July is BIPOC Mental Health Month

Observed each July and originally designated as National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month,  BIPOC Mental Health Month highlights the unique mental health  challenges and needs of historically disenfranchised or oppressed racial  and ethnic groups in the United States. Black and Indigenous people and  other people of color (BIPOC) experience a broad spectrum of ongoing  discrimination, oppression, and inequity rooted in America’s colonialist  history, all of which foster both collective and individual trauma in  those communities.

Counselors, therapists and other mental health professionals are  essential to promoting the mental health and well-being of people in  BIPOC communities and addressing the systemic discrepancies in quality  of and access to care for these individuals. By providing counselors  with the support, education, and professional resources needed to serve  BIPOC clients, we can work together to create deep multicultural  competence and provide effective care for the mental health of every  individual.