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Jun 16, 2020

Black Employee Mental Health In The Workplace: A Curated List of Organizations & Resources

Updated: Jan 12


I. What Workplaces and Their Leadership Can Do


II. Organizations and Resources Supporting Black Mental Health


  • Therapy For Black Girls: An online space dedicated to encouraging the mental wellness of Black women and girls. Founded by psychologist Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, Therapy for Black Girls works to destigmatize mental health issues and make resources, such as in-office and virtual therapy, Q&A sessions with experts, and deep dives on relevant topics, more accessible for black women.

  • Inclusive Therapists: Celebrating all identities and abilities in all bodies, Inclusive Therapists offer a safer, simpler way to find a culturally responsive, social justice-oriented therapist. They center the needs of marginalized populations, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, the LGBTQ+ community, neurodivergent folx, and people with disabilities.

  • Black Emotional and Mental Health (BEAM): BEAM is a 501 (c)(3) organization. Their mission is to remove the barriers that Black people experience getting access to or staying connected with emotional health care and healing. They do this through education, training, advocacy and the creative arts.

  • LGBTQ Psychotherapists of Color: QTOC is a San Francisco/Bay Area grassroots, volunteer-led group providing support, networking, leadership development, and community building opportunities for LGBTQs of Color in Psychology, Social Work, and Counseling. Their members are students through professionals (licensed and unlicensed).

  • Boris L Henson Foundation: A nonprofit organization founded in 2018 by Taraji P. Henson and led by Executive Director, Tracie Jade Jenkins. The Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation’s vision is to eradicate the stigma around mental health issues in the African-American community. They launched the COVID-19 Free Virtual Therapy Support Campaign to raise money for mental health services provided by licensed clinicians in their network. Individuals with life-changing stressors and anxiety related to the coronavirus will have the cost for up to five (5) individual sessions defrayed on a first-come, first-serve basis until all funds are committed or exhausted.

  • Depressed While Black: Depressed While Black has grown into an online community, an in-progress book, and a charitable initiative providing personal care items to mental hospital patients. Depressed While Black was founded by Imadé Nibokun Borha, a writer and mental health advocate. She is a suicide attempt survivor who lives with clinical depression and borderline personality disorder.

  • The Siwe Project: A global non-profit dedicated to promoting mental health awareness throughout the global black community. The goal of the organization is to widen the public dialogue regarding the lived experiences of people of African Descent with mental illness. By providing opportunities for dialogue and the uplifting of new narratives and discourse, The Siwe Project aims to encourage more people to seek treatment without shame.

  • Therapy For Black Men: TherapyForBlackMen.org is a directory to help men of color in their search for a therapist. Using the directory, men can search by therapist location and specialization. Searching by location, the results will include the therapists near you and will display their credentials, location, and the issues they treat.

  • Black Men Heal: They provide safe, nonjudgmental, and supportive spaces for men of color to share their similar struggles, frustrations, fears, questions, and uncertainties around any area of life with their peers. They want men to be able to experience the power of surrounding yourself with other men who are committed to healing. They are currently offering 8 free sessions to local men of color by qualified therapists of color who volunteer to donate 8 hours over a duration of 2 months.

  • Black Mental Wellness: The mission of Black Mental Wellness, Corp. is to provide access to evidence-based information and resources about mental health and behavioral health topics from a Black perspective, to highlight and increase the diversity of mental health professionals, and to decrease the mental health stigma in the Black community.

  • Ethel's Club: Ethel’s Club is the first social and wellness platform designed to celebrate people of color. Their motive is to spark the next renaissance with people of color at the forefront. Through their physical spaces, online marketplace, concert venue, and soon-to-launch global digital platform, Ethel’s Club is made to heal, spark inspiration, and create connections.

  • “The Safe Place” App: “The Safe Place” Is a Minority Mental Health App geared towards the Black Community. African Americans are 20% more likely to experience serious mental health problems than the rest of the general population. However, many black people still do not wish to seek professional help for their mental illnesses. The Purpose of the “Safe Place” is to bring more awareness, education, and hope to this serious issue. Not only can the black community benefit from this app, but also mental health professionals, friends, and family, of ALL colors can be better educated on this issue and do a service by directing their black friends, co-workers, etc. to the app.

  • Sista Afya: At Sista Afya Community Mental Wellness, they believe that together, Black women across the African Diaspora can sustain mental wellness through connecting to resources and supporting one another. They fulfill this through their mission of sustaining the mental wellness of Black women through building community, sharing information, and connecting Black women to quality mental wellness services. They believe that by making mental wellness simple, accessible, affordable, and centered around Black women's experiences, more people will get what they need to have a full, whole life.

  • Black Mental Health Alliance: To develop, promote and sponsor trusted culturally relevant educational forums, training and referral services that support the health and well-being of Black people and other vulnerable communities. They service clinicians through their referral database, the community through workshops and connecting people with culturally competent and patient-centered licensed mental health clinicians.

  • The Loveland Foundation: Loveland Foundation is committed to showing up for communities of color in unique and powerful ways, with a particular focus on Black women and girls. Our resources and initiatives are collaborative and they prioritize opportunity, access, validation, and healing. We are becoming the ones we’ve been waiting for.

  • Black Women’s Health Imperative (BWHI): To lead the effort to solve the most pressing health issues that affect Black women and girls in the U.S. Through investments in evidence-based strategies, we deliver bold new programs and advocate health-promoting policies.

  • Dive in Well: Cultivating space, community, conversations, and change for a more equitable and accessible wellness industry. They are growing a dinner series into a movement, and have expanded offerings to both offline and online experiences, resources and tools to empower both consumers and participants who believe in soul-centered wellness.

  • The National Queer & Trans Therapists of Color Network: National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network (NQTTCN) is a healing justice organization committed to transforming mental health for queer and trans people of color (QTPoC).

  • The Okra Project: The Okra Project is a collective that seeks to address the global crisis faced by Black Trans people by bringing home-cooked, healthy, and culturally specific meals and resources to Black Trans People wherever we can reach them.



III. Emergency Resources for Mental Health

If you or someone you know needs help immediately:


  • Text “Start” to 741741

  • 1-800-273-8255

Call 911 for medical or psychiatric emergencies.


CDC's resources for taking care of your mental health during disaster or crisis.



IV. Resources for Mental Health ERGs (or Affinity Groups)


Mind Share Partners has created resources for employee resource groups (ERGs) focused on mental health, neurodiversity, ability, etc. Mental health ERGs have an opportunity to support other ERGs (such as Black, Asian and Latinx ERGs) within their organizations now and well beyond the pandemic.


V. Mind Share Partners' Resources and Frameworks For Culture Change

This free toolkit helps companies better understand how to proactively, comprehensively, and effectively support mental health at work. These frameworks are based upon our own work

with clients across industries, regions, and sizes.





 

Mind Share Partners is a 501(c)(3) national nonprofit organization that is changing the culture of workplace mental health so that both employees and organizations can thrive. We host communities to support ERGs and professionals, build public awareness, and provide workplace training and strategic advising to leading companies.

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