Providing Community Awareness on Minority Mental Health

July is Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. The Quality Corner Show chats with Marvin Ferguson, RPh, M.B.A, LSSGB, PMSP, and President of MarvLeads about Minority Mental Health at the community level in this episode.

PQS Senior Manager, Pharmacy Training and Support, Brittany Boyd, MHA, interviews Ferguson about ways to positively impact a patient's mental health, and Ferguson provides tools, resources, and examples of national and local organizations that help support mental health services. 

Chapters

• 0:50 Introduction
• 3:43 Mental Health Challenges as a Minority
• 5:55 Having a Conversation
• 7:39 Personal Experiences
• 11:30 Mental Health Organizations in the Community
• 15:19 Personal Health Routines
• 19:27 Closing

Transcript

00:00:01:02 - 00:00:32:03

Marvin Ferguson

Unfortunately, sometimes as a minority, we put a negative connotation on mental health. it's almost taboo to talk about, especially men. it's not really considered masculine to talk about such things. outcomes become negative because of supressing depression or grief or whatever the issue is really doesn't make it go away. It just shows up in different ways.

00:00:32:07 - 00:00:40:01

Marvin Ferguson

Most times for men, it shows up in anger because that is a socially accepted emotion.

00:00:40:03 - 00:01:06:00

Brittany Boyd

Welcome to the Pharmacy Quality Solutions Quality Corner Show. Buckle up and put your thinking cap on. The Quality Corner Show starts now. Hello Quality Corner listeners, and welcome to the Quality Corner Show podcast. I am Brittany Boyd, Senior Manager of Pharmacy Training and Support here at PQS by Innovaccer. We have historically spent our time in this space discussing quality measure performance, EQUIPP utilization and patient health outcomes.

00:01:06:05 - 00:01:27:10

Brittany Boyd

But in today's episode, we're going to take a little bit of a detour to discuss a very important factor in patient care mental health. July is National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. The Quality Corner Show wanted to spend some time discussing how our listeners in the pharmacy and in other health care settings can positively impact patients and their respective communities that may need assistance in managing their mental health.

00:01:27:12 - 00:01:40:15

Brittany Boyd

I am pleased on today's episode to be joined by Marvin Ferguson, a pharmacist by trade but with extensive experience and cultural awareness and differences that impact our daily lives. So without further ado, Marvin, welcome to our show. Would you like to introduce yourself?

00:01:40:17 - 00:01:58:04

Marvin Ferguson

Hello. Thanks for having me. Marvin Ferguson, pharmacist, and community, community advocate. so those are the names that I go by, and those are the things that I do.

00:01:58:06 - 00:02:15:17

Brittany Boyd

All right. Well, we're excited to have you. So thank you. Marvin. It's good for you to be here. so our standard interview format goes question and answer. But, before we get started, I wanted to see if you could provide us, some details about your background, your experience, and how you currently, work with communities.

00:02:15:19 - 00:02:51:02

Marvin Ferguson

Sure. So as a pharmacist, I was blessed with information that maybe your everyday individual may not have. I took that clinical knowledge out the pharmacy and tried to create opportunities to support, my community. so in 2018, started a nonprofit, Let's Get Healthy Cleveland, to provide clinical programs to all of communities throughout Northeast Ohio. these programs range anywhere from opioid awareness panels to yoga events to promote cardiovascular awareness and health.

00:02:51:04 - 00:03:19:22

Marvin Ferguson

a year later, I started, Ask a Pharmacist, a podcast that showcases local health professionals and their services to support the community. this could span from talking with dietitians all the way to, gastroenterologists about, gut health. and then in 2020, I started MarvLeads, consulting that provides the, process improvement and leadership training.

00:03:19:24 - 00:03:26:06

Marvin Ferguson

and these services are discounted for start up businesses in the community.

00:03:26:08 - 00:03:47:23

Brittany Boyd

And it's awesome. Thank you for that. That is a great list of accolades. And I'm sure that many of our listeners, could benefit from and, of course, what you're doing for the community, leads us into our very important discussion today. Mental health conditions do not discriminate based on race, color, gender, or identity. Anyone can experience the challenges of mental health regardless of their background.

00:03:48:00 - 00:04:15:10

Brittany Boyd

However, a background and identity can make access to mental health treatment much more difficult. Marvin, you've explained some great ways that you're currently reaching out to your communities to help, with the variety of, disease states that patients may be interacting or, you know, having to deal with. But I want to ask you, have you encountered, patients in the pharmacy setting or in the community where you're serving, where their mental health challenges as a minority have negatively impacted their health outcomes?

