American Muslim Health Professionals (AMHP) is a national non-profit organization focused on fostering collaboration between Muslim professionals from diverse sectors of healthcare who seek to advance public health, social justice, and civic engagement within their communities. AMHP’s core areas of focus are mental health, advocacy for underserved communities, and professional development.
AMHP’s mental health program is driven by the increasing concern and need for mental health awareness and education in our communities. AMHP serves this need by providing both adult-focused and youth-focused Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) certificate training to community members, religious leaders, teachers, and activists. AMHP’s MHFA training, through the National Council of Well-Being, enables trainees to identify mental health issues early on, increase awareness about available resources and sources of support, and most importantly, reduce stigma around mental illness.
Thus far, AMHP’s MHFA program has trained over 1,500 community members and has held over 60 training sessions nationwide. According to participant feedback, the training has opened the eyes of many individuals, Muslim or otherwise, to the barriers in mental health care access and education, and the devastating impact of stigma. The MHFA program’s success and effectiveness is due in large part to the skilled trainers who are not only experts in their respective fields, but also active members of Muslim communities. The MHFA program remains in high demand, and AMHP is happy to meet the requests of organizations, institutions, and universities nationwide.
AMHP has arranged several other initiatives to support mental health. These include educational forums focused on helping youth mental health in Islamic schools, Suicide Prevention certificate training (QPR), and the first-ever National Interfaith Anti-Bullying summit at George Washington University. Furthermore, AMHP has partnered with the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) to provide mental health training to personnel working with refugees, to help identify and respond to their needs.
Our mission is to bring together a diverse workforce of Muslim health professionals to better the health and well-being of all Americans Our communities are wonderfully diverse and culturally rich, but this also means they encounter unique barriers to mental healthcare. According to research conducted by the Institute for Social Understanding and Policy, Muslim Americans have a higher likelihood of experiencing negative mental health since the beginning of the pandemic compared to the general public. AMHP hopes the White House can support mental health access, research, and education in all communities so that they can continue to thrive and contribute to our society.
