Dr. Rheeda Walker, the author of ‘The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health’, recently shared an excerpt of her book online, offering some much-needed advice on how the Black community can manage their mental health during these times.
In her book, Dr. Walker explores how racism negatively impacts Black mental health and how multiple experts who use different approaches to studying racism-related problems have all determined: “that racial discrimination is psychologically and physically harmful to Black people.”
While Dr. Walker emphasises the importance of therapy, she recognises that: “Unfortunately, the mental health system can be daunting. Emotional health care is not necessarily designed with Black people in mind. The discipline of psychology is made better with racial and ethnic diversity, but sincere efforts to address the psychology of a people who have been systematically subjected to inhumane treatment are relatively nonexistent. (After all, psychology is the field of study that provided “evidence” that Black people are inferior to white people.)”
She goes on to write that: “There have been some efforts to be more inclusive of but there is much more work to be done. You can, nevertheless, benefit from learning tools and strategies that help with common problems that everyone faces. I aim to help you navigate a complex mental health care system to get what you need for yourself and those you care about.”
In ‘The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health’, Dr. Walker identifies how you can know when it’s the right time to seek professional help, common misconceptions about therapy, and how you can locate the right help.
