Being a Garifuna Woman in Mental Health: Representation and Visibility
Mental health is deeply personal. It shapes how we see ourselves, how we relate to others, and how we navigate the world. But healing doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s influenced by culture, history, and community. As a Garifuna woman, my identity is not separate from my work as a therapist. It informs the way I show up, the way I listen, and the way I hold space for clients who may have never seen themselves reflected in the therapy room.
Who Are the Garifuna People?
The Garifuna are descendants of West and Central Africans who, through resilience and survival, became part of the Indigenous Carib and Arawak communities in the Caribbean. Today, Garifuna communities thrive in Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and the United States. We carry a rich culture of language, music, food, and spirituality and also the resilience of people who have endured displacement, migration, and systemic barriers.
Why Representation Matters in Mental Health
When clients enter therapy, they bring all of themselves; their struggles, but also their culture, their language, and their history. Too often, therapy spaces have lacked diversity, leaving many clients feeling misunderstood or unseen. Representation matters because:
It fosters trust. Seeing a therapist who shares aspects of your cultural identity can create an immediate sense of safety.
It breaks stereotypes. Representation challenges narrow views of what “mental health professionals” look like and who gets to be the “expert.”
It validates experiences. Therapists who understand cultural nuances can help clients name and process challenges in ways that honor their identity.
The Role of Visibility
For me, visibility is not just about being in the room. It’s about owning my presence as a Garifuna woman in a field that has not always welcomed voices like mine. It means embracing bilingualism, cultural traditions, and intergenerational stories, and allowing those to shape how I support healing.
Visibility also creates ripple effects:
For clients, it affirms that they are not alone in their struggles or their cultural experiences.
For future clinicians, it opens doors, showing that Garifuna women, and women of color more broadly, have a vital role to play in shaping the future of mental health.
Honoring Culture in Healing
Being Garifuna reminds me that healing is not just individual; it is communal. Our traditions of storytelling, music, and spirituality are themselves forms of resilience and therapy. In my practice, I honor that by integrating cultural awareness, holding space for identity exploration, and helping clients bridge their personal healing with the strength of their heritage.
Closing Thought:
Representation and visibility are not only about who is sitting in the therapist’s chair. They are about creating pathways for healing that reflect the fullness of who we are. As a Garifuna woman in mental health, I see my work as both deeply personal and part of a larger collective story of resilience, grace, and healing.
