Meet The Woman Changing The Face of Mental Health in the Black Community
Amber is the black female counselor that created a safe space for black women to learn about mental health and find a black female therapist.
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Amber Dee is a licensed professional counselor who launched two platforms that facilitate the process of searching for black therapists in the United States. Amber launched Black Female Therapists when she struggled to find a black female therapist herself. She realized that there was a major demand for therapists that understood the unique experiences of members of the black community. Therefore, she took it upon herself to meet that demand.
Amber launched Black Female Therapists alongside a full-time job, and she expressed in an interview with Voyage LA that it has been a difficult and arduous road. However, she persevered and the business is currently thriving.
What is Black Female Therapists?
Black Female Therapists is a search platform for black women to find black female therapists. The site also houses a blog and a podcast and it provides mental health advice and support.
Visibility for black female therapists is paramount, according to the Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, African Americans are 20 percent more likely to experience serious mental health issues. Despite this, African Americans are far less likely to seek support for mental health problems. Upon speaking to 20 African American women and 20 Black British women, I discovered that some black women feel reluctant to seek help because of the stigma attached to mental illness within their own immediate families or within the wider black community.
Also, the challenges they have faced finding a suitable therapist magnifies the situation. The Black Female Therapists platform bridges the gap between black women in need and black professional therapists facilitating the process of searching for a suitable support system.
Amber Dee also launched Black Male Therapists to support the needs of men in the black community too.
