Mental Health, Trauma and Black Communities

Free or Low-Cost Mental Health Services in Wisconsin

211 Wisconsin – Mental Health Guide
Call, text or live chat with representatives to help you connect with mental health resources in your area. This database includes crisis intervention services, counselors and therapists, treatment facilities, support groups and more.

Family Services Crisis Support Information
Family Services offers a directory of the crisis centers located throughout the state. Enter your location and program information will appear.

Milwaukee County List of Mental Health Resources
Milwaukee County provides a list of free or low-cost mental health resources in the Milwaukee area.

Homeless Health Care Clinics in Milwaukee
These are Federally Qualified Health Care Clinics that are funded by the federal government. FQHCs are community-based organizations that provide comprehensive primary care and preventive care, including health, oral, and mental health/substance abuse services to persons of all ages, regardless of their ability to pay or health insurance status.

Urban Triage
Urban Triage offers crisis response services within their mission is to foster, develop, and strengthen Black economic power, Black families’ self-sufficiency, community leadership, advocacy, and family success through transformative education, psychoeducation, community engagement, trauma response, healing, and cultural heritage.

N.E.W. Community Clinic
Green Bay Area
With clinics in the Green Bay area, N.E.W. Community Clinic offers dental, medical assistance, individual therapy, psychiatric medication management, and substance abuse counseling to Green Bay residents who are uninsured or on BadgerCare Plus.

EOTO, LLC
EOTO provides mental health and substance use wellness support. Guided by a “Each One Teach One” philosophy that dictates those who have learned have a duty to teach. Quick access support services are available at a sliding scale.

Peace Network
Peace Network Inc. is an award-winning mental health consulting service, empowering individuals and corporations to live through these emotionally challenging times, through one-on-one and group counseling, workshops and seminars.

Confidential Support Resources

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
1-800-273-8255
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a United States-based suicide prevention network of more than 160 crisis centers that provides 24/7 service via a toll-free hotline.

Crisis Text Line
Text HOME to 741741
The Crisis Text Line serves anyone in the United States with this confidential and free 24/7 text line, connecting you with a trained crisis counselor.

Trevor Project
1-866-488-7386
The Trevor project is a national organization providing 24/7 crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth.

LGBT National Hotline
1-888-843-4564
With hours Monday through Saturday, the LGBT National Hotline provides one-to-one peer support and a confidential safe space for anyone to talk about issues with coming out, gender or sexual identity, relationship concerns, bullying, self-harm, and more.

Additional Wisconsin-Based Resource Organizations

ARC Community Services, Inc.
Madison
ARC Community Services, Inc. is dedicated to helping women reclaim their lives, gain awareness of their personal self-worth, and be empowered to make the changes necessary to improve their welfare along with that of their children and families.

Allied Wellness Center
Madison
The Wellness Center is a neighborhood Center with the purpose of promoting health and wellness of the mind, body and spirit of people living in the Allied, Belmar and Dunn’s Marsh neighborhoods in Madison through a philosophy of care and respect, encouraging participation and leadership to build a strong community.

F.O.S.T.E.R
Dane County
F.O.S.T.E.R. (Families Overcoming Struggles To Encourage Restoration) is a wraparound case management program which seeks to address the needs of families, single-parent households, those at risk of involvement in the foster care system, and/or parent(s) of those who have been incarcerated. Editor’s note: F.O.S.T.E.R. CEO and founder is Jacquelyn Hunt a member of the Why Race Matters Advisory Team.

Freedom Inc.
Dane County
Freedom, Inc. is a Black and Southeast Asian non-profit organization that works with low- to no-income communities of color. They provide an array of culturally-relevant programming.

Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership
Dane County
The Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development has a number of programs that work to engage the greater Madison community to empower African American individuals, families, and communities to bring about hope, transformation, and justice.

MIRACLE Network
Milwaukee
The MIRACLE Network is a partnership led by Progressive Baptist Church that brings together churches and other organizations to promote mental wellness among Milwaukee’s African American faith community.

MKE LGBT Community Center Counseling Centers and Programs List 
Milwaukee Area
The MKE LGBT Community Center offers free counseling and mental health support for the LGBTQ+ individuals including support groups and meetings.

