BIPOC is an acronym that stands for Black, Indige­nous, and Peo­ple of Color.

Black can refer to dark-skinned peo­ples of Africa, Ocea­nia, and Aus­tralia or their descen­dants with­out regard for the light­ness or dark­ness of skin tone, and who were enslaved by white peo­ple. Indige­nous refers to eth­nic groups native to the Amer­i­c­as, and who were killed en masse by white peo­ple. Peo­ple of col­or is an umbrel­la term for non-white peo­ple, espe­cial­ly as they face racism and dis­crim­i­na­tion in a white dom­i­nant culture.

BIPOC Resources 

There are a vari­ety of men­tal health resources avail­able for peo­ple of col­or, but we have pro­vid­ed a few exam­ples below. Please note: The resources includ­ed here are not endorsed by NAMI Lex­ing­ton, and NAMI Lex­ing­ton is not respon­si­ble for the con­tent of or ser­vice pro­vid­ed by any of these resources. 

Black Emo­tion­al and Men­tal Health Col­lec­tive (BEAM) Group aimed at remov­ing 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. 

Black Men Heal Lim­it­ed and selec­tive free men­tal health ser­vice oppor­tu­ni­ties for Black men. 

Black Men­tal Health Alliance — (410) 338‑2642 Pro­vides infor­ma­tion and resources and a “Find a Ther­a­pist” loca­tor to con­nect with a cul­tur­al­ly com­pe­tent men­tal health pro­fes­sion­al. 

Black Men­tal Well­ness Pro­vides access to evi­dence-based infor­ma­tion and resources about men­tal health and behav­ioral health top­ics from a Black per­spec­tive, as well as train­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents and pro­fes­sion­als. 

Black Women’s Health Imper­a­tive Orga­ni­za­tion advanc­ing health equi­ty and social jus­tice for Black women through pol­i­cy, advo­ca­cy, edu­ca­tion, research and lead­er­ship devel­op­ment. 

Boris Lawrence Hen­son Foun­da­tion BLHF has launched the COVID-19 Free Vir­tu­al Ther­a­py Sup­port Cam­paign to raise mon­ey for men­tal health ser­vices pro­vid­ed by licensed clin­i­cians in our 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. 

Broth­er You’re on My Mind 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. 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. 

Melanin and Men­tal Health Con­nects indi­vid­u­als with cul­tur­al­ly com­pe­tent clin­i­cians com­mit­ted to serv­ing the men­tal health needs of Black & Latinx/Hispanic com­mu­ni­ties. Pro­motes the growth and heal­ing of diverse com­mu­ni­ties through its web­site, online direc­to­ry and events. 

Our­selves Black Pro­vides infor­ma­tion on pro­mot­ing men­tal health and devel­op­ing pos­i­tive cop­ing mech­a­nisms through a pod­cast, online mag­a­zine and online dis­cus­sion groups.  

Sista Afya Orga­ni­za­tion that pro­vides men­tal well­ness edu­ca­tion, resource con­nec­tion and com­mu­ni­ty sup­port for Black women. 

Ther­a­py for Black Girls Online space ded­i­cat­ed to encour­ag­ing the men­tal well­ness of Black women and girls. Offers list­ing of men­tal health pro­fes­sion­als across the coun­try who pro­vide high qual­i­ty, cul­tur­al­ly com­pe­tent ser­vices to Black women and girls, an infor­ma­tion­al pod­cast and an online sup­port com­mu­ni­ty. 

The SIWE Project Non-prof­it ded­i­cat­ed to pro­mot­ing men­tal health aware­ness through­out the glob­al Black com­mu­ni­ty. 

The Steve Fund Orga­ni­za­tion focused on sup­port­ing the men­tal health and emo­tion­al well-being of young peo­ple of col­or. 

Unapolo­get­i­cal­ly Us Online com­mu­ni­ty for Black women to seek sup­port. 

