Supporting Child Mental Health in the Robeson Lumbee Community
American Indian (AI) children are at greater risk of developing mental health problems
The Lumbee Tribe in Robeson County is engaged in on-going efforts to support community mental health. The Native Pathways to Health project, a work of nine AI communities in North Carolina including the Lumbee Tribe, identified community assets that are protective of good health such as family, community, relation to place and faith. They identified mental health programs, improved coordination of resources and community involvement as well as other issues that the community needs to be healthy. The Robeson County community also engaged in a multi-site trial to adapt and test a Keetoowah-Cherokee adolescent substance abuse prevention intervention by identifying relevant community resources to address health priorities.
Concurrently, the 2020 Robeson County Health Department assessment of adult and community health needs indicates that Robeson was North Carolina’s least healthy county. Community respondents identified obesity and substance misuse as their top health priorities, with mental health as a priority risk factor for poor health, affordability a leading barrier to access and literacy a leading issue undermining quality of care. The COVID pandemic undermined community health further. Little evidence is available to describe community strengths and needs regarding child mental health. As a result, community priorities for child mental health, baseline data to support next steps, and identified community/academic partners to further the work are currently unknown. The proposed project will lay a foundation to support new, preventive work on child mental health.
If we can support child mental health early in life, we can prevent the adult health challenges documented in Robeson county.
Proposed Aims:
Document parent priorities to support child mental health among the Lumbee in Robeson
Describe community strengths and needs for the top 3 parent priorities in child mental health
Identify community-academic parents to address parent priorities through comparative effectiveness research
Project Leaders
This project will be lead by the following local Robeson County community members and UNC faculty.
Joseph Bell Children’s Health Pembroke
Trisha Carter CareNet Wake Forest Baptist Health Counseling Centers
Kathleen Thomas Eshelman School of Pharmacy
Bharathi Jayanthi Zvara Gillings School of Global Public Health
Promoting culture, pride, unity, and community, this week-long celebration features a parade, outdoor gospel music concert, food and craft vendors, athletic events, a car show, and dozens of other events. https://youtu.be/_3pVgiMN5BA
Exploration Station Children's Museum
104 North Chestnut St, Lumberton
Community Connection Event: Monday, June 26, 2023 at 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Are you a parent of a child with disabilities or special healthcare needs looking to connect with other parents? Join Parent to Parent Robeson County for a … Read more
Promoting culture, pride, unity, and community, this week-long celebration features a parade, outdoor gospel music concert, food and craft vendors, athletic events, a car show, and dozens of other events. https://video.wixstatic.com/video/986008_c6c9f91c957b477f930f9d4f5bb5b854/1080p/mp4/file.mp4
Events are subject to change. Please check back prior to the event or contact the event coordinator for additional details.