The head of Connecticut’s Department of Children and Families wants state residents to focus on mental health this Juneteenth holiday.
DCF Commissioner Jodi Hill-Lilly said the mental health crisis in the state during the pandemic is not over, especially in the African American community.
She spoke at a Juneteenth event organized by the Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity and Opportunity at the state Capitol in Hartford on Wednesday.
“We had a crisis before the pandemic that the pandemic has exacerbated. We are seeing, in particular, in the black community, a scary increase in suicide rates,” Hill-Lilly told the forum.
“There was a period last summer, for about six to eight weeks, where we saw more suicides than in all the year before. So, we have ourselves a problem,” she said,
Seeking help for mental health problems has to be destigmatized, Hill-Lilly said.
“Just as you go to check on your physicals, we all have to check up on our mental health,” she said.
State resources are available to help, including walk-in urgent mental health clinics for children under 18.
“You just walk in and get some help. Not the emergency room,” she said,
People in crisis can also call the numbers 988 or 211 for immediate assistance.