UNIDOS
UNIDOS exists to empower the community to break the cycle of domestic violence, end sexual assault and promote healthy family systems.

Podcasts, Books, Apps and Online Mental Health Resources

Black Mental Wellness Resource List
Black Mental Wellness compiled lists of helpful mental health apps, videos, and podcasts that can provide additional information on helpful coping strategies as well as general information about mental health and wellness.

Nap Ministry
The Nap Ministry was founded in 2016 by Tricia Hersey and is an organization that examines the liberating power of naps. They believe rest is a form of resistance and name sleep deprivation as a racial and social justice issue.

The Safe Place App
The Safe Place is a mental health app, available in the App Store or Google Play, that was created to raise awareness of mental health in black communities.

The Shine App
The Shine app was created with the mission to provide free and accessible mental health resources to BIPOC. Learn new self-care strategies every day, get community support and explore an audio library of over 800+ original meditations, bedtime stories, and calming sounds.

Black Girl In Om Free Meditation
The organization Black Girl In Om offers a free, complementary guided meditation for Black girls and women.

Between Sessions Podcast
Between Sessions, a Melanin and Mental Health podcast, is hosted by 2 therapists that work to change the face of therapy on both sides of the couch.

Therapy for Black Girls Podcast
The Therapy for Black Girls Podcast is a weekly chat about all things mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions made to become the best possible versions of ourselves.

The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health
In The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health, a book written by psychologist Rheeda Walker offers a comprehensive guide to help African Americans combat stigma, increase awareness around mental illness, practice emotional wellness, and get the best care possible for Black people in an unequal system.

Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We’re Not Hurting
Author Terrie M. Williams offers help through examining the Black experience and provides a guide to finding relief from depression.

Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing
In this non-fiction book, author Joy A. Degruy helps to lay the necessary foundation to ensure the well-being and sustained health of future generations and provides a rare glimpse into the evolution of society’s beliefs, feelings, attitudes and behavior concerning race in America.

Self Magazine’s List of 9 Books by Black Therapists to Help You Process Your Emotions
In 2020 Self Magazine compiled a list of books written by Black therapists and academics.

National Mental Health Support and Resources

Black Emotional and Mental Health (BEAM)
BEAM is a national not-for-profit organization with a mission to remove the barriers that Black people experience getting access to or staying connected with emotional health care and healing. They do this through education, training, advocacy and creative arts.

National Alliance For Mental Illness
With local chapters in Wisconsin, NAMI is the National Alliance on Mental Illness and is one of the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organizations dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.

National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network
National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network (NQTTCN) is a healing justice organization committed to transforming mental health for queer and trans people of color (QTPoC).

The Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation
Through partnerships, the foundation will ensure cultural competence in caring for African Americans who struggle with mental illness by providing scholarships to African American students who seek a career in the mental health field; offer mental health services and programs to young people; combat recidivism within the prison system.

The Loveland Foundation
The Loveland Foundation brings opportunity and healing to communities of color, and especially to Black women and girls. Through fellowships, residency programs, listening tours, and more, they hope to empower and liberate the communities they serve.

Celebrate Black Joy

The Black Joy Project’s Instagram Page
The Black Joy Project started by Kleaver Cruz invites people to celebrate Black joy. This includes exploring what Black joy means to Black people around the world, how it can be a source of healing, community building and ultimately a contribution to revolutionary practices that will determine global Black liberation.

#BlackGirlMagic
Created by CaShawn Thompson, #BlackGirlMagic is a celebration of positive images and achievements of Black women.

Goodreads’ List of 96 Books Sharing the Joy, Love, and Adventures of Black Lives
Book catalog site Goodreads did a deep dive into some of the most popular genres on their site to showcase highly rated books by Black authors.

School Library Journal’s List of Picture Books Celebrating Black Joy
SJL curated a list of picture books, with exuberant illustrations and positive prose, offering portraits of Black joy, within and beyond the African diaspora.

School Library Journal’s List of Books for Teens Spotlighting Black Joy
SJL curated a list of titles for middle and high school readers that celebrate joy in the lives of Black teens and tweens.