Black Wellness and Healing
The everyday racial discrimination embedded in our culture is sickening and killing African Americans.
Emotional health care and healing through education, training, advocacy, and the creative arts.
Dismantling the systems that dehumanize Black people in America is a long-term project. In the face of this, we must create community-based systems of care that help alleviate the harm and trauma for present and future generations.
The word “discrimination” often brings to mind historical examples of denial of voting rights, hate crimes or discriminatory practices in housing and criminal justice. But not all discrimination is conscious, intentional, or personal. It’s often built into institutional policies and practices such as mortgage lending, zoning, or school funding practices—which, in turn, impacts where you live, the quality of education you receive, or access to public transportation or good jobs—all of which are linked to health.
BEAM (Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective) is a national training, movement-building, and grant-making institution that is dedicated to the healing, wellness, and liberation of Black and marginalized communities.
Black wellness and healing work can only progress if this work is done while addressing economic reform, inequities in the criminal legal system, HIV/AIDS, transphobia, homophobia, racism, misogynoir, reproductive justice, intimate partner violence, and other issues that challenge the wellness of Black communities.
Dismantling the systems that dehumanize Black people in America is a long-term project. In the face of this, we must create community-based systems of care that help alleviate the harm and trauma for present and future generations.
These community-based systems of care must integrate into current practices in Black life and build upon current traditions and norms in Black communities in order to be sustainable.
For tools that can help you move from survival to potential, including tips to help support someone with Covid, questions to ask your doctor, journal prompts, and tips for de-escalation, visit beam.community/wellness-tools.
