Mental Health for Black Students

Information provided by Sunshine Behavioral Health.

Here are some free or low-cost sources for mental health treatment of the Black community. We also offer student support programs to support Black students, including Umoja, a program that supports community engagement, cultural empowerment, culturally responsive pedagogy, and self-love. 

• Black Men Heal. Limited and selective (no guarantees) free mental health service opportunities following a waiting period.
• Ethel’s Club. Brooklyn-based group offering live-streamed weekday classes, workshops, and wellness sessions for the Black community. The first week is free, up to three sessions a day. Also, free virtual healing and grieving sessions as available (there’s a waiting list).
• Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation. To help Black Americans with “life-changing stressors and anxiety” receive mental health services, the organization’s Free Virtual Therapy Support Campaign pays for up to five individual sessions — first come, first served — “until all funds are committed or exhausted.”
• Henry Health. Culturally sensitive self-care support and teletherapy for Black men and their families. “The first out-of-pocket session is on us.”
• Inclusive Therapists. With a directory of therapists offering reduced-fee teletherapy.
• Family Paths. “Mental health and supportive services to low-income, multi-stressed individuals and families” in Alameda County, Calif.
• The Loveland Foundation. Financial assistance is sometimes available for between four and eight sessions for Black women and girls.
• National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network. A directory of mental health practitioners working in agencies, community-based clinics, and private practice. Also, a mental health fund that provides financial assistance to queer and trans people of color by queer and trans people of color.
• Open Path Collective. A nonprofit that for a one-time membership fee provides inexpensive in-network therapy, online and in-person.
• Talkspace. Live video psychiatry sessions, plus a free therapist-led racial trauma support group, and financial assistance for the Black community.
• Therapy for Black Men. Free therapy sessions for Black men are in the planning stages. You can sign up to be notifications when they become available.
• Zencare. Provides a list of Black therapists — primarily in Boston, New York City, and Rhode Island — some of whom “offer a sliding scale, lower fees, or out-of-network reimbursement for individuals who cannot otherwise afford to pay for therapy.”

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Culturally Competent Mental Health Providers

• Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective (BEAM).
• Black Female Therapists.
• Black Male Therapists Directory. Provided by Black Female Therapists.
• Black Men Speak.
• Black Mental Wellness. Apps, podcasts, videos.
• Black Virtual Therapist Network. Provided by the Black Mental Health Alliance.
• Brother, You’re on My Mind. Provides educational materials on mental health issues affecting black men, particularly Omega Psi Phi Fraternity members, with an online toolkit.
• InnoPsych. Resources to find a therapist of color.
• LGBTQ Psychotherapists of Color Directory.
• Melanin and Mental Health. Directory of “Dope Therapists.”
• My Tru Circle.
• Ourselves Black. Directory of providers, plus a podcast, online magazine, and online discussion groups.
• Sista Afya Community Mental Wellness. Chicago-area organization providing sliding-scale rates for mental health treatment for Black women.
• Therapy for Black Girls. “An online space dedicated to encouraging the mental wellness of Black women and girls,” with a therapist locator, in-office and virtual, plus a blog, podcast, and online community.
• Therapy for Queer People of Color. Therapist directory.