Health Update: Mental health nonprofit spotlights Black wellness icons for BHM – What Experts Say

Las Vegas (KSNV) — Black History Month is offering a chance not only to celebrate, but also to spotlight mental health pioneers whose work continues to shape how people understand emotional well-being.

Reggie Burton, founder of the Avery Burton Foundation, said his work through the mental health nonprofit gives him “the unique opportunity to help educate,” as the foundation highlights icons in the field of mental well-being during Black History Month on social media.

Part of the foundation’s effort is focused on de-stigmatizing getting help with emotional and psychological challenges, especially in diverse communities.

“I think trauma is one of those things we think about and hear it but in the Black community it falls in line as stigma, and we don’t talk about the things we experience sometimes in our youth as we become adults and that is what we experience as early childhood trauma and sometimes that can manifest in negative ways on our overall health as we grow older,” Burton said.

Burton highlighted psychologists Mamie Phipps Clark and Kenneth Clark, describing their landmark Doll study, which researched the effects of segregation on Black children and was part of the Supreme Court’s decision to end segregation in schools

Burton said he hopes lessons from the past can help guide the path forward.

“There are things we can learn about resilience, things we can learn about history to help grow what I call our emotional intelligence and that is simply how we develop our grit,” he said.