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NC partners with HBCUs to host mental health summit

A photo shows law school students at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) before pandemic restrictions required face coverings. NCCU is one of the schools participating in a summit focusing on the mental health of minority students. Image courtesy: NCCU

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is hosting a summit on the mental health needs of minority college students. 

The department is teaming up with historically Black colleges and universities for Wednesday's discussions.

The online summit is called Peeling Back The Layers On Minority Mental Health. The purpose is to assess in-depth the needs of minority students and faculty, and how best to address the mental health aspects of the pandemic. 

Deepa Avula is the NCDHHS Director for the Division of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.

Avula says that the pandemic has exacerbated the challenges already faced by college students.

"And one of the things we also know is that African Americans, the data tell us they get mental health care at lower rates than the general population, and so it was very important for us to hear directly from HBCUs about what's working well on campus, what additional resources we need to be focused on as a state to meet the needs of our students — so that's really why the need for the summit was so critical at this time," says Avula. 

Online panel discussions will take place Wednesday, February 23, between noon and 3 p.m. Registration is required.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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