LL Cool J is (still) bad as hell. And, doin’ it well.

I can remember crooning, “I need love,” in my bedroom mirror whenever the hit song came on. Or, that teenage phase I went through when I begged my Mama to buy me gold bamboo earrings—at least two pair. And, I won’t even front and act like I don’t still have a crème-colored Kangol hat sitting in a closet somewhere. Suffice it to say there’s never been a time when I didn’t love me some James Todd Smith, in all his lick-lipping, red apple biting glory.

Lawd.  

But I love him all the more for his recent public display of empathy for Maia Campbell, his former “In The House” sitcom co-worker who was the teenage Tiffany to his pro-athlete-turned-nanny, Marion.

Earlier this week, a video surfaced of Maia, who was clearly disheveled, sans front tooth and incoherently manic, requesting crack from an alleged dealer at a gas station pump. After the video went viral, LL sent out a series of tweets simultaneously chiding the guy for posting it, and calling for the public to help LL find Maia, to help his friend. Of all the show’s characters, Tiffany and Marion—Maia and LL—were the most prevalent across the five seasons. So, it is no surprise, then, that LL feels an affinity for her, and still wants to take care of Maia, who has struggled with substance abuse and bipolar disorder for years.

Bipolar disorder is just one of several severe mental health illnesses, which, when untreated, warps one’s perception, sending them spiraling into deep desperation or depression at one moment, and then flying into manic highs or paranoia the next. According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), 1 in 25 people in the U.S. have a serious mental health condition, including schizophrenia, serious depression, or bipolar disorder. The extreme behavior can last anywhere from days to months, disrupting one’s normal functioning, thinking, and social interaction. Without treatment or support, many people with a mental illness are labeled as “crazy” and become estranged from families and loved ones. Often, they abuse substances to cope with their pains. They experience homelessness and express suicidal ideation. When their actions are mistaken for threatening, some even have fatal run-ins with police.  

And it isn’t just severe mental disease that is a significant national crisis.  1 in 5 adults in the U.S. experience some form of mental distress. Perhaps this includes you.

For Blacks, the circumstances are intensified. Lack of mental healthcare access, stressors associated with racism and historical disenfranchisement, and cultural stigma all uniquely impact Blacks, who are less likely to be diagnosed with mental illness, or to receive timely mental health services. According to the HHS Office of Minority Health, Black people are 10 percent more likely than White people to report feeling seriously psychologically distressed.

The intersection of race and gender further compounds the complexities of mental health: a higher percentage of Black women compared to White women experience feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and worthlessness. Is this what Maia Campbell has felt over the years? Sad, hopeless, and worthless?

Only she truly knows. But what we all know is Maia Campbell needs love, but also support and treatment. And we all likely know someone like her who is fighting mental illness or experiencing mental duress.

Before she died in 2006, the best-selling author, and co-founder of the National Alliance on Mental Illness-Inglewood, Bebe Moore Campbell, successfully advocated for the month of July to be Congressionally recognized as National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month.

She was also Maia Campbell’s mother.

You don’t have to be a mother to respond compassionately and competently to people displaying signs of mental illness or distress. The foremost thing you can do is become a Mental Health First Aider. Over an 8-week course, Mental Health First Aid teaches family members, friends, or just concerned community members to recognize and respond when someone is experiencing mental health crisis.  Just like one can recognize and confidently respond to the signs of a common cold or to choking. First Lady Michelle Obama, and the First Lady of New York City, Chirlane McCray, are among the more than one million people across the U.S. who are trained mental health first aiders.

The significance of having—or offering to be a part of—a network of healers and helpers while battling mental health illness or distress cannot be overstated. Whether or not Maia Campbell eventually accepts his help—or someone else’s—LL Cool J still exemplifies a significant step in applying mental health first aid: being a friend.