January 2017: Introducing the YBMen Project Newsletter Greetings friends, Happy New Year! My name is Daphne C. Watkins and I am pleased to share with you our inaugural
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What is YBMen?
The Young Black Men, Masculinities, and Mental Health Project
Why Young Black Males?
The Need to Transform Gender Norms, Enrich Mental Health, and Engage in Social Support
Young Black men experience disproportionately higher more mental health challenges due to their exposure to a greater frequency and severity of psychosocial stressors compared to other young men.
Studies have chronicled the poor health outcomes of Black men as a result of: racial discrimination, negative attitudes toward the justice system, racial and cultural identity, depression, violence, and masculine gender norms.
Yet, the mental health challenges among young Black men have largely been left out of national discussions about this segment of the population. These mental health challenges are not always discussed in the Black community itself, making them difficult to address.
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How Does It Work?
Using Social Media to Facilitate Healing Discussions
Participants join a private Facebook group where we post information and prompts from popular culture that are gender-specific, age-appropriate, and culturally-relevant.
These include YouTube videos, song lyrics, and current news headlines.
From there, we facilitate discussions, where we ask the group members to respond with their ideas, thoughts, and perceptions of issues related to manhood and mental health, communicating through posts, comments, “likes,” and “shares.”
The Results: Our Method Works.
Supporting Young Black Men Using Social Media Platforms Work
Our research has found that YBMen’s approach to supporting young Black men using social media platforms is successful.
In the first few iterations of the YBMen Project in Michigan, depression symptoms decreased for men in the YBMen Facebook groups but not for those in the comparison groups.
Also, user engagement was strong, as 88% of participants viewed the YBMen Facebook group posts weekly and 63% actively participated each week.
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0
Cups of Coffee Consumed
for a successful YBMen iteration
0
Potential YBMen Sites
across the globe
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Number of Supporters
in the YBMen network
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Young Black Men Served
through the YBMen Project
Where We Started
The YBMen Project launched in 2014, after Founder and Director Dr. Daphne C. Watkins spent several years studying the mental health and well-being of Black men over the adult life course.
Where We Are Going
Moving forward, we will build a global mental health campaign aimed at improving Black men’s mental health, creating more progressive masculine norms, and increasing social support.
News & Updates
What's New @ YBMen
August 2017: In Service and Solidarity Greetings Friends, It has been a busy summer! After sending you the inaugural issue of the YBMen Newsletter back in January, our team
2017: A Noteworthy Year of Several “Firsts” Dear YBMen enthusiasts, Happy New Year! This year has really taken off and (honestly) I am still trying to process all
Celebrating Men’s Health & 350+ Young Black Men at Ohio State and Michigan State Greetings YBMen enthusiasts, partners, and friends! I hope you are taking some time for
ABOUT US
The YBMen project is an educational and social support program for young black men.
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