Dr. Valerie Henderson says she fully realizes that one of the barriers to getting care for mental health issues is stigmatization, especially in the African-American community.
“To be truthful, there are so many things in the black community that prevent people from seeking services, and stigmatization is indeed one of them,” says Henderson, founder and executive director of Sankofa Behavioral and Community Health, a not-for-profit mental health organization specializing in culturally relevant practices. “Access is a problem. Being afraid that people will judge them is a problem. Generally, when mental health is promoted in the greater community, you don’t see faces that look like mine. In Madison, when you think about coming to get services, the fear of being judged or persecuted through white lenses is very real. There are so many layers as to why people don’t seek services.”
Sankofa Behavioral and Community Health(BCH) provides mental health, case management, and community education in a culturally relevant way to community members in need. In celebration of Black History Month and Valentine’s Day, Sankofa BCH will host its first annual fundraiser titled “Black Love” on Friday, Feb. 17, 6-9 p.m. at Turner Hall, 3001 South Stoughton Road in Madison.
“Essentially, what this event is about is a celebration of black culture, black history, black struggle, black thriving, and black love,” Henderson tells Madison365. “It will be pretty informal but we’ll definitely have a program where we do some traditional things including the singing of the National Black Anthem. We will have great food and great entertainment and we will celebrate people in our community.”
Since its founding in 2013, Sankofa BCH has strived to be a leader mental health, alcohol and drug addiction, and case management services. Henderson, a psychologist, an activist, and a visionary for holistic health, relates the founding of Sankofa BCH with her own upbringing.
“I was born to a black, poor mother in the South. She was brilliant but, unfortunately, she had few opportunities and was trapped in trauma and became mentally ill. So her brilliance never had an opportunity to materialize. She never really had an opportunity to be what she could have been,” Henderson says. “She didn’t have access to health care and steady employment and mental wellness.”
As a result, Henderson spent her childhood being homeless and displaced. “Before I was 17, I had gone to 21 different schools … and those were the ones that I could remember,” Henderson says. “We lived in so many different places and we were homeless and we were hungry. Being very young and watching my mom go through this really impacted me because I couldn’t focus in school and I couldn’t study and I couldn’t learn the way people traditionally learned.”
People thought there was something really wrong with Henderson and for one year they put her in a class where kids couldn’t speak. “Although my mom was mentally unwell, she knew I was intelligent enough that I didn’t need to be there,” Henderson remembers. “She fought for me to be removed from that setting. Just out of her love, she was able to teach me some things and demanded some things from me so that I could be something different. And that is the foundation of Sankofa BCH essentially.”
That’s where it all started. Henderson knew that in some ways she did not want to be like her mom because she knew that she was not well. “But I did want to be like her because she was so brilliant and she wanted to do something not only for me but for her community,” she says. “That’s when I knew that I was going to do this [SankofaBCH]. Even as a child, I knew I was supposed to do something to help people in our community.”
Sankofa BCH’s mission is to simultaneously address the concerns of their consumers, their families, and their communities. They believe that everybody is affected by the community’s struggle. As such, Sankofa BCH recognizes hunger, lower educational attainment, homelessness, unemployment or underemployment, incarceration, and more as a community’s struggle, rather than an individual’s problem.
“Sankofa BCH has been so well-received so far and for that I am grateful,” Henderson says. “Community members immediately recognized that this was a service that was needed. We’ve never had to advertise our agency. But as we continue to grow, we recognize that there is such a need.”
The Black Love fundraising event Feb. 17, Henderson says, will be a space to celebrate the healing, liberation, and strength of the community. There will be a raffle and an auction and resources available from community agencies along with poetry performances. Kinfolk Soul will perform at the event and there will be delicious soul food from Sweet Tea.
It will be a fun event but also a chance for people to get to know about the organization. “It really is a celebration and a recognition and a resurgence of our wellness,” Henderson says.
For information about Black Love: Fundraiser for Sankofa BCH, e-mail [email protected] or call (608)285-9101.
