End the Stigma of Mental Illness in America's Paradise: A Forgotten Gem

Orlando, Florida, July 20, 2015 (Newswire.com) - ​​​Yassin Hall is on a mission to end the stigma of mental illness among disenfranchised families in urban communities in the United States and in the United States Virgin Islands. The native of St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. who resides in Orlando, Florida launched her personal memoir, Journey Untold – Twisted Love: My Mother’s Struggle with Mental Illnesses, which relayed her story of the internal torment, bullying and shame she endured from a child, into an inspiring journey to fulfilling one’s dreams. Hall shares her personal pain of growing up on a small island with a mother whose mental illness was publicly known. She is using her voice to acquire resources and help for the mentally ill in the U.S.V.I.  The Governor of the United States Virgin Islands, Honorable Kenneth Mapp stated in his State of the Territory Address: “It is no secret that this territory has taken a backward step on the issue of mental health, leaving those who need care to walk the streets, languish in our prisons, or enter the revolving door of a criminal justice system that is ill-prepared to address their needs. As a community, we have earned an "F-" in the care and services we provide to the mentally ill.” This is a sad and hard pill to swallow for “America’s Paradise”, but an undeniable truth.

Millions of Americans live with various types of mental illness and mental health problems such as social anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, drug addiction, and personality disorders. Far too often, these conditions go undiagnosed resulting in the destruction of families; homelessness; infant mortality; loss of employment; incarceration and much more adversities. 

The Governor of the United States Virgin Islands, Honorable Kenneth Mapp stated in his State of the Territory Address: "It is no secret that this territory has taken a backward step on the issue of mental health, leaving those who need care to walk the streets, languish in our prisons, or enter the revolving door of a criminal justice system that is ill-prepared to address their needs. As a community, we have earned an "F-" in the care and services we provide to the mentally ill."

Kenneth Mapp, Honorable Governor

The U.S.V.I. is a popular tourist destination.  However, beyond the immediate visibility of pleasant smiles, pearly white beaches and emerald shores lie the daunting effects of mental illness as outlined above, brought on by a variety of harsh influences such as adverse economic conditions resulting from inflation and lack of employment in a struggling economy.  The sad fact is that the state of mental health in the territory of the U.S.V.I. is dismal.  Thousands of Virgin Islanders who reside in the U.S.V.I. go undiagnosed because of lack of finances, lack of resources, limited numbers of mental health professionals in the territory and a constantly struggling mental health infrastructure.  There are countless numbers of homeless and mentally challenged individuals living on the streets of the islands who receive little or no treatment.  Others are placed in long term care facilities (commonly termed “the crazy ward”), or experience very short visits to the one hospital on the island that they reside when they act out aggressively.  They are ridiculed and passed over daily.  This is Yassin’s fight for Virgin Islanders!

Yassin grew up in the U.S.V.I, an alumni of Charlotte Amalie High School located in the territory’s capital, Charlotte Amalie on the island of St. Thomas.  She is not advocating for financial gain, nor popularity.  Yassin’s family, the Harthman-Lindqvist’s go as far back as 1892 and have a history of prominence in the U.S.V.I, dating back to when the islands were owned by the Danish government because of their staunch belief in the economic growth of the island and betterment of living conditions for its people.  When the Danes neglected the islands, they were among the few who were instrumental in convincing the Danish government to sell the islands to the United States. They have made many of in-kind and monetary contributions to the VI government for the preservation and growth of the U.S.V.I. and every one of her family members in the Virgin Islands sold their land to developers with the exception of her uncle, Yassin is the only natural born native of the U.S.V.I. to still own property in Peter Bay, St. John.

Yassin’s advocacy is to bring awareness to the lack of help for Virgin Islanders facing mental health challenges, and to raise funds to provide individual mental health counselors that can assist children and families in the comfort of their homes, as well as to ensure that every child attending school in the U.S.V.I. receive a free copy of Journey Untold – Twisted Love: My Mother’s Struggle with Mental Illnesses, so that those who may be experiencing difficulties know that they are not alone in their struggle and that they can step out and ask for help. Hall is a member of NAMI Orlando & NAMI U.S.V.I. She is also training to become a youth mental health instructor for NAMI Ending the Silence & Youth Mental Health First Aid.

In 1999 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people with disabilities have a right to receive community-based services in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs (Olmstead v. L.C., 527 U.S. 581). Yassin’s mother struggled from depression with led to schizophrenia and resulted in her eventually living on the streets, nearly trying to kill her own daughter and then inevitably, her sad demise of dying as a result of cancer.  For years she carried the silent demon as a child and it affected her well into adulthood.  Her mom received minimal help, she suffered in silence and there was no awareness on Yassin’s behalf from her teachers, counselors or the mental health community.  While smiling on the outside, she was silently dying on the inside because she did not understand why, or how it happened to her mother.  Today, similar struggles continue for thousands of Virgin Island children living in dysfunctional and abusive situations. 

Yassin is asking for your help to break the stigma for children and families who are going through the same struggles that she did as a child.  Helping her address this issue will be a major milestone that leads to a safer, cleaner, and economically viable Territory for every Virgin Islander, U.S. Citizen and international visitor who visits our pristine shores to vacation each year! Together we can make a difference in the mental health of America’s Paradise!!!. 

Visit the campaign #ENDTHESTIGMAUSVI on Indiegogo Crowdfunding

http://www.journeyuntold.com/endthestigmaUSVI