How Black Therapists are Changing the Landscape of Mental Health
Overview
Mental healthcare is a crucial issue affecting people from all walks of life, regardless of race, gender, or culture. However, Black-identified individuals face additional barriers and challenges when seeking mental health care. A significant obstacle is the difficulty of finding a culturally competent provider and sharing lived experiences of systemic racism.
Mental health professionals must provide their clients with inclusive and culturally competent care. However, the training in many schools often falls short of this. Black-identified therapists also face challenges and obstacles in their profession.
This article will explore how these issues impact Black therapists and the strategies for coping and thriving in this profession.
Finding a provider who looks like them is incredibly challenging for Black and Brown Americans. According to the American Psychological Association, 86% of psychologists are white (1). This is a problem, given the fact that Black Americans make up 13.6%, Asian Americans make up 6%, Hispanic populations make up almost 19%, and those who are two or more races make up 3% of the total population in the United States (2).
Unique Challenges
The mental health field is challenging for any therapist, but it can even be more difficult for Black therapists as they face unique professional challenges.
Some of these challenges may include the following:
Cultural Stereotypes and Racial Bias: Black therapists may be expected to adhere to cultural stereotypes about their race or ethnicity by clients and colleagues. For example, a therapist of African and Afro-Caribbean descent may be stereotyped as solid and powerful or aggressive or confrontational, depending on who holds the assumptions. Stereotypes can make clients make assumptions about the therapist's personality or approach to therapy, which can negatively impact the therapeutic relationship. In addition, black Therapists are often judged by the people they serve based on their race or ethnicity, professional skills, and experience.
Systemic barriers: Black therapists are not given the same opportunities as White/European therapists regarding training, development opportunities, and advancement within an agency or business.
Strategies for Increasing Access and Promoting Equity in the Mental Health Workforce
There are several strategies that mental health organizations and policymakers can use to increase access and promote equity in the mental health workforce:
Prioritize diversity and inclusion in recruitment and retention. Mental health organizations can prioritize diversity and inclusion in their recruitment and retention efforts, including actively seeking and hiring Black providers and creating policies promoting diversity and inclusion.
Increase funding for mental health training programs: Policymakers can increase funding for mental health training programs, particularly those focused on training Black providers, thereby increasing the number of mental health professionals entering the field.
Offer financial incentives and support. Mental health organizations and policymakers can offer financial incentives and support for Black providers, such as loan repayment programs or scholarships, to promote their success in the mental health field.
Promote cultural humility training: Mental health organizations and policymakers can promote cultural competency training for mental health professionals to ensure that therapists are equipped to provide culturally responsive care to the needs of Black and Brown communities.
Address systemic barriers to success: Mental health organizations and policymakers can address systemic barriers to success for Black providers, such as pay inequity or limited opportunities for advancement.
By implementing these strategies, mental health organizations and policymakers can work towards increasing access, diversity and promoting equity in the mental health workforce, ultimately improving the quality of care for all individuals.
Celebrating the Strengths
Black providers bring strengths and qualities to their work, including cultural humility, empathy, and a deep understanding of the complexities of racism and intersectionality.
Black therapists are unique in that, in addition to their clinical skills, they possess a deep understanding of the complexities of racism and intersectionality, which many White/European American therapists don't have.
Black therapists can serve as cultural translators and provide a bridge between clients from marginalized or underrepresented communities and the mainstream mental health system. Their lived experience can help clients navigate cultural differences, address barriers to care, and facilitate understanding between clients and other providers. This may involve advocating for policy changes that address systemic barriers to mental health care, promoting equity and inclusion in the mental health workforce, and supporting community-based interventions that address social determinants of health. Ultimately, creating a society where everyone can access fundamental human rights is essential for promoting mental health and well-being.
Black therapists also bring unique skills that make them especially well-suited for certain types of therapy. For example, culturally specific treatment—which aims to meet clients where they are by drawing on their shared experiences and traditions—is often more effective with therapists who come from those same backgrounds.
Finally, Black therapists can be more empathetic than their White counterparts because they can better understand how it feels for people from underrepresented groups to navigate an environment that is not welcoming or accepting. When one shares some aspect of a lived experience, it makes all the difference. It is never appropriate for clients to be placed in a position where they must educate their providers on their personal experiences, such as race and racism. Someone without this lived experience can never fully understand these systemic issues.
