Our Mission
Healed Men Heal Men
To provide access to mental health treatment, psycho-education, and community resources to men of color.
About Us
Black Men Heal is a 501c3 grassroots nonprofit organization, that was established in 2018. It was created as a solution to a broken inequitable mental health care system that does not center the needs of marginalized black and brown communities.
Our focus centers on the mental health needs of Black Men because of the lack of resources attending solely to this population. Our mission is to provide mental health treatment, education, and resources to Men of color. Our goals are to eliminate the barriers that contribute to health disparities and inequities that exist for BIPOC communities to seek treatment, and to help increase the likelihood that Black men will self-initiate treatment for mental health struggles.
The question, “Why aren’t more Black Men coming into therapy”, is what started to plague Tasnim in her practice. Exploring that question is ultimately what led to a mission built to provide access to mental health treatment and resources targeted primarily to Men of Color.
Aside from the health disparities that marginalized communities face when seeking quality and unbiased treatment, additional barriers that prevented BIPOC men from seeking therapy:
1. Affordability/Cost
2.Lack of cultural competency in treatment provider selection.
3. The stigma
Black Men Heal was created and developed to eliminate each of these three barriers.
Black Men Heal is a nonprofit that provides FREE mental health treatment-both individual and group therapy to Men of Color. Our offering to the community is a safe space that provides the opportunity to heal from Intergenerational trauma and systemic racism. We pair the men with therapists of color who can attend to their unique cultural experinces.
A WORD FROM OUR FOUNDER: Tasnim Sulaiman
I started this mission in 2018 as a purely donation based mission, by going to other licensed therapists and asking them to donate 1 hour a week in their busy schedules to the health and wellness of black men. We refer to our humble beginnings as, “Our Labor of Love”, to black men in our communities. We refer to the men we service as, “Kings”, to reinforce and reframe the notion that seeking help is weakness. We recognize this as a strength!
Our organization goes beyond just a therapist directory for peole to find therapists of color. We actually contract with the therapists and pay them to provide 8 free therapy sessions to men. We developed a proprietary matching system that ensures that each applicant is specially paired up with a therapist whom matches their needs in several different areas. This ensures a high likelihood that our men will build a strong therapuetic alliance with their therapists. Research shows that the relationship with your therapist is the number one indicator that determines succesful therapeutic outcomes.
Utilizing that approach has been sucessful, as evidenced by the fact, that 75% of our men continue on with their therapists after the 8 free sessions. We take pride knowing that our process equips our kings to commit to their overall mental wellness, even beyond the eight free sessions. With their bravery and help as mental health advocates, together we are removing the stigma of mental health treatment in Black and Brown Communities.
