DR. ERICA L. GIVNER SPEAKS AT THE HOSANNA HOUSE.
Thirteen years ago, when Dr. Erica Givner started her licensed therapist practice, she would Google “Black mental health provider” and she said there was pretty much nothing that came up in the Pittsburgh area.
These days, “we have pages of them,” Dr. Givner told the New Pittsburgh Courier.
It’s true. A quick Google search of “Black mental health providers Pittsburgh” brings up not just Dr. Givner’s “Vision Towards Peace” company, but “Steel Smiling” with Julius Boatwright and a host of websites that feature a listing of African American mental health therapists.
And with more African Americans choosing mental health therapist as a career in Pittsburgh, there are more African Americans in general who are signing up to see a therapist.
Why is that? Dr. Givner said finally, Black America is “looking at it from the standpoint of, mental health is self-care. So changing that lens around mental health definitely helped decrease the stigma.”
DR. ERICA GIVNER AND BRENDA GURLEY. (PHOTOS BY J.L. MARTELLO)
Dr. Givner was the afternoon keynote speaker at NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Keystone Pennsylvania’s third annual Black Mental Health Summit, held at the Hosanna House in Wilkinsburg, July 10. Leon Ford, who was paralyzed after being shot multiple times by Pittsburgh Police during a traffic stop in 2012, was the morning keynote speaker. Ford, who said at the event that “the night I was shot, it destroyed me from the inside out,” turned tragedy into triumph by, among other things, starting The Hear Foundation with former Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert. Looked at by some as an unlikely collaboration, Ford said his goal is to have a safe and thriving Pittsburgh through trusted relationships between the police and its residents.
LEON FORD JR.
And he emphasized how much taking care of his mental health has helped him overall.
“Acknowledging trauma, stigma, and mental health are the first steps,” said Aleta Barnett, NAMI Keystone Pennsylvania’s Director of Mental Healthy Equity and Community Engagement, in a statement provided to the Courier. “But what comes next? What can we do about it? How can we heal?”
First, though, what is trauma? How does a person know that it’s in their best interest to seek therapy? Dr. Givner defined trauma to the Courier as “an experience that compromises one’s ability to function after witnessing or experiencing a life-changing event. So, if it compromises your ability to function, it’s a traumatic experience,” Dr. Givner said.
Dr. Givner then said that “poverty and racism is trauma,” adding: “There’s definitely people that don’t want to (accept) that poverty and racism is traumatic, because that means our counterparts don’t have to look at the part they played pertaining to our history” as African Americans.
While the stigma on mental health in the Black community still exists—you know, the “what goes on in this house stays in this house” thing—Dr. Givner said it’s slowly eroding. Everywhere you look, there’s a mental health summit, or a segment about it on KDKA-TV’s “Talk Pittsburgh,” or new center that’s opened in the community focusing on mental health.
When asked on the spot to name some African American mental health therapy providers in the region, Dr. Givner gave kudos to Boatwright of Steel Smiling, Kiva Fisher Green of Sanant Counseling & Wellness, De’netta Benjamin-Miller, Channing Moreland and Dr. Tamara Thornhill.
Of course, there’s even more Black providers in the region who are part of the equation that’s adding up to increased mental health awareness.
“Everybody needs a safe person,” Dr. Givner told the Courier exclusively. “Just because we know how to struggle, we shouldn’t choose to and want to struggle. Being able to make that connection with somebody to help us choose a different path and give us something else to consider, and have that safe place to talk bravely about lived experiences, is why I feel like people should go to therapy.”
ATTENDEES AT THE NAMI BLACK MENTAL HEALTH SUMMIT
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