Talking about the importance of BIPOC mental health

Patrice Dunn discussing the reality of her career
Photo by Madalyn Mirallegro

On the evening of Feb. 9 in the Marty Theatre of the Michel Student Center, students gathered to hear Patrice Dunn, doctoral candidate, LPC-S, discuss the importance of mental health within the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) communities.

Hosted by Psychology Club and Active Minds, the goal of the event was bringing people together to discuss important issues.

“Our specific speaker is a psychologist herself so she was able to offer not just informal advice, but also formal advice and also different resources if a person needs counseling,” fundraising chair for Active Minds Erica Chessier said.

Dunn started her speech by joking around with the photographer to “get her skinny side” because when she looked at the photos she wanted to see “JLo.” Jokes aside, Dunn began by introducing herself and her therapy career.

“I have been in private practice for 16, maybe 17 years, I kind of did a little bit of overlap as I left the school, so now I just run my private practice and I do some national speaking,” Dunn said.

She mentioned her dissertation topic which covered Black female faculty members tenured or on the tenure track that work at either a primarily white institution (PWI) or a historically Black college or University (HBCU), that are a part of the baby boomer generation, Gen X or a millennial, who have attended white schools their entire lives.

With her speech, Dunn aimed to help educate those who were not aware of  the world of therapy from a woman of color’s point of view. She discussed how she had to constantly learn and grow inside the profession.

“Can we know it all?,” Dunn said. “We’re going to do a disservice to our client and one of the things is we work really hard to do more, so we owe it to them [clients].”

After her introduction speech, Dunn opened the floor to the audience to ask questions about her presentation. One of the questions asked was how to cope with being a person of color at a PWI, prompting Dunn to discuss colorism at schools and in the world.

“There is this thing called colorism and it exists among people of color,” Dunn said. “Dark skinned African Americans get treated differently in certain spaces than lightskin ones. There is a perception, there is a stereotype, there is a prejudice.”

Accompanying the point of colorism, Dunn noted the other struggles of attending a PWI, which was relatable to many individuals at Bradley.

“At a PWI, as stated throughout the presentation there is a feeling of isolation, there is a sense of belonging that you don’t really see immediately, especially if it is your first time at a PWI space,” Diversity, Equity and Inclusion leader for Psi Chi, Ren Huerta said.

Dunn also covered how teachers react when talking about people of color and how they always look to people of color for the answer. To explain further, Dunn shared a personal experience on how someone in school was interviewing her and used different slang and stereotypes to try and talk to her.

Soon after, the PowerPoint presentation began with a definition slide of BIPOC to explain it further to those who might have not known what it meant. Dunn also told those in the audience who were people of color that they need to figure out their own identity and what they feel comfortable identifying as. The topic of microaggressions was mentioned, especially at PWIs.

Dunn also discussed the topic of  “why Black people do not seek mental health care.” She turned it over to the audience on what they thought the reason was, such as the stigma against mental illnesses. One student mentioned that it was due to the fact that some people in the community don’t believe in mental health disorders.

Dunn went on to explain that she has had to deal with parents who didn’t believe in therapy and how she goes about telling them that mental illnesses are basically an invisible injury.

The slides that followed covered some of the reasons why, in Dunn’s opinion, people in the Black community do not go see counselors. Some of the slides included the high cost of mental health services, familial shame around mental health, lack of diversity in health care, poor competency among non-Black clinicians, whiteness as a foundation to mental health care, distrust of the medical industry and so much more.

Along with the presentation, Dunn would discuss her own personal experiences. During the poor competency slide, she spoke about how her college roommate at Ohio State had never met a Black person before her and the experience that she had when she first met her.

“An hour or two in [of her roommate staring at her] I’m like ‘Heather, do you need something?,’” Dunn said. “[She said] ‘Well I was just wondering if I could touch your skin?’”

Later on in her lecture, Dunn opened up about how she can relate to her patients and their parents and some of the struggles that they go through. She shared about losing clients over time and how that affects her mentally.

“I lost a student last year, a 16 year old boy,” Dunn said, “I haven’t been the same since that happened.”

Dunn wrapped up the event with the reality of BIPOC and their mental health and their experiences that they go through, throughout their lives, along with being an African American therapist.

“This is the reality for people of color; people have low expectations of them,” Dunn said, “People don’t expect us to do well, to be doctors, to be good in math, to be able to write in a way that’s susceptible in the academy, being taken seriously, having a voice…I could give an idea in a faculty meeting and they act like I didn’t say anything.”

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