Do You Feel Seen? Perspectives on Minority Mental Health
As a counselor, I recognize that clients coming from a minority group perspective are individuals with individual experiences and needs. At the same time, acknowledging the historical discrimination of minorities in regard to mental health may help me understand their individual experience. Systemic racism, discrimination, and the negative effects it has had on the mental health of minority groups has historically been ignored or minimized by mental health community. In an article on the effects of institutional discrimination in mental health on marginalized groups, Cohut (2020) describes how minority groups find it more difficult to access care and are more likely to be treated harshly or coercively once in the mental health care system. As a culturally competent counselor at Walls Counseling, and a member of a minority group myself, I strive to be a counselor who:
Continues to pursue education on the historical and lived experiences of marginalized groups so I can understand how the effects of oppression may be affecting my clients
Asks about the impact of a client’s cultural experiences, instead of assuming I know their experience based on stereotypes
Advocates for the equal access marginalized groups to quality mental health care
Does not judge a person’s harmful or ineffective behavior, but instead contextualizes behavior based on the fear, anger, and confusion that may come from living in a world that does not treat them with respect and equity
Won’t “silver-linings” your experience. Being treated as abnormal or inferior because of something you cannot control can be difficult, and you may be tired of being told to “look on the bright side” or “get over it”
Will work collaboratively with you to develop strategies to cope with your mental health needs that align with your cultural experience
If you are having a hard time dealing with fear, anger, confusion, addiction, anxiety, depression and/or trauma that may be related to your physical, gender, sexual, ethnic or racial differences, please consider coming to see me or one of the other culturally informed counselors at Walls Counseling. We are ready to treat you differently so you can feel seen and receive equitable mental health care.
Written by Leif Peterson, MA, LPC, NCC (Mental Health Counselor at Walls Counseling, cisgender, white, male, heterosexual with a physical disability)
Have you ever heard the anecdote that the only race is the human race? How about proclamations that an individual does not see color, physical abilities/limitations, or care about sexual orientation? These declarations are often made in an attempt to assure unity and togetherness, but they ring hollow and discrediting in the ears of someone who is considered a minority. These statements, rather than uniting, actually communicate that the other individual is not fully seen. It communicates that in order to fit in, be a part, and have value that one needs to not recognize, appreciate, or comment on what makes them different and unique. This is called micro-aggression. These statements or behaviors are often unintentional and unidentified, meaning that both the sender of such messages and the receiver may not realize the meaning of such transactions, but they leave a seed of doubt and insecurity that can grow and take many forms later on.
For example, I was the recipient of a “compliment” years ago that demonstrates this point. I was told by one of my friends that I “was like a white-black person.” What did that even mean? Did it mean that he normally saw black people as threatening and since he did not see me as such I was somehow no longer black? Is there something inherent to be overcome when born black and somehow I had achieved that? Was he saying that because I did not fit into his definition of what a black person sounded, dressed, or acted like that my ethnic identity was truly only skin deep? This incident is only one of many that I have experienced in my life, and unfortunately my experience in this regard is not unique.
At Walls Counseling we want you to know that you do not have to be just like everyone else to be accepted. Feelings, experiences, wants and desires need to be validated. You bring many things to the table that make you unique, they should not need to be ignored in order for you to pursue health, wholeness and fulfillment.
Written by Timothy Scudder, MS, LPCC (Mental Health Counselor at Walls Counseling, cisgender, African-American male)
As an Asian American growing up in the midwest, I’ve always struggled trying to find my own identity. My Asian family never talked about feelings, and the words “anxiety, depression,” and even “mental health” were not words that existed in our vocabulary. I went through the stereotypical struggle that many Asian Americans faced growing up: pressure to perform well academically, complicated family dynamics, giving up any semblance of a social life to attend piano lessons, soccer practice, spelling and geography bees -- I was that kid. All of the expectations kept piling on as I aged, and by high school, I was more than stressed; I was anxious, and I was suffering. It started to show in my interpersonal interactions and the way I carried myself at school and at home.
According to the APA and a study conducted by Abe-Kim et al., “only 8.6 percent of Asian-Americans sought any type of mental health services or resource compared to nearly 18 percent of the general population nationwide” (Spencer et al., 2010). Due to the stigma surrounding mental health (“only weak people ask for help,” according to my mother), my family never even considered the fact that I was crumbling under the pressure, and never thought to check in with me as they saw my slow and steady mental decline.
I finally sought therapy in my early 20’s, after I had the chance to leave my hometown to attend college. After I was free of the negative stigma my family had been feeding me for my entire life, I learned that it’s okay to seek help, it’s okay to be vulnerable, and there is such a thing as taking care of your own mental health.
If it weren’t for therapy, I would have continued down the path my family laid out for me instead of pursuing my own aspirations. I’m also very grateful to have gotten to work with a therapist who understood my struggle as a person of color -- I was able to open up & share my own unique experiences with racism, discrimination, and micro-agressions, and was met with warmth and empathy (two more things that were brand new to me). With the help of my therapist, I was able to manage my anxiety, learn about my own boundaries, and start working hard towards my own personal healing.
It’s been 10 years since I first took control of my own mental health, and while my own mother has told me that she’s proud that I’m finally going back to get my Masters’ Degree (in Clinical Counseling!), she told me in the same breath that “being a therapist isn’t a real career path.” While there’s still some work to be done in my own family system, being met with her resistance now motivates me to prove her wrong by becoming the voice of reason for myself and other people of color or underrepresented populations who may have the same resistance I had regarding seeking mental health.