Derrick M. Gordon, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Director of Research, Policy and Program on Male Development at The Consultation Center, participated as a panelist on a virtual roundtable Sept. 20, 2018 held to increase awareness about the mental health needs and vulnerabilities of African American boys.
The panel, “Creating Supportive Systems to Improve Mental Health Outcomes for Young African American Boys: An Urgent Conversation,” featured emerging data on the age-related disparities in mental health outcomes for African American boys and related policy and practice implications.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, sponsored the event. Panelists discussed approaches for developing workforce and community service capacity to address the negative mental health trend for African American boys. While childhood suicide is rare, a recent analysis concluded that among children aged 5 to 12 years, black children had a significantly higher incidence of suicide than white children.
Gordon has served on several federal, National Institutes of Health, and state-funded projects focused on factors that either support or undermine men transitioning from prison back to the community; the engagement of low-income, non-custodial fathers; the identification of service of adolescent fathers committed to child protection services; and men mandated to batterer intervention groups in the community.
His work with men has and continues to focus on increasing the health of men and their positive involvement in family and community life. He works with pre- and post-doctoral fellows at Yale on issues like adolescent fatherhood, low-income fatherhood status, transitioning from prison to the community, and men’s access and use of health care services.