There are many reasons why people of color in Metro Detroit may want to seek out therapy. We’ll talk in the next section about some of the common reasons people of all races seek therapy, but we can’t look away from the specific sources of stress, fear, and trauma that impact this community, which include: 

• Racism and discrimination – this can mean dealing with the effects of direct and hate-filled racist acts against you, a loved one, or your community, or just being frustrated with all the little ways that you’re made to feel other or less than or the hurtles presented by systemic racism. 
• Intergenerational trauma – scientific research has discovered that trauma lives in our bodies – literally – and even more importantly, it is transmitted to our children generation after generation. This means people who didn’t directly experience trauma can still feel it and exhibit symptoms of this trauma. It’s no secret that people of color in our country have more than enough traumas to cause the effects of intergenerational trauma, and the traumas of our present mean future generations will feel it too. 
• Reticence to ask for help – because of the lasting effects of systemic racism and the abusive use of therapy for black Americans are less likely to seek therapy than others. This discomfort in seeking therapy and stigma associated with those who do leaves, the Black community dealing with higher levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and trauma on their own, which leaves them seriously struggling. In its own way, not seeking therapy becomes its own reason for seeking therapy.