Black History Month and Mental Health: Holding Space, Not Speaking Over
- Kristina Huntington-Miller
- Feb 4
- 3 min read
Black History Month matters.
Not as a checkbox. Not as a moment to post and move on. But as an intentional pause, a time to acknowledge history, resilience, harm, and the ongoing impact these forces have on mental health today.
As a therapist, I believe this month is less about finding the right words and more about practicing the right posture: listening, humility, and accountability.
Black history is inseparable from systems that have caused profound harm, systems that didn’t disappear when laws changed or milestones were reached. That history lives on in bodies, families, communities, and nervous systems.
It shows up in how stress is carried. In how safety is assessed. In how trust is extended, or withheld.
Mental health does not exist in a vacuum. It is shaped by context, experience, and lived reality. Ignoring that reality does not make therapy neutral, it makes it incomplete.
Mental Health Is Affected by What the Body Remembers
Trauma isn’t only personal. It can be historical, intergenerational, and systemic.
For many Black individuals, the mental health landscape includes navigating:
chronic stress and vigilance
experiences of discrimination and invalidation
barriers to care
cultural stigma around seeking support
a justified mistrust of systems that have not always been safe
These realities affect how anxiety shows up. How depression is expressed. How relationships are navigated. How safety is felt, or not felt, in therapeutic spaces.
Acknowledging this isn’t political. It’s clinically responsible.
What It Means to Hold Space as a White Therapist
I want to be clear about my role.
I do not experience the world as a Black person. I do not carry the lived realities that Black History Month represents in my own body. And I don’t believe it’s my place to speak as if I do.
What I can do, and what I take seriously, is commit to:
ongoing education and self reflection
listening without defensiveness
recognizing how power and systems show up in therapy
creating space where experiences are not minimized, questioned, or explained away
Therapy should not require clients to educate their therapist in order to be understood. That responsibility is mine.
Safety in Therapy Is Not Assumed, It’s Built
Feeling safe in therapy isn’t automatic. Especially for clients who have learned, through experience, that systems can cause harm.
Safety is built through consistency. Through curiosity without judgment. Through acknowledging reality instead of avoiding it.
It’s built by asking:
What does safety look like for you?
What has made therapy feel unsafe in the past?
What do you need from me to feel heard here?
And then listening and adjusting, accordingly.
Black History Month is a reminder that healing does not happen in isolation from history or culture.
It’s a reminder that:
representation matters
access matters
humility matters
listening matters
And that mental health care must continue evolving to serve people as they are, not as systems wish they were.
You deserve care that acknowledges your reality.
You deserve support that does not minimize your experiences or ask you to leave parts of yourself at the door.
You deserve therapy that feels collaborative, respectful, and attuned, not dismissive or neutral in ways that erase your lived experience.
This month is not about perfection. It’s about presence.
It’s about continuing to learn, continuing to listen, and continuing to hold space in ways that are thoughtful and ethical.
Mental health work is ongoing work, and that includes examining how history, identity, and systems shape the people we sit with.
That commitment doesn’t end when February does.
Mental Health Resources & Voices to Know
Therapy for Black Girls
A trusted, Black-founded platform that connects Black women and girls with culturally competent therapists, along with podcasts, community spaces, and mental health education.
The Loveland Foundation
Provides therapy funding and resources for Black women and girls, with a focus on healing, access, and community care.
BEAM (Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective)
A collective focused on education, training, advocacy, and wellness practices that support Black emotional and mental health.
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