July is POC Mental Health Awareness Month

POC Mental Health Awareness Month gives us an opportunity to have conversations that extend beyond the statistics around mental health disparities. While it is important to acknowledge that communities of color often experience barriers to accessing mental health care, I also believe it is important to talk about possibility. Possibility looks like more people of

color feeling empowered to seek therapy. It looks like more people of color recognizing that they belong in this profession. And it looks like seeing therapists, supervisors, educators, and leaders who reflect the communities they serve.

As a Black therapist, this month is meaningful to me because I have the privilege of sitting with people as they tell stories they may have never felt comfortable sharing before. Many of my clients come into therapy carrying years of experiences that have gone unacknowledged or minimized. Some have been told to simply be strong. Others have learned to prioritize everyone else's needs before their own. Many have grown up believing that prayer should be their only source of support. Faith has been an important part of many communities of color and has helped families endure unimaginable hardship. I don't believe therapy asks people to abandon that. Instead, I believe therapy and faith can exist together. You can rely on your spirituality while also allowing yourself to receive psychoeducation, develop coping skills, process difficult emotions, and better understand yourself.

One of the reasons representation matters in mental health is because it can create an environment where clients feel understood without having to spend so much time explaining why something is significant. Cultural competency is not simply knowing facts about a culture. It is understanding that culture influences communication, family dynamics, values, stress, grief, celebration, and even the way we express emotions. Sometimes there are moments that don't require a lengthy explanation—a look, a pause, a smile, or a shared understanding of an experience that exists within a culture. Those moments don't replace clinical skill, but they can strengthen trust and create a sense of safety that allows clients to engage more fully in the therapeutic process.

That doesn't mean that every person of color needs a therapist of color. There are many therapists from different backgrounds who are deeply committed to providing culturally responsive care. At the same time, I believe everyone deserves the opportunity to choose a therapist with whom they feel safe. For some people, shared lived experience is an important part of that safety. Representation doesn't suggest that one therapist is inherently better than another; it simply acknowledges that people deserve options and that seeing someone who looks like you can reinforce that you belong in spaces that have not always felt accessible.

One of the greatest privileges of my work is being able to validate a person's lived experience while also offering clinical insight. Validation is not about agreeing with every thought or behavior. It is about acknowledging that someone's emotions make sense within the context of what they have lived through. For many people of color, that context includes navigating racism, discrimination, stereotypes, and environments where they have questioned whether they belong. Those experiences have an impact. They influence the way we think about ourselves, the way we interact with others, and sometimes the way we care for ourselves.

I often tell clients that experiencing racism is not a normal human experience. Unfortunately, it is common, but common does not mean healthy or psychologically insignificant. Living with those experiences requires energy. It requires resilience. It deserves a space where those experiences can be acknowledged rather than dismissed. Therapy can be that space.

Ultimately, I believe people of color deserve therapy not because they are in crisis, but because they are human. We deserve spaces where our emotional well-being is prioritized. We deserve opportunities to understand ourselves more deeply, build healthier relationships, process difficult experiences, and receive support before we reach our breaking point.

My hope this POC Mental Health Awareness Month is that more people of color recognize that therapy is not something reserved for other people. It belongs to us, too. Whether you are considering becoming a therapist or considering seeing one for the first time, I hope you know that your story is worthy of being heard, your experiences are worthy of being validated, and your mental health is worthy of care.

<3 Ashley Peterson, LPC, ADHD-CCSP