BIPOC Mental Health Month Resources to Help Promote Intersectional Inclusion

Did you know that July is BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month?

I must admit that, until as recently as last year, I didn’t know very much about this important observance, despite teaching about racial and mental health inclusion for several years now as part of bci’s comprehensive DEI programming.

Given the much-needed spotlight on racial justice over the last two years, there has been a growing awareness around the serious lack of dialogue, resources and programming available in the workplace for addressing the specific mental health needs and challenges for those of us who identify as Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). It’s become increasingly clear that many organizations’ existing mental health inclusion practices minimize the experiences of BIPOC professionals, rather than supporting our needs.

To give you a sense of the toll that racism and other experiences with oppression can have on BIPOC mental health, I wanted to share some eye-opening facts*. Did you know:

• People who identify as BIPOC are less likely to have access to mental health services, less likely to seek out treatment, more likely to receive low or poor quality of care and more likely to end services early
• Black Americans are 20% more likely to experience serious mental health problems than the general population
• Approximately 23% of Indigenous Americans live with a mental illness
• People who identify as belonging to two or more races are more likely than all other racial/ethnocultural groups to have reported experiences with mental illness, followed by Indigenous Americans
• Indigenous Americans have the highest rates of post-traumatic stress disorder than any other racial/ethnocultural groups
• Compared with white people with the same symptoms, Black people are more frequently diagnosed with schizophrenia and less frequently diagnosed with mood disorders

For me, these data points drive home the fact that even when we as BIPOC do our best to look after our mental health and wellness through therapy, mindfulness, self-care, prioritizing rest and healing and more, the structural racism and oppression that permeates our society continues to have an adverse impact on BIPOC mental health.

When considering the implications of mental health as it intersects with race, it becomes even more critical that we make BIPOC mental health inclusion a priority in our workplaces.

For organizations, this means disrupting biases around mental health, creating cultures of psychological safety, starting meaningful and inclusive conversations around mental health, and in particular, BIPOC mental health, engaging in active allyship and more. BIPOC mental health must be part of your overall mental health inclusion training if you want to truly see the benefits in your workplace culture and support your BIPOC colleagues.

If you need resources to help you get started, you can download bci’s free tip sheets here. Or you can reach out to the bci team here to learn more about bci’s range of cutting-edge mental health inclusion programming, including dedicated programming around BIPOC mental health inclusion.

*All data points are from Mental Health America, the American Psychiatric Association and the Jefferson Center for Mental Health