When Hurricane Katrina tore through New Orleans 20 years ago, it devastated the city. Survivors struggled to rebuild their lives. But something that hasn’t been talked about is how the disaster shattered survivors’ mental health.
In 2015, as the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approached, 25-year-old Michelle McCullum ended her life and that of her two small children. McCullum had just lost her job at NASA and struggled to establish a new career in a city with even fewer services, resources, and opportunities after Katrina. Her family believed that her anguish was tied to the devastating storm.
In the storm's aftermath, New Orleans lost more than half of its mental health professionals. Suicide rates nearly tripled, on top of decades of social inequities, including systemic racism across employment, housing, and healthcare.
New Orleanians are 99% more vulnerable to “deaths of despair” – deaths from suicide, substance abuse, and chronic and cardiovascular diseases linked to hopelessness and poverty. Organizations like NOLA Black Mental Health Matters are improving access to mental health care by providing free counseling to Black community members.
Anti-Blackness harms us in many ways unseen, but everything is connected. Our commitment to caring for and supporting each other matters most. We are each other's harvest.