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How providers can help increase diversity in the mental health field

Therapists play a vital role in closing mental health equity gaps. Here are practical ways to diversify the field and deliver inclusive care that meets every client where they are.

Dr. Anum Ali
Dr. Anum Ali, LPCTherapist

The mental health field faces a critical challenge: While diverse communities increasingly seek therapeutic support, the provider workforce remains predominantly homogeneous. According to the American Psychological Association, approximately 84 percent of psychologists identify as white, despite the fact that communities of color experience mental health conditions at rates comparable to or higher than white populations. This disparity creates barriers to care, as clients often benefit most from working with providers who understand their cultural context and lived experiences.

The good news? Change is happening. At Headway, 40 percent of our provider network identifies as Black, Indigenous, or other people of color (BIPOC), and our network represents over 57 languages, demonstrating that building a more inclusive field is both possible and impactful. When providers reflect the diversity of the communities they serve, trust builds more readily, treatment becomes more effective, and mental health care becomes truly accessible.

As individual practitioners, we each have the power to contribute to this transformation. Here are evidence-based ways providers can help boost diversity in the mental health field while creating more inclusive practices.

Offering mentorship to early student or early career therapists

The pathway to becoming a licensed mental health provider is fraught with financial and systemic barriers. Graduate programs in psychology and counseling often cost between $100,000 and $200,000, creating insurmountable debt for many aspiring therapists from underrepresented communities. While individual practitioners cannot single-handedly address these economic barriers, professional mentorship and sponsorship can significantly impact the therapist pipeline.

Mentorship takes many forms: offering unpaid supervision hours, providing career guidance during graduate school, or connecting emerging professionals with networking opportunities. Consider partnering with graduate programs at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) or programs specifically designed to increase diversity in mental health. These relationships not only support individual careers but also create lasting change in our field's demographic composition.

Peer support networks also play a crucial role. Experienced providers can facilitate connections between new graduates and established professionals who share similar backgrounds or specialties. This approach recognizes that mentorship isn't just about clinical skills — it's about navigating a field that hasn't always been welcoming to people of color, immigrant communities, LGBTQ+ practitioners, and more.

Ensuring you and your practice engage in culturally competent care

Cultural humility isn't a destination — it's an ongoing journey of learning, self-reflection, and growth. The foundation begins with formal education through specialized trainings, workshops, and continuing education programs. Organizations like the National Board for Certified Counselors offer cultural competency courses, while books such as "Culturally Responsive Cognitive Behavior Therapy" by Farhana Mann and "The Body Keeps the Score" by Bessel van der Kolk provide essential frameworks for understanding trauma through cultural lenses.

Headway recognizes the importance of supporting providers in this journey through our partnership with Violet, a platform dedicated to advancing mental health equity. Violet provides evidence-based resources, training modules, and consultation services specifically designed to help providers deliver more culturally responsive care. Through this collaboration, Headway providers gain access to specialized resources for working with LGBTQ+ individuals, immigrants and refugees, communities of color, and other underserved populations.

Inclusive policies and practices

Creating an inclusive environment requires intentional policy development and implementation. Consider incorporating these evidence-based practices:


  • Intake forms that include diverse identity markers beyond traditional categories, including gender identity, sexual orientation, immigration status, and religious or spiritual affiliations
  • Sliding fee scales and payment flexibility to address economic barriers that disproportionately affect underrepresented communities
  • Multilingual resources and interpreter services for clients who prefer to communicate in languages other than English
  • Trauma-informed consent processes that acknowledge historical and ongoing experiences of discrimination in healthcare settings
  • Office environments that reflect diversity through artwork, reading materials, and decor that represent various cultures and identities
  • Referral networks that prioritize diverse providers when clients request culturally matched therapists
  • Regular self-assessment tools to examine personal biases and areas for growth in cultural competence

Community engagement

Building trust with diverse communities requires moving beyond the confines of traditional clinical settings. Community engagement allows providers to understand the unique challenges faced by different populations while demonstrating genuine commitment to serving these communities. This approach recognizes that mental health exists within broader social, economic, and cultural contexts.

Effective community engagement might involve collaborating with community leaders, participating in cultural events, or offering psychoeducational workshops in community centers, places of worship, or schools. These activities serve multiple purposes: They reduce stigma around mental health care, provide valuable education about available resources, and create opportunities for providers to learn directly from community members about their needs and preferences.

Creating platforms where individuals from diverse backgrounds can share their experiences also builds cultural bridges. This might involve hosting community forums, participating in health fairs in underserved neighborhoods, or partnering with community-based organizations that already have established trust within specific populations. As Abundance Therapy Center notes, "Engaging with diverse communities can provide deeper insights into the unique challenges they face... and create platforms where individuals from diverse backgrounds can share their experiences."

The key is approaching these relationships with humility, recognizing that providers are learning as much as they are teaching. This work isn't about outreach for outreach's sake — it's about meaningful relationship-building that strengthens mental health ecosystems.

Advocating for systemic change

Individual practitioners have significant collective power to influence broader systemic changes within the mental health field. This advocacy can take multiple forms, from supporting policy changes that increase funding for diverse graduate students to participating in professional organizations that prioritize diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Consider joining or supporting organizations like the Association of Black Psychologists, the National Latina/o Psychological Association, or the Asian American Psychological Association. These groups provide professional development opportunities while working to address systemic barriers within the field. 

Additionally, advocating for insurance reform that adequately reimburses mental health services makes care more accessible to diverse populations while supporting provider sustainability.

Professional advocacy also includes challenging discriminatory practices within healthcare systems, supporting colleagues from underrepresented backgrounds, and using your voice to amplify diverse perspectives in professional settings. This might involve nominating diverse colleagues for speaking opportunities, supporting their research and clinical work, or creating more inclusive workplace cultures within group practices and healthcare organizations.

Headway is your partner in providing inclusive care.

At Headway, we understand that building a more diverse and inclusive mental health field requires both individual commitment and systemic support. Our partnership with Violet represents our dedication to providing providers with the tools, resources, and training necessary to deliver culturally competent care.

We also support provider diversity through our inclusive network policies, comprehensive cultural competency resources, and commitment to reducing barriers that prevent qualified therapists from underrepresented backgrounds from joining our platform. By partnering with Headway, providers join a community that values both clinical excellence and cultural responsiveness, creating better outcomes for the diverse clients we serve together.

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