The mental health crisis in America is one that needs to be immediately addressed. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, in 2019 there were approximately 51 million adults in the US that had any mental illness, of which approximately 45% received mental health services. Additionally, an estimated 13 million adults had a severe mental illness, with approximately 65% of these individuals receiving mental health services. The recognition of mental illnesses, their signs and symptoms, and its destigmatization is nothing short of essential. The work of American Muslim Health Professionals and their Mental Health First Aid program is vital in helping make this progress happen by teaching people across Chicagoland how to recognize signs of mental illness and how to help those who need access to mental health services.
AMHP, with the support of Zakat Chicago, was able to expand their program across the Chicagoland area, getting more communities and their members involved with mental health education. With a grant provided by ZC, AMHP was able to continue teaching Mental Health First Aid during the pandemic through the creation of online programming. Their workshop, free for all participants who attend, provides everyone with the training necessary to recognize risk factors and warning signs of different mental illnesses. The course, to make it as accessible as possible, assumes no prior knowledge on behalf of the learner and teaches personal and familial self-care practices. At the same time, AMHP has been able to teach these practices while addressing cultural and religious stigmas across communities with nuance and grace. The training provided by American Muslim Health Professionals, made possible by donations from Zakat Chicago, has allowed more people in the Chicagoland area to receive mental health first aid certifications and serve as assets in our larger community by being able to help all people understand and recognize mental illness as something real and important.
The conversation around mental illness is now changing. More and more people everyday are learning what is mental illness and are now slowly destigmatizing talking about it. As this trend slowly but surely continues, programs like Mental Health First Aid by Amercian Muslim Health Professionals become progressively more in demand, a trend that AMHP is already experiencing. Your donations to Zakat Chicago helps make these programs accessible to more people. With your continued support, we can continue to educate and certify Chicagoans on how to recognize the warning signs of different mental illnesses and how to help those in distress.
