Finding Culturally Humble Care: Black Mental Health Resources You Can Trust
Happy Black History Month. This month we honor the strengths, struggles, history, and culture of Black people in the United States. We celebrate the contributions of Black individuals and communities across generations—artists, activists, scholars, caregivers, storytellers, faith leaders, and everyday people whose resilience and creativity shape our shared life.
Family, kinship, community, and spirituality are central to many Black experiences and expressions of well‑being. These values often guide how to cope with stress, make decisions about care, and find sources of meaning and support.Finding a therapist who values cultural humility is important. Cultural humility is defined as a lifelong commitment to self-evaluation and self-critique, recognizing and challenging power imbalances in the therapist–client relationship, and building respectful partnerships that honor each person’s cultural identity, experiences, and knowledge. It emphasizes openness, curiosity, and willingness to learn from clients rather than assuming expertise about their cultural backgrounds.
When seeking mental health care, it is essential that your identity, cultural background, and lived experience are recognized and respected—not ignored, dismissed, or minimized.
Historically, racism has affected every social determinant of health from housing to healthcare and black individuals and families are still experiencing discrepancies in care. Much mental health research and many treatment models were developed from Eurocentric perspectives and were not tailored to Black communities unless it was exploitative. As a result, it created barriers. Therapies that fail to acknowledge cultural strengths, and, clinicians who misunderstand culturally specific expressions of distress can lead misdiagnosis or unwelcoming care settings. Evidence‑based treatment options and clinical approaches emphasizing cultural humility and relevance exist. It includes trauma-informed therapies that incorporate community and spirituality, culturally adaptive cognitive behavioral therapies, family and community‑centered interventions, and peer supports that draw on shared lived experience in authentic cultural ways. It can include strategies like singing, drumming, or healing circles that promote connection.
Why it matters:
Improves trust and safety in the therapeutic relationship.
Enhances relevance and effectiveness of treatment plans.
Reduces misdiagnosis or misunderstanding rooted in cultural differences.
Supports your autonomy and dignity.
If you are looking for mental health resources, consider options that prioritize cultural humility and offer representational diversity. Look for providers or facilitators who explicitly state a commitment to cultural humility, clinical excellence, and collaborative treatment planning. Representation matters and finding a black provider who holds anti-racist and culturally humble practices can feel like the safe place you didn’t know you needed.
Here are a few directories:
Find a Black Provider (includes Psychiatry)
If you'd like to support Black mental health, consider fostering safe spaces where individuals can openly share their experiences and emotions—through community initiatives, support groups, and moderated online forums.
Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective (BEAM) is a training, movement-building, and grant-making organization dedicated to the healing, wellness, and liberation of Black and marginalized communities.
Black Girls Smile Inc. promotes positive mental health for young African American girls.
Black Mental Health Alliance develops, promotes, and sponsors trusted, culturally relevant educational forums, trainings, and referral services that support the health and well-being of Black people and other vulnerable communities.
Black Mental Wellness provides access to evidence-based information and resources about mental health and behavioral health topics from a Black perspective, highlights and increases the diversity of mental health professionals, and decreases the mental health stigma in the Black community. (Instagram)
Brother You’re on My Mind is an initiative launched by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. and NIMHD to raise awareness of the mental health challenges associated with depression and stress that affect Black men and families. The website offers an online toolkit that provides Omega Psi Phi Fraternity chapters with the materials needed to educate fellow fraternity brothers and community members on depression and stress in Black men.
Inclusive Therapists aims to make the process of seeking therapy simpler and safer for all people, especially marginalized populations.
Live Another Day - Nationwide information on mental health and substance use resources and providers for People of Color.
Melanin and Mental Health connects individuals with culturally competent clinicians committed to serving the mental health needs of Black & Latinx/Hispanic communities.
The Steve Fund is an organization focused on supporting the mental health and emotional well-being of young people of color.
Therapy for Black Girls is an online space dedicated to encouraging the mental wellness of Black women and girls. (Twitter | Facebook | Podcast)
Therapy for Black Men is a directory to help men of color in their search for a therapist.
Questions to ask a prospective therapist to assess cultural humility:
How do you approach learning about a client’s cultural background when it differs from your own?
Can you describe a time you changed your therapeutic approach based on a client’s cultural needs or feedback?
How do you handle situations when a client challenges your cultural assumptions?
What ongoing training or self-reflection do you engage in around culture, bias, and power dynamics?
How do you incorporate a client’s cultural values into treatment planning?
You do not have to navigate this alone. If you want help locating culturally responsive clinicians, support groups, or community organizations, we can assist in identifying local and national Black mental health resources, recommended reading, and practical steps for finding a provider who will listen respectfully and work with you from your values and strengths. At Briargrove Family Counseling Center, we are committed to supporting care that honors culture, community ties, and whole identity.
