Even as stigma of mental health in the Black community wanes, access to professional services is still limited, and Black people in mental health spaces remain underrepresented.
In Tulsa, Black professionals are working to open up new avenues for receiving — and practicing — mental health treatment.
One resource is the Tulsa Black Mental Health Alliance. The coalition was formed in 2022 with a mission to increase access to mental health assistance in Tulsa and elsewhere in Oklahoma.
The group is made up of Mason Counseling Services, Overcross Counseling & Equine Services, Amayesing Skillz Counseling Services and Counseling Skillz on Wheelz.
The organization seeks to address a dearth in Black mental health professionals. Only 2% of the country’s 41,000 psychiatrists are Black, and only 4% of psychologists and 13% of college campus counseling staff are Black, according to a 2021 American Psychiatric Association study.
Ebony Skillens, a north Tulsa native and CEO and founder of Amayesing Skillz, is also seeking to identify safe spaces where Black people grappling with emotional struggles can vocalize their issues. She operates a mobile mental health clinic, known as Skillz on Wheelz. The clinic drives directly to those in need of professional help to provide assistance and a safe space.
Her company has partnered with several Tulsa barber shops to train barbers on how to identity and discuss suicidal ideation within their clients. She can see the impact when she sits in a shop and barbers are having heart-to-heart conversations with customers. Some aren’t even there for haircuts — just to connect, she said.
“I’m like, ‘This is where hope is. It’s right here,’” Skillens said.
Tracy Jones, another north Tulsa native and project manager for the Black Mental Health Alliance, is the founder and CEO of TraMcK Connections. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, she wanted to use the wellness service to reconnect the north Tulsa community through in-person speaking engagements.
Companies like TraMak and Skillz on Wheelz are taking the necessary steps to create the spaces that Ramona Curtis said are vital for Black people.
Curtis, Tulsa Community College’s director for workforce programming, has run several support groups and counseling services for Black men and women over the decades.
In order for Black people to address their struggles with mental health, they must be granted a safe space where their race and identity is not only not judged or admonished, but understood, Curtis said.
“We see ourselves first as African Americans,” she said, and that means looking for a person within the system that can be trusted. “Then we can begin to see ourselves as a person. And then once we see ourselves as a person, then we can begin to open up and share those things.”
Ismael Lele is a Report for America corps member and writes about business in Tulsa for The Oklahoma Eagle. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting this link.
