Spotlight on Black Female Therapists
I'm always thinking of new ways to help Black women find mental and emotional healing. My newest initiative involves creating a directory of Black female therapists as a resource for readers who are seeking a mental health professional. The response to my call for Black female therapists on Twitter has really been amazing! Starting this week, you can expect to see a Black female therapist featured both in the newsletter and in a new Spotlight on Black Female Therapist section on the homepage! Woohoo!
During my search for Black female therapists, a Twitter follower asked me if I thought that it was important to have a therapist of the same racial background. This isn't the first time that I've encountered this question. Does being the same race really mean that a certain mental health professional will be better qualified to treat you than someone outside of your race? The answer that I came up with was "No, but it can help!"I've told you all before about my experiences with therapy. I've been fortunate enough to have really amazing white therapists, but oftentimes I felt that there was a bit of context missing in our conversations, context that I then had to do my best to fill in even though I was at a stage in my life where I myself probably did not fully understand the full impact of Black womanhood on my mental health.There is power in having a deep understanding Blackness - the patterns, expectations, and dynamics that shape our families, the stigmas about mental health, sexuality or physical appearance that can sometimes be roadblocks for healing. A Black woman can usually identify and understand microaggressions that tear away at our peace, whereas a white therapist, who perhaps has never had to deal with similar situations in daily life might have a difficult time fully understanding the issue at hand.I'll give you an example.A few years ago, I had a really fantastic white therapist. She had a track record of working with Black women, which was why I chose her. At the time, I was working in a really stressful environment. I was an admin in a real estate development office and almost every day the white staff joked about kicking minority families out of their homes in order to make room for white yuppies pouring into the city from around the country. I had seen racial hiring discrimination with my own eyes in this office. I had my intelligence questioned almost every day in between my boss oggling me and making sexually inappropriate "jokes". One day, I had a mini-breakdown at work because I didn't feel comfortable eating my lunch in the office or preparing it in the kitchen. You see, instead of buying lunch from one of the local lunch spots every single day, I often brought in my own lunch from home, spicy and sometimes strong smelling Caribbean food; curry, okra, cabbage, and other foods that my white co-workers were unfamiliar with.I went to therapy directly after work that day and explained the cause of the breakdown to my therapist. She was sympathetic as always, but she just didn't "get it." I felt the gulf between us.Therapy can be challenging enough without having to frequently explain yourself. There is also the potential for unconscious racial bias and even just the fear of racial bias which can affect both the therapist (anxious not to appear racist) and the client (who might skew information for fear of being stereotyped). Having a therapist of the same race can also help establish trust between the two parties faster. Sometimes you just want someone who understands what it means to be a Black woman in this world, and that's why I'm so happy to bring this directory to you!Back to Twitter, other folks on my timeline began to chime into the conversation. One great response that I got was that whether or not the race of your therapist matters depends on your needs. I think that's 100% true. The beginning of my mental health journey was not necessarily the beginning of my Black womanhood journey. Rather, I found that that deeper I went into the former, the more I found myself seeking the latter. Our needs change as we change and everyone should try to find a therapist that best matches their needs regardless of race. For example, if I had bipolar disorder, I wouldn't pick a Black therapist that had no experience in treating bipolar disorder over a therapist of another race who does have experience purely based on race. That's not a smart move in my opinion.The point of creating the directory is that Black female readers will be able to find a therapist that will be able to help them navigate through their mental health journeys as well as their journeys through Black womanhood. Most of my readers are looking for a bit of both so the directory will be up for your therapist searching pleasure by February 20th! For now, you can check out the first spotlight feature here.