Multicultural Behavioral Health Provider Network (MBHPN)

My colleague and I started this networking group for minority behavioral health providers in the DFW Metroplex in 2013. One of the goals of our group is to develop collaborative relationships among minority providers and to develop a referral list. Networking was essential to the group's formation and has expanded over the years.

The group was started to address the mental health and mental health disparities of Black people and other multicultural groups. The goal was not to exclude anyone but to focus on sometimes neglected populations regarding mental health.

In 2020 after moving towards changes in the structuring of MBHPN, the collaboration ended with discussion and blessings given to keep the group acronym and name. At that time, I began to run MBHPN on my own. Though it was challenging, that change and the pandemic created a space for growth, restructuring, and the beginning of regular online streaming for the group. It also allowed MBHPN to reach areas I never imagined. There have been attendees from all over the U.S., along with London, Ireland, and even Peru!

At somewhere around the end of 2021 or the beginning of 2022, I began to dislike the term minority. In many spaces, it represented a lack of or weakness. Research and history tell us that racialized and marginalized groups are the majority around the globe. We have power, and I wanted that to be known. I changed the group from its original name Minority Behavioral Health Provider Network to the Multicultural Behavioral Health Provider Network. The name change allowed me to preserve the well-known group acronym while allowing clarity in the name.

The purpose of this online group is to be an exclusive forum to share thoughts, practice building strategies, offer support and promote the growth of mental health awareness in multicultural communities.