00:04:15:12 - 00:04:48:20

Marvin Ferguson

100%. unfortunately, sometimes, as a minority, we put a negative connotation on mental health. it's almost taboo to talk about, especially men. is not really considered masculine to talk about such things. Outcomes become negative because suppressing depression or grief or whatever the issue is really doesn't make it go away. It just shows up in different ways.

00:04:48:21 - 00:04:57:07

Marvin Ferguson

Most time for men, it shows up in anger because that is a socially accepted emotion.

00:04:57:09 - 00:05:30:13

Brittany Boyd

Yeah. That's fair. That is not, it is absolutely taboo to talk about mental health, in the black community, in the minority community, just overall. That's why it's such an important topic, to make sure that we are discussing. So I really thank you for that. in an effort of transparency, I'll have to share that I've shared similar experiences of not wanting to speak about how my mental health may be, struggling or how, you know, I'm it's so much going on and so many different things to think about that it may be challenging to simply express what you're dealing with.

00:05:30:19 - 00:05:56:17

Brittany Boyd

the National Alliance on Mental Health Illness indicated in 2021 that one in every five adults in the U.S experience a mental health condition. Mental health has the capability to impact a variety of areas in a person's life and their medical conditions. Marvin, do you have any examples from your experience where you were able to provide like a custom care plan or suggest some form of holistic approach that may positively impact a patient's health?

00:05:56:19 - 00:06:30:21

Marvin Ferguson

Great question. so as I alluded to earlier, you, half of the battle sometimes is just having the conversation. about mental health opportunities. after having the conversation, possibly getting the therapist involved to talk through some of these, these challenges. I look at mental health opportunities, like physical health opportunities. You know, you get a personal trainer to get physical health goals, lose some weight, or meet some goals that you may have.

00:06:30:23 - 00:07:04:12

Marvin Ferguson

same thing with a therapist. mental health goals can be the same. Same scenario. sharing this mindset with individuals has helped them maybe take the next step to talking about depression and grief over these these that they may not have talked to others before in the past, and helping them actually get to that next step to possibly talk to a therapist that, you know, we sometimes think that, oh, if I talk to a therapist, I'm considered this term “crazy” or something's wrong with me.

00:07:04:14 - 00:07:39:01

Marvin Ferguson

No, it's nothing wrong. we all have challenges, and it's okay not to be okay, because we all have challenges that we deal with on an everyday basis. So I think just having that conversation, first of all, admitting that just like everybody else, there's something going on having that conversation. Maybe taking that next step to possibly, involve a therapist to kind of talk through some of those, those things and, and provide some tools, that you can utilize when those things come up.

00:07:39:03 - 00:07:50:17

Brittany Boyd

Do you have examples of those tools, if you mind sharing some of those? I know that you mentioned going to a therapist, the physical, aspect of it, training. I definitely can relate to that. But, what are some of the tools that you would recommend?

00:07:50:19 - 00:08:20:11

Marvin Ferguson

Absolutely. So, just be transparent. I have my own therapist. Right. not particularly that I have anything going on. I think, like I stated, mental health, just like physical health. So, to be super transparent, I lost my aunt, probably about who seems so long ago, but it was probably about four, 3 or 4 years ago.

00:08:20:13 - 00:08:43:12

Marvin Ferguson

And so this is the first time I really understood this concept of grief. and so, she actually lived in a different state. I had went to go visit her to take care of her affairs, because she was not feeling well, but on that visit, went to the hospital. As soon as I got there, she passed away right in front of me.

00:08:43:14 - 00:09:14:14

Marvin Ferguson

And so essentially, every time I thought of her after that, that's all I can think of being in that room and her passing away. but of course, she's she's lived a long life. We've had experiences together. We've traveled. You know, she was my aunt. So going to therapy, they provided tools around, “Hey, instead of thinking about being in that hospital room when she passed,

00:09:14:16 - 00:09:36:24

Marvin Ferguson

Think about some of the happy times.” Think about some of the times when you guys travel. Think about she that is such a small part of her, the experience you have where her life, right? And it seems so easy. It seems so like common sense. But you don't you don't normally just do that. And so when I it didn't happen overnight.

00:09:36:24 - 00:10:01:17

Marvin Ferguson

So when I started thinking like, okay, she likes Chinese food and if any serious story, she like Chinese food. But as much as she loves Chinese food, to understand what that green stuff was like, like, that's wasabi and it's hot. And so before, I could warn her what time I went to the Chinese food, she stuck the whole thing in her mouth.

