Donations for KC Black Mental Health Initiative

In addition to joining our audience for the experience of “n0rmal,” Aerheart would also like your help supporting those in our community doing the real work every day to improve local mental health. Kansas City Black Mental Health Initiative (KCBMHI), founded by Cecil Wattree in 2019, exists to address the fact that “Black Americans are 20% more likely to experience serious mental health problems than the general population, yet only one in three Black adults who need mental health services actually receives them.”

“The Black community struggles with poverty, systemic racism, and violence perpetrated on and within daily living. Other barriers of stigmatization and lack of resources for mental health contribute to [their] disparities.” But KCBMHI provides support to Black communities, Black mental health professionals, and Black students interested in the mental health field to understand psychology and sociology through a Black lens and to implement the mental health practices that best care for Black people.

As art lovers, let us always remember that the art that inspires us today was appropriated from Black culture and, therefore, strive to love Black people as much as we love Black art. We can work toward this today by financially contributing to KCBMHI’s Black Therapy Initiative. Black Therapy Initiative aims to provide four sessions of therapy for fifteen Black candidates (ages 15+).

“Our [overall] goal is to mentally liberate the Black Community by creating a revolution to promote, de-stigmatize, and bring awareness to Black mental wellness in the KC Metro Area.”

-Cecil Wattree, Kansas City Black Mental Health Initiative

https://www.facebook.com/KCBMHI

1 Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health. Jazzlyn Johnson, “Black Mental Health Initiative Launches Program to Increase Access to Therapy,” The Community Voice, April 9, 2021, https://www.communityvoiceks.com/news/kansas_city_news/black-mental-health-initiative-launches-program-to-increase-access-to-therapy/article_9fd71046-996a-11eb-b231-a377f84b154d.html

2 Cecil Wattree, Kansas City Black Mental Health Initiative

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