Brown Girl Therapy Fund

At Brown Girl Therapy, we believe that therapy should be accessible to everyone, and a cost-barrier should not prevent someone from getting the support they need, especially in a world where people of color are systemically discriminated against. However, when Brown Girl Therapy polled their community recently, 46.1% of 23,213 participants said financial cost was the number one barrier to seeking therapy. That’s why we are launching a sustainable therapy fund that will provide financial support to immigrants and children of immigrants for accessing therapy.

For more information about the fund, please scroll below (you may have to click "Read More" a few times).

To apply to the pilot cohort, please scroll below or click here. 

Why does first- and second-generation immigrant mental health matter?

In the United States, nearly 1 in 5 Americans has some type of mental health condition, and the decision to pursue therapy gets even more complicated at the intersection of different identities.

One in four children in the United States is a child of at least one foreign born parent, and immigrants and their children will represent about 37% of the U.S. population in 2050. Despite being one of the most rapidly growing populations in the United States, they are still one of the most underserved.

More so second-generation immigrants -- or children of immigrants -- experience nearly double  the rates of ‘psychological distress’ than their first-generation immigrant parents, and BIPOC are generally less likely to seek therapy compared to their White counterparts. Though not an exhaustive list, things like stereotypes and racism, religious intolerance, cultural stigmas, family dynamics and expectations, internalized shame around mental health struggles, and/or the model minority myth can prevent someone from taking the first step towards therapy.

A major pillar of Brown Girl Therapy’s work is to destigmatize therapy in immigrant communities in hopes of advocating for folks of different generations to seek mental health services and ultimately heal from intergenerational trauma.

We believe that when one person pursues healing, that healing ripples through their families and their communities. This fund hopes to amplify that mission by providing stipends to both generations of immigrants and their children in this country.

So what exactly is this Fund?

While we have just launched a pilot cohort with a personal investment from our founder, in which we will provide a stipend of $1200 to 5 individuals in the Brown Girl Therapy community, it’s merely a first step in a much, much bigger dream. To read more about Brown Girl Therapy, its work, and the specific WHY of this fund, visit here .

With your help, we hope to work towards creating a more sustainable fund to reduce the financial barriers of seeking therapy and continue to destigmatize mental health in immigrant communities. We would love for you to be a part of this, and no donation is too small.

We are hoping to launch our second cohort for 25 more individuals. All contributions to this campaign will go directly into supporting and providing stipends for immigrants and children of immigrants to receive therapy.

If you are not in a place to donate, no problem – we ask that you share this campaign with as many people as you can!

If you are looking to be a recipient of the fund

We have launched an application for a small pilot cohort that closes on July 18, 2021 at 11:59pm ET. To apply, please visit this link . This cohort is only applicable for 18+ immigrants or children of immigrants residing in the United States. Please note that while we hope to eventually be able to provide stipends internationally, at this time we are unable to do so.

If you are hoping to be a recipient of a future cohort or stay up to date on what Brown Girl Therapy is up to and how the fund is progressing, please sign up for our newsletter.

DISCLAIMERS:

• We recognize that there are many layers of barriers that prohibit people from seeking therapy. We also recognize that the ultimate mental health care is dismantling systemic and structural issues. Right now, we hope this fund will be a part of the solution for at least one of these barriers.
• We are working towards nonprofit status for this fund, but at this time we are utilizing a mutual aid model and contributions to this fund are not tax deductible at this time. We quite literally want to give money to those in this community in need or pursuit of professional mental health care.
• Sahaj Kohli, founder of Brown Girl Therapy, will NOT be providing therapy to awardees, and Brown Girl Therapy as a brand is not a therapy service. Please check our Instagram page for resources on how to find a therapist.