Beyond candidates, many issues addressed on this year’s ballots involve using state tax dollars to invest more in mental health resources in the community. One local politician who has been vocal about mental health awareness is South Fulton Councilwoman Carmalitha Gumbs.
Recently, Gumbs spoke to rolling out about why she focuses on mental health.
Where did your passion for mental health awareness come from?
South Fulton [was] a fairly new city at the time because it was only seven years old and predominantly African American, but it was just going through a transition of responding to the pandemic.
We started to look at crime stats, domestic violence issues, and also to attempted suicides and suicide deaths. Overall, it concerned me that we weren’t having those real conversations about what we can do to make our families better to help them when they’re going through a crisis.
That was one of the things that we decided to do. My chief of staff’s friend also [asked] what’s a fun, creative way to get people to start talking about mental health? So, we came up with Couture and Compassion, a fashion show that we had a few weeks ago where we wanted to infuse arts, entertainment, [and] music to talk about mental health and fashion.
We had an overwhelming response, but again, it doesn’t just start with that event. We have to continue to find ways to foster communication about what resources are available to people in our community who are dealing with mental health issues.
The City of South Fulton recently honored Raven Johnson at her Westlake jersey retirement. She opened up about wanting to quit basketball after going viral for getting waved off by Caitlin Clark last year. What did you think about her being so honest about her mental health journey?
I am a big fan of Raven.
I have watched her grow up for the past four years and playing basketball at Westlake, so I’m one of her biggest fans.
I think she’s an extraordinary young lady. I think she has gone through a lot, and a lot of her peers look up to her. I can only imagine her going through that process of having to deal with social media, because social media is pretty rough. The Beyhives and the Barbz. People don’t really understand how social media impacts young people.
The fact that she’s sharing her story is exceptional because a lot of young people will try to deal with it on their own.
Even with Westlake, we’ve had quite a bit of students that have attempted to take their lives or have taken their lives.
[Johnson] said she had a good community around her; they were okay with saying, “We know you’re not OK.”
I want people to understand you have to have a team of people to just open up and talk about what you’re going through. Sometimes, I’m guilty because being in a fishbowl or in a public light, everybody expects you to be OK.
There are days where sometimes you’re just like, “I don’t want to do this.”
I think you have to have a good team of people around you that love and care about you and are honest with you to help kind of push you through those dark days.
If you or a loved one have experienced suicidal thoughts, please text 741-741 or call 988.
