Founders Launch Fastest Growing Black-Owned Community Of Mental Health Professionals

Clinicians of Color is a community of mental health professionals whose mission is to connect BIPOC mental health communities to services. Clinicians of Color was founded by Lisa Savage, LCSW, and Kim L. Knight five years ago. These two mental health professionals met on Facebook and immediately clicked. They realized that Black and Brown therapists were doing amazing things but often overlooked. So, Lisa and Kim decided to create a platform to elevate Black and Brown therapists and provide them with support, training, and a welcoming community.

Since its inception, Clinicians of Color has increased to a community of 20k members. They believe strongly in the power of community and engage in ongoing activities to cultivate the community.

After the killing of George Floyd, it became amply evident that the Black communities needed mental health services but accessing them was challenging. Many in these communities were unaware of the resources and sought to connect with therapists who represented their race and understood their cultural nuances. Clinicians of Color heard the call and decided to create a mental health directory to help connect communities to therapists who look like them. Their objective was to make it easier for Black and Brown people to find a therapist. The directory has therapists representing almost every state with various specialties. To learn more about the directory, visit CliniciansofColor.org

In July, Clinicians of Color sponsors an online webinar for their therapist community. It’s called- Healing ourselves to heal others. The keynote speaker for this webinar is Dr. Joy DeGruy. Dr. DeGruy expanded a concept originally developed by Dr. Alvin Poussaint—of Post-Traumatic Slavery Syndrome and the author of a book of the same name. In this book, she posits that Black people continue to suffer from the ill effects of slavery and ongoing oppression. Dr. Degruy connects low self-esteem, ongoing anger, and internalized racism in Black people to post-traumatic slave syndrome. She believes that social and structural changes can only change this syndrome. There will be two other presenters during the webinar — Michelle Phillips and LeNaya Crawford.

The webinar will empower Black and Brown therapists to understand the concept of post-traumatic slavery syndrome and what they can do to help dismantle systems of oppression and empower the communities they serve.

Discover more information by visiting

https://academy.cliniciansofcolor.org/training/healing-ourselves/

About Clinicians of Color

Lisa R. Savage, LCSW, and Kim L. Knight, MBA, LMHC, founded Clinicians of Color, LLC over five years ago. Kim and Lisa shared a vision of helping BIPOC mental health providers develop skills and expertise to start or grow a private practice. They saw clinicians struggle with the nuts and bolts of practice development while recognizing that mental health providers' need in Black and Brown communities was increasing. Born out of this need was COCOA—Clinicians of Color Online Academy. It's a platform that contains over one hundred classes, expert training, resources, and support. Each month members get access to clinical training, and live question and answers sessions. They are also part of a private Facebook group where they receive ongoing support and guidance from fellow members. COCOA members also get significant discounts on big-ticket items such as EMDR training and other evidence-based modalities. Kim and Lisa believe that being in practice is one thing but having the opportunity to build and refine skills is another.

Over time, Lisa and Kim expanded services to include training and advocacy. Their most recent initiative is a mental health directory to bridge the gap between need and access to services.

Clinicians of Color, since its inception, has assisted hundreds of BIPOC providers and continues to be a vital resource for our communities. We unapologetically center the needs of BIPOC communities.

Recently Clinicians of Color was fortunate to bring on Dr. Jeff Gardere as their spokesperson. Dr. Gardere is a well-known psychologist who will use his expertise and clinical experience to assist COC in its efforts to grow and create more opportunities for its members.

Clinicians of Color unequivocally centers the needs of BIPOC mental health communities. We aim to elevate the visibility and meet the needs of mental health providers by providing access to resources that help them learn, develop and thrive as clinicians and private practice owners. We support BIPOC communities by providing them with resources that connect them to BIPOC therapists who can provide culturally sensitive environment that can meet their individual needs. Our hope is that collectively our work will move us closer to the goal of eradicating the stigma of therapy and make the process of finding a therapist easier and more culturally acceptable.