By Natalie Cort, Ph.D., guest contributor Black History Month is an important and necessary time to showcase the many accomplishments of African-Americans/Black individuals, but as we recognize Black History Month, we must acknowledge that the limited numbers of mental health professionals from racial/ethnic minority backgrounds prevents ubiquitous implicit negative biases about people of color, resulting from America’s historical and contemporary racialized inequities, from being challenged and dismantled. Research shows more than 6.8 million self-identified African-Americans/Black individuals had a diagnosable mental illness in the past year, which is more people than the populations of Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia combined1. As a consequence of historical institutional discrimination and marginalization, African-Americans experience socioeconomic disparities, such as homelessness, poverty, incarceration or substance abuse, that can increase their risk for mental illness. … [Read more...] about Leveling the Mental Health Counseling Racial Playing Field