The Importance of Representation and Diversity in Mental Health Organizations and Systems
Representation and diversity in mental health organizations and systems are crucial for ensuring that mental health care is accessible and responsive to all individuals' needs, regardless of race or ethnicity. Historically, mental health care has been primarily provided by White, middle-class professionals, which has created a significant gap in care for Black and Brown communities.
Mental health organizations must prioritize recruiting and retaining Black therapists to address this gap. This benefits clients who may feel more comfortable and understood by a therapist who shares their cultural background and the organization by promoting a more diverse and inclusive workplace culture.
In addition, mental health organizations can work to create policies and practices that are responsive to the needs of Black and Brown communities. This involves hiring and promoting Black and Brown providers to be leaders, offering training and education to those not part of the community (cultural competence), providing translation and interpretation services, and adapting treatment approaches to better meet the needs of clients from Black and Brown communities.
Looking to the Future
The importance of diversity and representation in mental health highlights some ways the mental health field can continue supporting Black providers.
It's essential to recognize that diversity and representation in mental health are crucial for the future of the field. Unfortunately, due to systemic racism, Black providers have been historically underrepresented in the mental health field. We must proactively increase access to Black-identified providers and promote access to mental health care for all individuals.
We need more Black providers to expand our understanding of how mental health challenges affect people from different cultural backgrounds. We also need more Black providers so that everyone who needs help with their mental health will get access to someone who understands their lived experiences.
As the world continues to gain insight and understanding into systemic racism, the mental health field must evolve and adapt. As a result, the need for Black identified providers is growing as therapists who understand their clients' experiences become more vital.
Ways That the Mental Health Field can Continue to Support Black Therapists
Diversity in the mental health field is important because it allows for a more holistic approach to therapy—a client can see themselves reflected in their therapist, which helps them feel more comfortable and safe. It also allows for more effective treatment strategies: if a therapist can't relate to a client's experience, they may not know how best to help them.
We can support Black therapists through better training on cultural humility. As we learn more about what makes people from different backgrounds feel comfortable or unsafe, we can incorporate this knowledge into our training programs to prepare therapists for all types of clients.
Supporting and Mentoring Black Therapists
Supporting and mentoring Black therapists is essential for promoting their success in mental health and ensuring they can provide high-quality care to clients from diverse backgrounds. (3) There are several strategies that mental health organizations and colleagues can use to support and mentor Black therapists:
Providing networking and professional development opportunities: Mental health organizations can create opportunities for Black therapists to connect with colleagues who share their experiences and provide resources for professional development.
Offering mentorship and guidance: Experienced therapists can mentor newer Black therapists, sharing their knowledge and expertise and advising on navigating the mental health field.
Creating safe and inclusive work environments: Mental health organizations can work to create safe and inclusive work environments that value diversity and respect the experiences and perspectives of Black therapists.
Addressing systemic barriers: Mental health organizations can advocate for policies and practices that address systemic barriers to success for Black therapists, such as pay inequity or limited opportunities for advancement.
By supporting and mentoring Black therapists, mental health organizations and colleagues can promote diversity and equity in the mental health field, ultimately improving the quality of care for all clients.
Conclusion
In the mental health field, we've made incredible strides toward diversity and representation in recent years. But we still have a long way to go before we can say that our profession has achieved equality for all therapists.
To begin addressing this issue, we as therapists must acknowledge that systemic issues and biases remain in our field. We must be aware of them and willing to call them out when they arise. This can make some uncomfortable or even shameful as an essential step toward achieving equality in mental health.
The other essential part of addressing this issue is creating opportunities for people from traditionally underrepresented groups in mental health—People of Color and women—to become therapists themselves. This means creating paths into the profession that are accessible and affordable for people who are often financially disadvantaged by their race or gender identity. It also means providing support networks where people can connect as they navigate their careers in therapy.
References:
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2020/09/increasing-providers-color
U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Mississippi; United States. [online] census.gov. Available at: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/MS,US/PST045221 [Accessed 1 Jan. 1970].
Watts-Jones, D., Watts-Jones, D. and Ali, R., Ali, R. and Alfaro, J. and Frederick, A. (2007). The role of a mentoring group for family therapy trainees and therapists of color. [online] pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18092578/ [Accessed 1 Jan. 1970].