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American Indian (AI) children are at greater risk of developing mental health problems

Family sitting down together looking at resources for child mental healthThe 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

 

 


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54th Annual Lumbee Homecoming

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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

Parent to Parent Community Connection Event

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

53rd Annual Lumbee Homecoming

Downtown Pembroke, NC Pembroke

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

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