medicine (MSM), Prevention Research a Mental Health First Aider at the end of the course. In
Center (PRC) to implement and accordance with the COVID-19 pandemic, the National
evaluate community health aware- Council for Behavioral Health developed a virtual
ness and education programs. In instruction format, which participants of both PRC
Fall 2020 and Spring 2021, amidst courses were able to utilize by completing 2.5 hours of
the COVID-19 pandemic challenges, self-paced pre-work prior to attending a 5.5-hour
SPCC Atlanta AHEC, in partnership instructor-led session via the Zoom platform.
with the National Council for Behavioral At the conclusion of these trainings, participants shared “I feel
Health provided two Mental Health First Aid prepared to be an effective Mental Health First Aider in my
(MHFA) trainings to a blended audience of community,” and “I feel informed and ready to be a change
community members, students, and staff at agent in my school.” Without a doubt, this organizational
MSM PRC. partnership and instruction of the MHFA course has opened
minds of participants, challenged health education
These trainings were taught by certified professionals, and showcased knowledge and best practices of
Instructors, Mr. Kedrick Williams, how best to address mental health needs and crisis in our
Dr. Kimberly Williams, and Dr. Sharon communities.
Jones. They offered participants a skills-
based, theoretically sound curriculum.
Mental Health First Aid Testimony
By Terry Ross
Attending the Mental Health First Aid Responder training some issues seemed beyond assistance, but that is never the
seemed like a no brainer, or so I thought. Turns out the course case-- #GoodNews. Since the training, results experienced led
was intensive with required reading and studying! to self-reflection to apply self-care and to better
Mental health issues are present within my family, understand my own intentions, approaches,
community, myself and even my church. Time after and paths. Most notably, we
time, I witnessed individuals experience episodes, formed a non-profit organiz-
myself included.
ation (expected launch Winter 2021) to train
Course highlights included noted resources/tools available and community members as Mental Health
that there are always resources for support. Prior to the training, First Aiders within the community.
S ummer 2 0 2 1 / 3
Fathers Matter Initiative:
A Community Mobilization Approach Employed in
Metro Atlanta to Support Father Involvement
By Latrice Rollins, PhD, MSW
Georgia Department of SFSF GA Coalition, served The Fathers Matter: Mobilizing Fa-
Public Health (GA DPH), as the lead agency for the therhood in Metro Atlanta Leadership
Maternal and Child CMA process. Summit was then held March 2021.
Health partnered with Embracing a strength-based
the National Fatherhood First, a community needs and perspective for the fathers, 186
Initiative (NFI) to support assets assessment was leaders from multiple sectors
the work of its Strong conducted to document the developed strategies to support father
Fathers, Strong Families need to promote or support involvement. After the summit,
Georgia Coalition (SFSF GA). SFSF father involvement, the leaders worked together to develop
GA Coalition utilizes NFI’s services and programs for fathers action plans for each strategy.
Community Mobilization Approach that exist in Metro Atlanta, the gaps Currently, each action plan has its
(CMA), a framework to effectively in services and programs for fathers, own multi-sector implementation
manage a community-wide the assets in metro Atlanta that can committee to carry out and evaluate
collaborative process and create an be mobilized to promote father with the support of the SFSF GA
obtainable vision for mobilizing involvement, effective strategies to Coalition.
around fatherhood. Morehouse promote father involvement in metro
School of Medicine (MSM), Atlanta, and barriers that exist within
Prevention Research Center (PRC), metro Atlanta that hinder father
an academic partner of the involvemnt.
