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The Unique Struggle to Find a Therapist of Color
I’m tired of translating my experiences
A few weeks ago, my phone rang with a call from an unfamiliar number. On the line was yet another new therapist reaching out to schedule yet another first appointment.
I was introduced to the benefits of counseling during college, where I was a psychology major. As a student, I was given 12 free therapy sessions per school year. I learned to love therapy. But I was unprepared for just how hard it would be to find a mental health professional of color in the real world.
Growing up Black taught me that strength and persistence were nonnegotiable, and I learned to internalize my issues instead of expressing them. I was bullied throughout my childhood and was the victim of consistent and unwanted sexual advances in my adolescence. My husband and I were both living in poverty when we got married.
I’ve grown and defied the odds of my youth, but that cocktail of experiences has left me with a lot of residual anxiety and occasionally depression. Sometimes I feel like I’m one fruit short of a basket case.
Today I’m a military spouse and one of only a few people of color living in an almost exclusively conservative, white area of rural America. I’ve rotated through eight different therapists over the last…
