How to Find a Culturally Competent Therapist
Hint: Don't give up. The right therapist for you is out there.
Mark Zuckerberg made “move fast and break things” his mantra. Mine has always been “Move fast and fix things.”
A child fighting on a subway. I would step in to break it up.
If someone’s car broke down, I would ask if they needed to make a call.
If someone in my family or a neighbor needed money, if I had it, I gave it.
I witnessed violence when I was growing up. And I was the oldest of six children.
My job was to fix things. Protect. Smooth things over.
I carried that role with me.
Even when it was no longer needed and was costing me my peace.
But when my father passed away, this already overused muscle of mine went into overdrive. And became reckless. Chasing after someone I thought had stolen my bike. Yelling at someone in the middle of two lanes of traffic because they didn’t slow down and let me walk. Calling Whole Foods headquarters because one of their workers did not show me where the Pedialyte was when I could not find it.
My father’s passing wasn’t a fight I could break up. It wasn’t a thing to fix. Or smooth over. My superpower had become my Achilles heel. So, I got help. Eventually, I came to see what was no longer serving me -- what I could change within me and the conditions around me that needed to change.
“You wanna fly? You got to give up the sh*t that weighs you down.”
-- Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon
But it was more complicated than it should have been to find the right therapist. Insurance doesn’t always cover therapy, and finding a culturally competent therapist is difficult.
So, with the help of some of the women in Offor’s network and inspiration from a compelling LinkedIn post by Psychologist Kimber Shelton, we have compiled a list of resources to help Black women find culturally relevant therapists. Kimber Shelton shared most of these, and I hope you can share them with others.
BEAM (Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective)
The Association of Black Psychologists
Black Women's Mental Health Institute
National Association of Black Counselors
May we get the peace we are owed.
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