Session: Suicide Prevention and Intervention for Black Americans: Promoting Strengths, Facilitators and Protective Factors across Diverse Contexts (Society for Social Work and Research 26th Annual Conference - Social Work Science for Racial, Social, and Political Justice)

Black people face increased rates of risk factors, including racism, higher rates of unemployment, financial and food insecurity, and health disparities including access to care, all of which result in an increased burden of mental illness in Black communities (Williams et al., 1997), including suicidal behavior. Despite this heavy burden, Black people have historically had relatively low rates of suicide. Nonetheless, Black people also possess cultural protective factors that help to mitigate risks (Taylor et al., 2011). However, this has been changing recently, as suicide among the Black population has increased significantly in the past 15 years; yet, it remains a neglected topic in social work research. Black youth have the highest suicide death rate increase among any other racial/ethnic minority group, from 2.55 per 100,000 in 2007 to 4.82 per 100,000 in 2017 (Emergency Taskforce on Black Youth Suicide and Mental Health, 2019).

Research has heavily focused on individual risk factors and deficits for the health and mental health of Black populations. However, given the rise in suicide rates, we firmly believe that the next frontier for wellness promotion is on the strengths, facilitators, and protective factors Black Americans and their communities possess. Identified protective factors have been noted on the micro, mezzo, and macro level. On the micro and mezzo level, positive regard, strong racial identity, impulsive response to discrimination, family support, and social support, respectively. Macro factors include poverty, religion, access to care, and response to community violence. In the midst of racial and social injustices and inequities, this timely and intentional focus on strengths, facilitators, and protective factors of Black Americans and their communities is warranted. Additionally, this can inform and advance mental health and wellness promotion and suicide prevention and intervention efforts from a cultural perspective.

In line with this year's conference theme of Social Work Science for Racial, Social and Political Justice, the three studies in this paper symposium deepen our knowledge of the experiences of Black youth and young adults and the need to center their mental health and wellness. In particular, this paper symposium assesses research and programmatic efforts with the aim to bolster the mental health and well-being of Black youth by utilizing theories and methods that center these populations to inform social work practice, research and policy. Specific contributions of this symposium include: 1) an investigation of positive parenting on Black (juvenile justice involved and non-juvenile justice involved) girl's suicidal behavior; 2) psychological inflexibility and its association with other self-harm and suicidal ideations in Black youth and young adults; and 3) exploring and advancing a community-building model aimed at increasing the capacity for Black youth suicide research and practice interventions. By assessing various experiences of Black youth and young adults across environments, this symposium seeks to expand the knowledge base on the strengths, facilitators, and protective factors that may promote mental health and overall well-being. In closing, this novel symposium seeks to create new narratives about the promotion of health and wellness of Black Americans.