While mental health resources for Native American youth are sparse throughout California, the state has taken a modest step to support Albers and his peers by earmarking more than $1 million for Native American youth as part of the first-ever statewide Youth Reinvestment Fund. The fund, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed into the 2018-19 budget, aims to keep vulnerable youth populations out of the criminal justice system by instead supporting more community and health interventions.
While there isn’t much data on the mental health of Native American youth in California—in part because the community is small—experts say it’s a pressing problem.
According to the American Psychiatric Association, Native Americans across the country experience serious psychological distress 1.5 times more often than the general population, and post-traumatic stress disorder more than twice as often. Native American youth also use drugs and alcohol at younger ages and higher rates than other groups.
One major reason, said Hedrick, is historical trauma, the cumulative psychological wounding of a group that’s passed down from generation to generation. Young people today, she said, still live with the impact of things like government-sponsored boarding schools, which separated children from their parents, language and culture. Without access to culture, youth also lost traditional wellness practices and cultural rituals—such as dance and drumming—that can ward off mental health problems.
To read more of Caitlin Yoshiko Kandil's article, visit: http://www.calhealthreport.org...tive-american-youth/
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