Mental Health Resources for Black Youth

It can be difficult to find resources for mental health resources that feel like they’re targeted to you. This is particularly true for minorities and underprivileged groups. Racial and ethnic minorities have less access to mental health resources and services than white people, and when they do get access, it can be of poorer quality, feeling that the treatment they receive doesn’t fully suit them or that they feel like they’re experiencing discrimination.

African-American communities are no exception. As we mentioned on Wednesday, African-American adolescents require different approaches when developing treatment, because they express their depressive symptoms differently, for a number of reasons.

The options below are just a start to what may be available online for African-Americans and African-American youth. A couple are sites dedicated to one gender, one is an app, and another is a podcast, but all of them have been created and are run by African-Americans, with the hope that seeing something created for you by someone who looks like you can have a more significant impact.

The Safe Place This is an app dedicated just for African-Americans and how they can learn more and think about their mental health. The creator, Jasmine Pierre, is a certified peer support specialist, and has the app offer a forum, statistics specifically about black mental health, and inspirational quotes. There are also self-care tips for things such as coping with police brutality, how to talk to black family members about mental health, and mental health in the black church.

Fireflies Unite T-Kea – the woman named in the podcast’s full title of Fireflies Unite Podcast with Kea – releases episodes every Monday where she allows individuals to share their stories about mental health and the stigmas they face, especially as people of color. She is a mental health advocate dedicated to showing that mental illness can affect anyone, and is a suicide survivor.

Therapy for Black Men The main focus of this website (run by mental health professional Vladimire Calixte) is to provide a directory for African-American men to access therapists who they can trust with offering services that will be beneficial to them. The search gives you the option to get more advanced beyond searching just by location, including therapists’ specialties, treatment options, and if they provide therapy remotely. The site also has a coach directory and a blog.

Therapy for Black Girls Dr. Joy Harden Bradford is a licensed psychologist who created this site specifically for African-American women and girls to have a resource to learn more about well-being and mental health. Like Therapy for Black Men, there’s a directory listing therapists nationwide who provide “high quality, culturally competent services” for African-American women and girls, letting you search by location and by insurance. The website also has its own weekly podcast hosted by Dr. Joy, where she talks and educates listeners about an array of mental health topics.

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Do you have any recommendations? If you’re a minority, do you look for resources that are more specifically tailored for you?