00:10:01:19 - 00:10:23:16

Marvin Ferguson

And so, you know, she. Of course, the mouth was her eyes were like, you know, she's crying. and this took it out, and I'm like, I tried to tell you. So, you know, I think about times like that. and so. Because essentially what I thought about her being in a hospital, being that brought me down a path of grief and sadness.

00:10:23:16 - 00:10:43:06

Marvin Ferguson

And, you know, when I think about that is it changes that whole perspective. So that's an example of the situation of grief. And that's an example of a tool that I've been able to utilize. When I think about my Aunt, I don't think about her last hour. Yeah.

00:10:43:08 - 00:11:01:04

Brittany Boyd

I really appreciate that transparency. And thank you for those details. So what I'm hearing from you is that a very strong tool that we can have in the community is, mindset. that that is probably the strongest tool that you can have. It's like you said, it's not easy. It's not a, simple process. And it doesn't happen overnight.

00:11:01:05 - 00:11:29:13

Brittany Boyd

Like there's a time frame to it. and that's, unique struggle of underserved populations like our minorities in the community. Your experience, You're leveraged to food deserts. You may live in places where maybe you don't have that much, access to care. Or maybe it's a challenge for you to find, a therapist that can best help you and make sure that you are best suited to positively impact change within yourself and, within those that are surrounding you.

00:11:29:16 - 00:11:44:20

Brittany Boyd

I really appreciate you sharing those details with us. Do you have any specific organizations or local events that, our listeners should draw their attention to or maybe get involved to, to try to help, you know, these minority populations, they surround themselves with?

00:11:44:22 - 00:12:16:07

Marvin Ferguson

Well, you know, first of all, I'll give a shout out to to NAMI, which is the National Alliance on Mental Health Illness. They have excellent resources throughout, you know, all communities. also, every community should have, something around a ADM. board. and that's alcohol, drug addiction and mental health services. So usually that board, they provide funds for organizations to provide these services to the community.

00:12:16:09 - 00:12:44:10

Marvin Ferguson

And so that would be also a good way to kind of find out some of these organizations, because there's so for example, in Summit County, there's multiple organizations that the ABM Board of Summit County funds to help provide and support, mental health services to folks who may need them. also there is and by nonprofit provided this I believe Nami does as well.

00:12:44:16 - 00:13:09:20

Marvin Ferguson

There's something called a mental health certificate. I'm not sure if you ever, heard about that, but, those are helpful. Essentially. That certificate is like a I think it's like an 8 to 12 hour course. But what a certificate does it make you a mental health professional? But it gives you some understanding, being able to identify folks that may be having some mental health challenges.

00:13:09:22 - 00:13:39:07

Marvin Ferguson

I can give you an example. there was a gentleman who had shared to me, shared with me that his, had committed suicide. And it was a big, like, surprise to the family because a month before she was taking these extravagant, vacations. Right. She was going all over the world. But essentially what they they, they all talk to is so themselves like, this is it was a change in behavior, right?

00:13:39:07 - 00:14:01:03

Marvin Ferguson

So what happened was she was taking all these vacations because she never really did this, but she was taking all these extravagant vacations to mask depression. And if somebody would have been like, hey, are you okay? I see you're going here. You go in there and you're going like, this is a little bit not like you.

00:14:01:03 - 00:14:25:03

Marvin Ferguson

I mean, it's wonderful, but it just seems like this is kind of out of your normal routine. but the mental health certificate kind of helps you understand, because looking from the outside looking in, you would think there's, hey, she's enjoying life, but it was a change in routine. And that's that small point is something not everybody would be able to to pick out.

00:14:25:03 - 00:14:37:14

Marvin Ferguson

So I would suggest as well they have mental health certificates for adults and children. and you know, I think that's a great opportunity because you just never know, who you're going to come encounter with.

00:14:37:16 - 00:14:57:18

Brittany Boyd

Yeah, that's a really great, resource to make sure that, our listeners and have access to that, and you brought up a really great point, that it will look different, right? Like mental health struggles are not always, like you said, the sadness, the depression or dealing with grief. Your, level of change in behavior. Again, the mindset.

00:14:57:18 - 00:15:19:13

Brittany Boyd

Right? Look, you start doing things differently. That is it still a challenge for your your mental health. So I really thank you, Marvin, for that information and empowering us all with some insights on, you know, the health outcomes for patients and how we can improve mental health in the health care industry and in your in the pharmacies that I know that we, typically are in the ears of.

