Depression is a serious problem among communities of color in Los Angeles, but depression is poorly understood in the community. Many or even most individuals in the community do now know the symptoms of depression, how to get help for depression, and where to get help. The problem is deeper than the fact that most members of the community have little or no information about depression. Depression is stigmatized, so that people avoid talking about depression in themselves and among their friends and family members. The “Talking Wellness” work group is one of three working groups in the Witness for Wellness project. The Witness for Wellness project is a collaborative effort sponsored by the Department of Psychiatry at UCLA on the academic side and Healthy African American Families II on the community side. The Talking Wellness work group is developing plans to “get the word out” to the community so that the community can begin to heal itself and to get help for depression.

Who Are We?

We are a group of concerned individuals from a variety of backgrounds who want to help remove the stigma from depression. Our mission is to help people in the community begin to dialogue about depression so that friends and family members can recognize depression and help their loved ones reach a greater state of well being. Many people experience symptoms of depression, but they do not talk about it. If we make it a positive experience for people to talk about it, then we are one step closer to improving prevention and treatment for depression. But we need your help.

Talking Wellness Working Group Objectives

Since our mission is to open dialogues about depression in the community, we have decided to focus our initial attention to the following objectives:
> Providing training materials for community members to talk about depression and provide leadership action for others to follow
> Develop public education tools, strategies, and campaign utilizing media such as the theater and the internet
> Develop a community resource for mental wellness
> Identify and address underlying causes of depression in the community
> Promote better representation of our community in the media
> Celebrate community wellness

Talking Wellness Working Group Commitment

We ask members to attend one meeting per month. The Talking Wellness Work Group meets the first Wednesday of every month from 5:30pm-7:30pm at Healthy African American Families. Healthy African-American Families is located at 3856 Martin Luther King Blvd, Suite 209. We need more people to join us in this effort. If you are interested, you can contact Andrea at 323-292-2002.