4 Resources for Black Mental Health and Wellness

Mental health is a growing topic of concern in wellness spaces. While many factors contribute to mental health crises for all people, members of the Black community may face particular mental health challenges—in no small part because their experience in the U.S. has historically been characterized by racial trauma and violence.

As current events continue to highlight these struggles, access to resources for mental health is essential. Learn more about four organizations seeking to create better outcomes for Black mental health and wellness.

1. Black Mental Wellness

Black Mental Wellness is an organization founded by Black licensed clinical psychologists. It aims to provide mental health resources and information on topics from a Black perspective, increase diversity among mental health professionals and decrease mental illness stigma within the Black community.

Along with a trove of resources and coping strategies on their website, they also provide a variety of mental wellness services, including:

• corporate webinars and trainings on mental health topics;
• culturally-inclusive mental health trainings;
• workshops related to racial trauma and stressors;
• retreats;
• speaking engagements and panel discussions;
• curriculum development for youth; and
• consultation services for organizations.

Their national training program offers mentorship and internships, as well as connects undergraduate and graduate students with mental health experts for training experience. In 2020, they launched their Black Mental Wellness Virtual Conference to address a range of critical mental health topics within the Black community. The conference is now an annual virtual event for mental health professionals and anyone invested in Black mental health.

2. Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective (BEAM)

The national training institution, Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective (BEAM), not only centers on Black wellness and health, but also includes an emphasis on healing justice—a framework developed by Cara Page and the Kindred Healing Justice Collective that seeks ways to respond to generational trauma and violence. BEAM’s work combines this trauma-informed healing with community-building to dismantle systems that harm Black people in the U.S., and to improve emotional health through education, training and advocacy.

BEAM provides peer-support and skill-based training to the Black community and to allies. Focus areas include identifying and responding to mental health crises, increasing emotional intelligence in leadership and providing individual support to leaders in the Black community. Their virtual and in-person programs also bring people together to discuss topics like Black masculinity, healing strategies and practices, building emotional skills and creating peer support spaces.

Additionally, BEAM offers multiple grant funding programs to support Black-led wellness work and individuals in the Black community struggling with mental health challenges.

3. Hurdle

At Hurdle, culture and life experience are at the center of therapy and mental health care. Individuals in need of therapy can register with Hurdle to find therapists online who approach their clients with sensitivity to issues of race, culture and identity—including those specific to the Black community. All therapists at Hurdle complete the Hurdle Cultural Responsiveness Training (HCRT™) to equip them with trauma-informed skills for addressing issues of race, ethnicity, class and culture while providing behavioral therapy.

In addition to individual therapy, Hurdle provides mental health services for employers and their organizations. Services include teletherapy, wellness workshops and a self-care mobile app.

4. Therapy for Black Girls

As the name suggests, Therapy for Black Girls is an online space dedicated to the mental wellness of Black women and girls. It was founded by Joy Harden Bradford, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist who hosts a podcast that shares the website name.

Therapy for Black Girls helps connect Black women and girls with therapists in their area—either for virtual or in-person care. It also offers mental health content and resources, as well as a membership that provides Black women access to mental health experts, information, community and events.

Those who want to support the site’s efforts can donate to improve the quality and reach of their resources.