Self-Care For Peo­ple Of Color
We rec­og­nize that many men­tal health con­di­tions are being trig­gered as a result of the coro­n­avirus, the eco­nom­ic cri­sis and repeat­ed racist inci­dents and death.
Learn more about men­tal health con­di­tions includ­ing anx­i­ety dis­or­ders, depres­sion and post­trau­mat­ic stress dis­or­der. 

• Arti­cle on cop­ing with antic­i­pa­to­ry grief 
• Arti­cle on cop­ing with trau­mat­ic stress 
• Arti­cle on Racial Bat­tle Fatigue 

 
Treat­ment Direc­to­ries 

• Inclu­sive Ther­a­pists 
• Innopsych 
• LGBTQ Psy­chother­a­pists of Col­or Direc­to­ry 
• Nation­al Queer and Trans Ther­a­pists of Col­or Net­work 

• Psy­chol­o­gy Today Direc­to­ry of African Amer­i­can Ther­a­pists 
• Ther­a­py for Black Men 

Edu­ca­tion­al Resources On Racism And Inequal­i­ty Under­stand­ing The Con­text Of Racism And Recent Events 

• Video on under­stand­ing racism and the reac­tions to the death of George Floyd and many oth­ers 
• Video on under­stand­ing the per­spec­tives of your col­leagues of col­or 

• Arti­cle on “White Priv­i­lege: Unpack­ing the Invis­i­ble Knap­sack” 
• List of Anti-Racism resources 

Under­stand­ing The Con­text Of Racial Inequal­i­ty That Impacts Men­tal Health 

• APA Best Prac­tices on work­ing with Peo­ple of Color
• APA Men­tal Health Facts for Black Amer­i­cans (2017) 

Under­stand­ing And Address­ing The Social Deter­mi­nants Of Health That Impact Men­tal Health 

• Arti­cle on improv­ing the health of Black Amer­i­cans and the over­due oppor­tu­ni­ty for social jus­tice 
• Video on under­stand­ing the social deter­mi­nants of health and tox­ic stress 
• Video on the social deter­mi­nants of tox­ic stress, specif­i­cal­ly race and eth­nic tox­ic stress 
• APA Stress & Trau­ma Toolk­it for Treat­ing His­tor­i­cal­ly Mar­gin­al­ized Pop­u­la­tions in a Chang­ing Polit­i­cal and Social Environment

• The Robert Wood John­son Foun­da­tion Page on Achiev­ing Health Equi­ty – Infor­ma­tion about why health equi­ty mat­ters and what you can do to help give every­one a fair shot at being as healthy as they can be. 

Ways To Take Action As An Ally Or Cham­pi­on For Peo­ple Of Col­or 

• Arti­cle on being a white ally through word, actions and pow­er 
• Arti­cle on being a white ally for racial jus­tice 
• Com­mu­ni­ty based orga­ni­za­tions to part­ner with: Col­or of Change,  Change Zero, The Inno­cent Project 

Books To Read 

• White Fragili­ty: Why It’s So Hard for White Peo­ple to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAn­ge­lo, PhD 
• How To Be An Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Ken­di 
• Elo­quent Rage: A Black Fem­i­nist Dis­cov­ers Her Super­pow­er by Dr. Brit­tney Coop­er 
• Me and White Suprema­cy by Lay­la F. Saad 
• The Fire Next Time by James Bald­win 
• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incar­cer­a­tion in the Age of Col­or­blind­ness by Michelle Alexan­der 
• The Next Amer­i­can Rev­o­lu­tion: Sus­tain­able Activism for the Twen­ty-First Cen­tu­ry by Grace Lee Bog­gs 
• The Warmth of Oth­er Suns by Isabel Wilk­er­son 

• When Affir­ma­tive Action Was White: An Untold His­to­ry of Racial Inequal­i­ty in Twen­ti­eth-Cen­tu­ry Amer­i­ca by Ira Katznel­son