00:15:19:13 - 00:15:38:08

Brittany Boyd

And so, as we get ready to wrap up here, I want to ask if you still have a chance to share maybe some personal commentary. I know that you've already, provided some key details or just some key information about your own, personal health, my mental health struggles that you may have had. So I want to share that for me.

00:15:38:10 - 00:16:06:21

Brittany Boyd

my tools and my resources is I do enjoy, like, reading, traveling. my team members, that maybe listening to this know how affectionate I am about crime shows. That's actually a mental health release for me. And still teaching, extreme hip hop step. It all puts my mind at ease. so I know, Marvin, you mentioned having your therapist and the tools that you use, but do you have some other personal measures that you are willing to share that help support, your mental health positively?

00:16:06:23 - 00:16:31:18

Marvin Ferguson

Sure. I work out every..try.. to work out every morning. I meditate and prayer that that's huge for me. So meditation and prayer helps ground me. I can tell there's a couple days that I haven't gone without that because I'm, like, all over the place, right? when I meditate, it's almost like, calm down. it's going to be all right.

00:16:31:18 - 00:17:02:19

Marvin Ferguson

And, along with meditation, I practice gratitude because it's like a big sometimes we forget where we came from, because we've gotten so far and we really forgot, like, where we came from. And I think kind of also practicing gratitude, like, hey, you know what? I'm doing, right? and that will sometimes change that Monday morning, to make you feel a little bit better about going into work like I'm doing.

00:17:02:19 - 00:17:23:14

Marvin Ferguson

Alright. Actually, I think I prayed for this job. I know it's getting on my nerves and it's Monday, I think, I, I think I want it to be here. Right. so that's helpful. And then also I started, I have a therapist that I see on a normal cadence. you know, sometimes I may not see her for a month or two or whatever the case may be.

00:17:23:16 - 00:17:50:24

Marvin Ferguson

but it may be something that comes up in like, hey, you know what? Can I have a conversation with you? Like, I need to kind of process through something that I may be, you know, going through something that, I mean, and tools or something that I need to kind of think through. So, you know, that's my own personal mental health, well-being that, just suggest everyone try to incorporate some piece of that.

00:17:51:01 - 00:18:15:04

Brittany Boyd

That's very helpful. Thank you, Marvin, for sharing. well, this actually wraps us up, and brings us to the end, of our podcast here. So I really appreciate you coming on and being able to learn from you and get an understanding of these different ways that we can impact, you know, the patients in these underserved communities, minorities, in the pharmacy setting, in the health care setting.

00:18:15:06 - 00:18:28:04

Brittany Boyd

but are there any final thoughts that you would like to share with, our listeners in regards to, mental health or just overall, care in the community and other things that they can take back with them today.

00:18:28:06 - 00:19:08:01

Marvin Ferguson

Three points. Have the conversation, have the conversation, have the conversation. That's where it starts. you know, keeping everything kind of bottled in, not really talking about things. just it's definitely not going to help the situation. Have someone that you feel, someone that you can be vulnerable with. Maybe if it's not a therapist, someone that you can actually have these conversations with and get some positive feedback because sometimes you can't be vulnerable with everybody.

00:19:08:01 - 00:19:27:02

Marvin Ferguson

I'm just going to call that out. because not everybody has the space for that. So with having the conversation to make sure you have the conversation with maybe the right person. They can be supportive for you and maybe help you get to that next step if you don't feel comfortable, originally going straight to a therapist.

00:19:27:04 - 00:19:46:21

Brittany Boyd

Yeah, those are very helpful. And thank you for those closing remarks. it's been extremely helpful. Again, the National Minority Health Month Health Awareness Month is recognized here in the month of July. It is important to prioritize your mental health daily. As Marvin mentioned, the last three key takeaways are to have the conversation, have the conversation and have the conversation.

00:19:47:01 - 00:20:10:19

Brittany Boyd

So we appreciate your time today for our Quality Show listeners for taking a detour with today's episode, but we look forward to our next time together. Thank you. The Pharmacy Quality Solutions Quality Corner Show has a request. Our goal is to spread the word about how quality measurement can help improve health outcomes, and we need your help in sharing this podcast to friends and colleagues in the health care industry.

00:20:10:21 - 00:20:33:03

Brittany Boyd

We also want you to provide feedback, ask those questions, and suggest health topics you'd like to see covered. If you are a health expert and you want to contribute to the show or even talk on the show, please contact us. You can email info@pharmacyquality.com. Let us know what is on your mind, what we can address so that you are fully informed.

00:20:33:05 - 00:20:39:10

Brittany Boyd

We want you to be able to provide the best care for your patients and members, and we wish all of you listeners out there well.