A Recap of Mental Health Awareness Month and 1st Annual Juneteenth Emancipation Circle Panel
Greetings everyone! It has been a while! We are happy to update you all on all the amazing things happening with the Chicago Black Therapist Directory.
We kicked off the month of May, celebrating Mental Health Awareness Month 2021. Mental Health Awareness month serves as a time to bring awareness to mental health—we choose to bring awareness to black mental health especially. We made it our duty to decolonize mental health by sharing some eye-opening statistics. We also highlighted a boundary-related mantra, engaged our audience into the discussion, such as posing the question, "how do you define mental health?" and highlighted ways in which the Chicago Black Therapist Directory impacts the Black mental health community. Please see our Mental Health Awareness Month posts by clicking the photos below!
May also served as a time where we introduced our very first event to the public! We curated our first Annual Virtual Juneteenth Emancipation Circle Panel in honor of Juneteenth 2021 and received $1,370 in donations. Thank you to all of our generous donors!
Juneteenth is a holiday that commemorates the emancipation of those who had been enslaved in the United States. On June 19, 1865, about two months after general Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, VA, Union general Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform the enslaved people of their freedom and that the Civil War had ended when actually the Emancipation Proclamation was issued more than two and a half years earlier on January 1, 1863, by President Abraham Lincoln. The people in Galveston, Texas, were the last to officially hear the news of emancipation for all enslaved African American peoples.
It was very important for the Chicago Black Therapist Directory to hold a safe space to process the Black experience in mental health and honor such a significant time in history.
We addressed how trauma has impacted the black community during the panel discussion and how race, discrimination, and cross-cultural communication are approached within mental health services. We addressed how modern-day bondage has been disguised as mass incarceration, police brutality, redlining, violence, racial trauma, and more.
Many great discussions were surrounding what modern-day mental health services look like for black mental professionals and black clients. Because the discussion was so empowering, we hope to provide an opportunity for a part two for the community. Special shout out again to all of our wonderful panelists and audience! We appreciate everyone's presence as well as the full and rich discussions that filled the virtual safe space we created!
As Fannie Lou Hamer said, "Nobody's free until everybody's free". Each and every day we must find ways to have important discussions that lead to needed change to emancipate, heal, and advance the Black community in every way.
As we approach a new month, the Chicago Black Therapist Directory continues to expand! We are now offering new memberships for various categories, such as a chance to list black mental health relevant merchandise, career opportunities, community service listing opportunities, events listing opportunities, and more. Please check out chicagoblacktherapists.com/join-us to select your membership of choice today!
We hope to continue to expand and generate more ideas on ways to decolonize mental health! Feel free to email us at hello@chicagoblacktherapists.com to share your ideas or to obtain more information. Thank you!
Written By: Cikylie C. Brooks
Clinical Psychology Doctoral Extern