Celebrating BIPOC Mental Health Month
Welcome to July!
Or should I say, welcome to Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, colloquially known as BIPOC mental health month. You may ask yourself, why create an entire month to highlight mental health struggles and resources for people of color? Let’s get into it.
Marginalized communities in the United States often struggle to find access to healthcare. For instance, in 2018, Black people were 1.5 times more likely to be uninsured; Hispanic people were 2.5 times more likely to be uninsured; and American Indian and Alaskan Native (AIAN) people were 2.9 times more likely to be uninsured compared to white people. Furthermore, those that do manage to have insurance and receive treatment are likely to receive less and/or worse treatment. This inequity in the health system leads to black children being more likely to end up restrained during ED visits, underdiagnosis and/or misdiagnosis due to lack of cultural understanding, and costs the United States around $278 billion in just four years due to premature deaths linking back to inadequate healthcare. This is what Bebe Campbell and others refer to as the cost of silence.
If you are unfamiliar, Bebe Moore Campbell was an American author, journalist, teacher, and mental health advocate who founded NAMI-Inglewood to counterbalance racial inequities in mental health care. To this day, NAMI works to increase access to culturally-informed, evidence-based mental health care, increase racial and ethnic diversity in the workforce, and eliminate stigma, discrimination, and unconscious bias. Furthermore, NAMI has followed in Bebe Campbell’s footsteps in supporting public policies that reflect their company goals.
At Touchstone
Touchstone Mental Health, a proud supporter of NAMI, shares these goals towards well rounded, inclusive, and racially sensitive care. As of our 2025 statistics, 48% of the population we currently serve across all programs are people of color along with a large percent of our workforce. Creating an environment where both clients and staff feel comfortable and flourish has, and always will be, the primary goal of Touchstone. Ultimately, the hardest step in an individual’s mental health journey is making the decision to change. At Touchstone Mental Health are here to support all individuals that choose to bravely walk down that path.
“While everyone – all colors – everyone is affected by stigma – no one wants to say ‘I’m not in control of my mind.’ No one wants to say, ‘The person I love is not in control of [their] mind.’
But people of color really don’t want to say it because we already feel stigmatized by virtue of skin color or eye shape or accent and we don’t want any more reasons for anyone to say, ‘You’re not good enough.’”
-Bebe Moore Campbell
Sources
“About Bebe Moore Campbell.” Mental Health America, mhanational.org/bipoc-mental-
health/bebe-moore-campbell/. Accessed 30 June 2026.
Leblanc, Danielle. “Bipoc Mental Health Fact Sheet | Resources to Recover.” Resources to
Recover, Laurel House, 2023, www.rtor.org/bipoc-mental-health-equity-fact-
sheet/.
“Mental Health Inequities: Racism and Racial Discrimination.” NAMI, 19 July 2021,
www.nami.org/advocacy-at-nami/policy-positions/supporting-community-
inclusion-and-non-discrimination/mental-health-inequities-racism-and-racial-
discrimination/.