Mental and financial health wellness fair coming to Fort Worth
The Fort Worth alumni chapter of a historically Black fraternity wants to bring mental and financial health to the limelight.
Kappa Alpha Psi’s Fort Worth branch is the first local chapter in the country to host an Are You OK? wellness fair.
The initiative was started last year by the fraternity’s national organization to promote mental well-being for its members. The Fort Worth chapter is the first to expand Are You OK? outside fraternity walls by promoting mental health awareness among the Fort Worth community.
“We understood that on a national level, I can check on my brothers and see how they’re doing,” said Darrell Pace, polemarch — essentially president — for Kappa Alpha Psi Fort Worth alumni chapter. “But then, what about my neighbor? What about the people in the community that we serve?”
The wellness fair is Sept. 27 outside the Fort Worth chapter’s fraternity house in the Historic Southside at 909 E. Terrell Ave. Resources at the fair will include mental health services by the Community Healing and Mental Health Project, a blood drive by Carter BloodCare and financial services by JPMorgan Chase Bank.
Pace said representatives from other chapters across the nation have contacted him and are watching to see if the Fort Worth chapter’s event will be a success.
“We’re the guinea pigs. We’re stepping out there,” Pace said with a laugh.
The national organization, which comprises nearly 700 local chapters, started Are You OK? to highlight the growing mental health concerns within the Black community.
Black men are less likely to seek out mental health services, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The suicide rate among Black youth is increasing higher than any other ethnic group, according to a report from the federal Congressional Black Caucus.
The national organization started the initiative last year in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson, providing mental health resources internally to fraternity members and encouraging general awareness within local chapters.
At a basic level, asking the question, “Are you OK?” was advocated.
Pace views the query as an easy way to make a person self-evaluate how they are doing.
“People mask it in different ways, right? Whether it’s through food or work or just being busy and not allowing their mind to slow down to think about it,” Pace said. “But when someone asks a person, ‘Are you OK?’ then it is an immediate self-reflection.”
By opening up the question to the community, alongside resources that may not be easily accessible to them otherwise, chapter leaders hope the fair will be the first step toward people in the community seeking support.
“The primary reason why we may not be where we could be is because we’re only having certain conversations behind four walls. So just coming out and actually having professionals to talk to, to let them know what’s going on with you … it’s a big help,” said Anthony Franklin, wellness committee chair of the Fort Worth chapter.
The local chapter has not hosted a mental and financial health event before but is no stranger to providing community support. Around the start of the school year, it provided kids with free haircuts. The chapter gives away free turkeys around Thanksgiving.
Pace and Franklin hope the event will be large enough of a success to require a bigger space next year.
Ismael M. Belkoura is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at ismael.belkoura@fortworthreport.org.
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