During trying times like these, maintaining your mental health is just as important as your physical health. To help alleviate worry in the Black community, actress Taraji P. Henson is launching a free virtual therapy campaign for families and others dealing with the aftermath of COVID-19.
She unveiled the COVID-19 Free Virtual Therapy Support Campaign on Wednesday via Instagram to better assist “under-served communities experiencing life-changing events related to, or triggered by, the COVID-19 pandemic,” as stated in her video.
Henson’s campaign is sponsored by the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation, named after her father, who had his struggles with mental health after serving in the Vietnam war.
“In the African-American community, we’ve been taught to tough it out, hide our suffering, but this is something none of us have ever experienced, and no one should suffer in silence,” Henson said on Instagram.
According to the foundation’s website, their work will ensure “individuals with life-changing stressors and anxiety related to the coronavirus will have the cost for up to five (5) individual sessions defrayed on a first come, first serve basis until all funds are committed or exhausted.”
This week, the media has been flooded with reports of COVID-19 having harsher effects on Black and Brown communities. According to NBC News, most states and the federal government haven’t been able to pinpoint the reason for the widespread disparities, thus creating an information gap and further alarming residents of poor urban neighborhoods.
However, some reports from places like Chicago, Louisiana, and Michigan show statistics proving African Americans make up a large percentage of virus-related fatalities.
According to the Guardian, Kristen Clarke, committee president and executive director of Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is calling it “a social, economic and racial justice issue.”
Henson’s support will go a long way in these Black communities that are disproportionately suffering from the pandemic. Virtual therapy services are set to begin on Wednesday, April 15th.
