SAMHSA Data, Reports, and Issue Briefs

• The Behavioral Health Barometer: United States, Volume 6 The national report presents data from the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health and the National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services. It is one of a series of national, regional, and state reports that provide a snapshot of substance use and mental health in the United States. Some measures include data presented by race/ethnicity and other demographic variables.
• 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: African Americans This slide deck (available as a PPT and PDF) presents data specific to African Americans based on the graphics, tables, and figures from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) Annual Report.
• Double Jeopardy: COVID-19 and Behavioral Health Disparities for Black and Latino Communities in the U.S. (PDF | 426 KB) This issue brief provides an overview of the key issues, data, strategies, and resources related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the behavioral health disparities experienced by Black and Latino Communities in the U.S.
• The Opioid Crisis and the Black/African American Population: An Urgent Issue This issue brief provides an overview of the contextual factors influencing opioid misuse and opioid use disorder in Black/African American communities, highlights outreach and engagement strategies for prevention, treatment, and recovery interventions, and illustrates the importance of ongoing community voice and leadership in addressing the opioid crisis.
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Data Spotlight, Blacks Experiencing Fast-Rising Rates of Overdose Deaths Involving Synthetic Opioids Other Than Methadone (PDF | 530 KB) and related infographic (PDF | 864 KB) This spotlight highlights data from the 2018 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report specific to synthetic opioid overdose deaths among the Black/African American population.

SAMHSA Programs and Initiatives

• The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Center for Excellence in Behavioral Health is a program that recruits students to careers in the behavioral health field to address mental and substance use disorders, providing training that can lead to careers in the behavioral health field, and/or preparing students for obtaining advanced degrees in the behavioral health field.

SAMHSA Behavioral Health Resources

• Creating Supportive Systems to Improve Mental Health Outcomes for Young African American Boys is a National Network to Eliminate Disparities in Behavioral Health (NNED) Virtual Roundtable aimed to increase awareness about the mental health needs and vulnerabilities of African American boys and about culturally appropriate mental health promotion and early intervention strategies. The discussion was developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health (OMH) features emerging data on the age-related disparities in mental health outcomes for African American boys and related policy and practice implications.
• Drugs, Alcohol, and HIV/AIDS: A Consumer Guide for African Americans is a guide that provides information for African American consumers on the link between HIV/AIDS and substance use. It explains the increased risk of HIV transmission and the importance of treatment for alcohol and substance misuse and HIV/AIDS.
• Strategies for Behavioral Health Organizations to Promote New Health Insurance Opportunities in African American Communities is a fact sheet that offers 10 outreach and enrollment strategies organizations can use to introduce African-American communities to the health insurance options.
• Video: Engaging the Diversity of the Black Community in Health Insurance Outreach and Enrollment Efforts (one hour, 24 minutes) is a webinar to help family members, providers, faith leaders, community agencies and other participants understand and address subpopulation-specific barriers related to understanding and enrolling in health coverage.
• Video: The ABC’s about the Impact of Literacy on Health Insurance Efforts in the Black Community (one hour, 24 minutes) is a webinar to help family members, providers and community agencies to understand literacy rates for the African American/African Heritage population and the impact and barriers related to literacy on outreach and enrollment efforts for African American/African Heritage populations. It also includes strategies to eliminate barriers to enrollment of African American/African Heritage populations that struggle with literacy.

Visit behavioral health equity resources for select SAMHSA in-language resources and quality practice and workforce development for select SAMHSA OBHE webinars and blog posts.

Federal Initiatives and Resources

• Chartbook on Health Care for Blacks (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) This Black Health Care chartbook is part of a family of documents and tools that support the 2015 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report (QDR). It includes a summary of trends across measures of Black health care from the QDR and figures illustrating select measures of Black health care. A PowerPoint version is also available that users can download for presentations.
• Brother, You're On My Mind Toolkit (National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities) (PDF | 5.2 MB) is a toolkit that provides the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity chapters with the materials needed to educate fellow fraternity brothers and community members on depression and stress in African American men. Other organizations, such as nonprofits, churches, youth groups, and retirement homes, are invited to use toolkit materials as desired to educate African American families on mental health.
• Pathways to Freedom: Winning the Fight Against Tobacco (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is a publication that addresses tobacco issues specific to African Americans, such as targeted advertising campaigns and historical, cultural, and socioeconomic influences.

External Resources

• African Americans and Mental Health (American Psychiatric Association) (PDF | 915 KB)
• African Americans Have Limited Access to Mental and Behavioral Health Care (American Psychological Association)
• African American Health (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Black and African American Communities and Mental Health (Mental Health America)