NENC/America Amplified Special: Addressing The Toll Of Racism On New Englanders’ Mental Health

By Morgan Springer, Vanessa de la TorreOctober 1, 2020

Originally from Somalia, Deqa Dhalac immigrated to Maine in 2005. She works for the Maine Department of Education and serves on South Portland City Council. Dhalac says it can be challenging to bridge different cultural understandings of mental health. (Joe Amon/Connecticut Public/NENC)
Originally from Somalia, Deqa Dhalac immigrated to Maine in 2005. She works for the Maine Department of Education and serves on South Portland City Council. Dhalac says it can be challenging to bridge different cultural understandings of mental health. (Joe Amon/Connecticut Public/NENC)
Originally from Somalia, Deqa Dhalac immigrated to Maine in 2005. She works for the Maine Department of Education and serves on South Portland City Council. Dhalac says it can be challenging to bridge different cultural understandings of mental health. (Joe Amon/Connecticut Public/NENC)

Racism is trauma. But for many of us, racism’s impact on mental health can be hard to talk about. This week on NEXT, we hear about the stressors of racism in New England and ways to get relief. It’s the third show in a special series on racism in New England — produced by the New England News Collaborative and America Amplified.

For our final episode in the series, we want to hear from you:

What does your school teach about racism? What does it omit? What should change?

Leave us a voicemail on our comment line: 860-275-7595. Or email us at AmericaAmplified@nepm.org.

Guests:

Bhuttu Mathews, Vermont-based mental health counselor.

Dr. Charles Dike, chief medical officer with the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and associate professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine.

Lisa Sockabasin, director of programs and external affairs at Wabanaki Public Health in Maine and Passamaquoddy tribal member.

Deqa Dhalac, family engagement and cultural responsiveness specialist for the Maine Department of Education and city councilor in South Portland. Originally from Somalia, she immigrated to Maine in 2005.

Dean Robinson, associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

Jamie Daniels, licensed and independent clinical social worker and adjunct associate professor at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Credits:

Hosts: Jennifer Rooks of Maine Public and Traci Griffith
Coordinating Producer: Morgan Springer
Producers: Cindy Han and Jonathan Smith of Maine Public, Lydia Brown of Vermont Public Radio and Daniela Luna.
Executive Producer: John Dankosky of America Amplified
Executive Editor: Vanessa de la Torre
Music: “TracPhone,” “The Samo,” “Stay Down,” and “One Call Away” by Latrell James.

Additional support: Connecticut Public, New England Public Media, Vermont Public Radio, Maine Public Radio, New Hampshire Public Radio and CAI Cape and Islands. America Amplified and the New England News Collaborative are funded, in part, by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.