The Black Mental Health Survey Report says only 11% of counselors in America are Black.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — For some people, the holiday season is like the waves washing onto Lake Erie’s shore.
It’s a never-ending feeling of depression and maybe loneliness. It can prompt some to want to look for help. Finding the right help to talk to is important.
“You get to be that person for somebody. Even though it may be a one-way relationship, healing comes in many different ways, and I also found out this can be very healing for me when I get through those times of discouragement or wanting to throw in the towel,” says Dymone Barnwell with BestSelf.
Barnwell is the program director of BestSelf’s Black Mental Health Team. She says there’s a need for more Black counselors in Buffalo.
When 2 On Your Side approaches Michael Foster, he said the same thing.
“I related with the Black counselor more than I did with the white,” Foster said.
Foster had a Black and white counselor before. He had them for six months.
“The counselor I had, me and him had gone through some of the same things,” Foster said.
2 On Your Side: “But both experiences were well right?”
Foster: “Yes. I got something from both of them.”
The Black Mental Health Survey Report says only 11% of counselors in America are Black. These numbers can be discouraging, deterring Black people from getting care.
“I tell people it’s a feeling, and it’s something that you really can’t describe, but I go to someone from my culture, more than likely, they’ll know what I’m talking about,” Barnwell said.
Dymone Barnwell spoke with 2 On Your Side outside of Tops on Jefferson Avenue. She said she’s the program director of Best Self’s Black Mental Health response team. The group was created after 5/14.
Barnwell said it’s about the fear, the lack of knowledge, and discouragement holding Black people back.
“It’s about getting in the community. Really being out on the ground, showing people who we are. Just because I’m a counselor, the only thing that separates me and you is the fact I went to school for it,” Barnwell said.