Fathers Matter Testimony
By Carl Route
I was totally honored not have to “reinvent the wheel” with Currently we offer Reaching Our
to have the opportunity regards to programs and services, Brothers Everywhere (ROBE) Boy,
to be a part of such an because many of the Summit Man, Father Talks, where males
awesome and timely participants were already doing come together to discuss maternal
initiative, where I got some things we discussed. Also, I and child health related topics every
to share space and time with many learned the importance of seeking 2nd and 4th Thursday of the year.
subject matter experts on fathers and to do things on a larger scale, Also, when the mapping of certain
families. Being able to engage with instead of doing a program here or areas showed gaps in services to that
and hear the perspectives of leaders there. When we find something that area, we were able to share
from many different sectors of is working, we should work together knowledge of each of our partners
society made the experience even to institutionalize it for the greater and other service providers who
more valuable. We are in a time good by pursuing local city, county, could help to close or eliminate those
where these types of collaborations and state government. gaps in services. The collaborations
are needed if we are to be successful afforded us the opportunity to work
serving fathers, families, and The information shared during the across state lines and other
communities. Summit has equipped me and my jurisdictions. For example; we had
colleagues with evidence and someone in another state that
We all have specific tools in our research-based facts to help us requested help with a co-parenting
toolboxes to aid us in doing our jobs serve our constituents and each relationship issue, and our
effectively and efficiently. When we other in more practical ways. During organization was able to connect
share these tools with others who are the COVID-19 pandemic we have them with our colleagues in that state
serving in the same ecosystem, it had to create ways to engage our for assistance. The Summit and
takes our work to an entirely different stakeholders consistently, so we initiative positioned us all to take our
level and scale. One thing I took decided to host regularly scheduled leadership in these efforts to an
away was the fact that we did and relevant webinars of interest to entirely different level of
meet their needs. effectiveness.
4 / Summe r 2021
The schematic visual above is a graphic recording of the Leadership Summit takeaways. It displays the path towards
the vision “to develop a system that serves fathers as well as moms and babies”. The seven primary strategies are in
gold with some connecting ideas around each. Also included are some identified pitfalls/barriers on the right . Assets
are included on the top left.
S ummer 2 0 2 1 / 5
The Unexpected Mrs. Martin contacted emergency services once her mother experienced
two seizures. Her mother was admitted to the intensive care unit due to
Benefit of Seizure uncontrolled seizures for a week before being discharged. If not for the
SFA training, Mrs. Martin believes that she would not have been able to
Recognition and save her mother’s life. She recommends general and epilepsy
communities be SFA certified to help save lives. To learn more on about
First Aid Training Seizure Recognition and First Aid, please visit https://learn.epilepsy.com/.
By Jocelyn Martin, Alexis Bell,
Demetrius Geiger, and
Rakale Collins Quarells, PhD
The MSM Epilepsy Community
Advisory Board (E-CAB) was establi-
shed in 2015 as a part of an epilepsy
research study to
improve epilepsy
self-management
behaviors such as
reducing
depression for
Blacks living with
epilepsy. The study found Project E-CAB members at the Epilepsy Resource Day they hosted at MSM in September 2019
UPLIFT to be successful in reducing
depression in Blacks with epilepsy.
Since the completion of that study,
the E-CAB has been committed to
increasing epilepsy awareness for
people of various communities.
Mrs. Joycelyn Martin is an epilepsy
advocate and support person for her
sister and mother, who both
experience seizures. Mrs. Martin
accepted an invitation to join the
E-CAB after her sister’s doctor
suggested sharing her epilepsy
experience with others. Through the
E-CAB, she was able to take a
Seizure Recognition and First Aid
(SFA) training, which taught her
about different seizure types,
symptoms, and safety tips. Shortly
after obtaining the certification, Mrs.
Martin had a lifesaving experience.
One night before putting
her mother to bed,
Mrs. Martin noticed
that her mother
was staring off into
“space.” She recalled
staring being a symptom from the
SFA training and immediately began
timing the seizure.
Morehouse School of Medicine Prevention Research Center, 720 Westview Drive, SW Atlanta, GA 30310 I Phone: 404-752-1022 Fax: 404-765-
9771 prcinfo@msm.edu I www.msm.edu/prc. The Morehouse School of Medicine Prevention Research Center is a member of the Prevention
Research Centers Program, supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, under cooperative agreement #5U48DP006411-02.
6 / Summe r 2021
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