When the Weight of Racism Is Affecting Your Mental Health
Living in New York City doesn’t protect you from racism. The microaggressions at work. The hypervigilance when you’re walking through certain neighborhoods. The exhaustion of code-switching all day and then coming home to news footage that reminds you the world isn’t safe for people who look like you. The grief that comes in waves, triggered by yet another incident you didn’t need to see but couldn’t avoid.
Race-based stress is not a weakness. It is the predictable psychological consequence of living in a society structured by racism. And it deserves treatment that takes it seriously, not a therapist who asks you to “focus on what you can control” while ignoring the systems bearing down on you.
Kind Mind Psychology is a Black-owned practice founded on a mission to reduce healthcare disparities. Our founder, Dr. Monica Johnson, co-authored Addressing Race-Based Stress in Therapy with Black Clients: Using Multicultural and Dialectical Behavior Therapy Techniques (Routledge), a clinical framework for treating racial trauma that informs how our entire team practices.
What We Help With
Therapy for race and cultural identity at Kind Mind addresses racial trauma and race-based stress from direct and vicarious experiences of racism, the cumulative impact of microaggressions in professional, academic, and social settings, hypervigilance and chronic stress from living in predominantly white spaces, code-switching fatigue, intergenerational trauma passed through families and communities, cultural identity exploration for BIPOC individuals navigating multiple cultural contexts, the intersection of racial identity with LGBTQ+ identity, alternative lifestyles, immigration, and disability, the unique pressures on first-generation Americans and children of immigrants, and racial stress in interracial relationships.
How We Treat Race-Based Stress
We use EMDR to process racial trauma that your nervous system hasn’t been able to resolve on its own. CBT and DBT build coping skills for managing the day-to-day stress of racism in real time. IFS helps you understand the internal parts that developed in response to racial stress, including the protector parts that code-switch, the parts that carry rage, and the parts that learned to make themselves small to survive. Psychodynamic approaches explore how racial identity was shaped by your family, community, and early experiences.
We don’t pathologize your anger. We don’t ask you to find the silver lining. We meet you where you are and help you carry the weight without being crushed by it.
All sessions are virtual. We accept Aetna, Cigna, and Northwell Direct for NYC clients. Sliding scale from $25. Visit our Insurance & Fees page.
FAQ
What is race-based stress?
Race-based stress refers to the psychological and physiological impact of experiencing racism, both direct (overt discrimination, racial violence) and indirect (microaggressions, media exposure to racial violence, systemic inequity). It can manifest as anxiety, hypervigilance, depression, anger, emotional exhaustion, and trauma symptoms.
Does Kind Mind specialize in racial trauma?
Yes. Our founder co-authored a published clinical framework on treating race-based stress with Black clients, and that framework is embedded in how our entire team is trained. Racial trauma is a core area of expertise at Kind Mind.
Do I need to have experienced a specific racist incident to benefit from this therapy?
No. Race-based stress is cumulative. You don’t need a single defining event. The ongoing weight of microaggressions, systemic racism, vicarious trauma from media, and the labor of navigating predominantly white spaces is itself a valid and treatable concern.
Contact Kind Mind Psychology or call 646-918-1181.