Nearly six decades after Mental Health America, the nation’s leading nonprofit dedicated to promoting mental health and well-being, established May as Mental Health Awareness Month in 1949, Congress designated July as Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. Also known as BIPOC Mental Health Month, the observance focuses on the unique strengths, challenges, and disparities that Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) face in accessing and receiving mental health care.
The 2008 legislation was named in honor of the late bestselling author and journalist Bebe Moore Campbell, whose daughter, actress Maia Campbell, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1998. Campbell, along with Nancy Carter and other mothers of children living with mental illness, helped establish the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Inglewood, now known as NAMI Urban Los Angeles.
Carter said Campbell often described herself as the “Harriet Tubman” of mental illness because she believed it was her mission to lead others out of silence and stigma.
“She had a following of people who read her work. She was the person who was able to take the message of mental illness out to the people and make it acceptable to the Black community,” Carter said.
Disparities and Stigma
Black Americans experience mental health conditions at rates similar to those of other racial and ethnic groups. However, significant disparities remain when it comes to seeking and receiving treatment.
A study by the National Institutes of Health found that only 25 percent of Black adults seek mental health treatment, compared with 40 percent of White adults. Black adults are also about half as likely to receive mental health care overall and are 36 percent less likely than U.S. adults overall to have received treatment within the past year.
Experts attribute much of this disparity to the enduring stigma surrounding mental illness within the Black community, coupled with a longstanding distrust of the medical system.
“For people of color in this country, there’s already been this stigma of Black inferiority. Even when you go back to the origins of psychology developed in the 20th century, it was caught up in the sciences that were trying to prove Black inferiority,” said pastor and therapist Dr. Bryon Benton. “Even when you go back to a generation not too long ago, it wasn’t just clinicians; it was any kind of medical doctor that Black folk did not want to deal with.”
Campbell became a tireless advocate for eliminating the stigma surrounding mental illness in the Black community and reforming what she viewed as a deeply flawed mental health system. Her 2005 novel, “72 Hour Hold,” chronicled a mother’s desperate search for help for her daughter living with mental illness. The title refers to the legal limit for involuntary psychiatric holds, highlighting the limited options often available to families facing severe mental illness.
While on tour promoting the book, Campbell openly discussed her own journey from denial to advocacy.
“I shut down completely, went right into denial, and allowed the stigma to overwhelm me. I was ashamed and embarrassed. I didn’t want to talk about it. I forbid anyone inside the house to talk about it outside of the house. It was my deep, dark secret,” Campbell said. “Except when you have a mentally ill family member, they won’t keep your secret. [Her] behavior was broadcasting, ‘problem-problem-problem,’ but within the household we were broadcasting, ‘denial-denial-denial.'”
It took Campbell years to move beyond denial before she connected with Nancy Carter and helped establish the support group that eventually became NAMI Inglewood.
Types and Causes
Reducing stigma is only one part of improving mental health outcomes. Equally important is understanding the different types of mental illness and the life experiences that can contribute to them. Reba Stevens always sensed that something was wrong.
She grew up in a multigenerational household as the 10th of 12 children. Her mother was strict. Stevens and her siblings attended private school and were not allowed to play with neighborhood children who attended public schools. Sleepovers and slumber parties were also forbidden.
“My father was good to us. Every year we got bikes. I mean, you know, good to us in the sense of tangible or material things. And we didn’t want for anything,” Stevens said.
Everything changed on the day when a woman arrived at the family’s home and spoke privately with Stevens’ mother. Stevens later learned that her father had another family and that the visitor was his wife. Shortly afterward, her father’s financial support ended.
Stevens said her entire world shifted, but no one talked about it.
“I never saw my mother in the same way again. I had a lot of thoughts, but we were raised to be children who were seen and not heard,” Stevens said. “You didn’t talk about feelings. You couldn’t ask clarifying questions. You just couldn’t.”
Angry and rebellious, Stevens became pregnant at 16 and spent more than two decades struggling with substance abuse and homelessness.
Her turning point came when a Black physician diagnosed her with major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, polysubstance use disorder, and suicidal ideation. Stevens credits her ongoing recovery to understanding the trauma underlying her diagnoses and learning healthier ways to cope.
“Mental illness and mental health are not just about hearing things and seeing things that aren’t there. It’s about the soundness of one’s mind, finding peace, and knowing what to do,” Stevens said. “If I am depressed and I am dealing with stress, you need to help me understand what it is so that I can get better.”
Today, Stevens is a consultant, behavioral health commissioner, and advocate for people experiencing homelessness.
Other Mental Illnesses and Support Services
Another common mental health condition is bipolar disorder, formerly known as manic depression. It is a lifelong mental illness characterized by dramatic shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, concentration, and behavior. Individuals with bipolar disorder experience emotional highs, known as mania, and emotional lows, known as depression. These episodes can significantly disrupt relationships, work, sleep, and daily functioning.
Bipolar disorder most often develops during the late teens or early twenties, with the average age of onset around 25. Although its exact cause remains unknown, researchers believe a combination of genetic, biological, environmental, and social factors contributes to its development.
Although Black Americans experience bipolar disorder at rates comparable to the general population, they are significantly more likely to be misdiagnosed—often with schizophrenia—and less likely to receive appropriate treatment.
Other categories of mental illness include mood disorders, anxiety disorders, psychotic disorders, trauma- and stressor-related disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and neurodevelopmental disorders.
Organizations like NAMI Urban Los Angeles and Southern California Health & Rehabilitation Program (SCHARP) continue to provide culturally sensitive care to communities of color despite cutbacks in funding.
Nearly two decades after Congress established Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, her vision continues to shape efforts to expand culturally competent mental health care in communities of color. Mental health advocates, faith leaders, community organizations, and clinicians are working to increase access to care, diversify the behavioral health workforce, and encourage more open conversations about mental illness. For those efforts to succeed, advocates say, the stigma that Campbell spent her life challenging must continue to be replaced with understanding, compassion, and the recognition that seeking help is a sign of strength—not weakness.
