Her inability to find a mental health professional who shares her race and cultural background has made it difficult to cure post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and severe depression, Freeman, 30, told CNN.
“This means that many of the cultural issues that I have to deal with are not adequately addressed because the therapist has no way of relating to my experiences at any level,” he said.
The app, slated to launch in August, was founded by Senegalese-American tech Eric Coly.
He says it stemmed from his attempt to help a friend find a therapist who could understand her culture. Having struggled with depression and anxiety, Coly was well aware of the benefits of talking to a therapist with a similar background.
“No one should have to settle when you are looking for something that can help you heal,” Coly told CNN. “People of color should be more demanding about who their therapist is. When it comes to healing, you must find your safe space, and safe space for me means being seen, seen, understood.”
Ayana means “mirror” in Bengali, which symbolizes the application’s purpose of uniting users with someone who can really see, and understand, who they are, where they come from and how their race or ethnicity is. impacts the experiences of their lives.
Coly said the app will be particularly useful for African Americans, who regularly face racism, inequality and violence at the hands of the police and the public.
“The death of unarmed black men and women in the United States has a long-term impact on black communities that make them most in need of therapy,” he said. “Not only that, it also triggers unhealed wounds that were neglected by the healthcare system. Ayana will help by focusing on hiring therapists who are culturally competent, with a particular focus on discrimination.”
Almost 90% of American psychologists are white
For people of color, meeting with a therapist who is unfamiliar with their background can mean missing multiple sessions explaining their differences and even justifying their feelings before getting to the real healing job.
Freeman described the circumstances as a “disaster”.
“Many white therapists have a habit of dismissing the things I say or making assumptions about my behavior or motivations based on my skin color,” Freeman said. “The lack of diversity in therapy in the black community also means that those of us who seek help are less likely to find someone who understands the interconnectedness of what we go through in front of who we are.”
The four most important aspects of Ayana’s pairing process are a person’s race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation. There are eight options for race and ethnicity, with captions for each.
“We get as detailed as possible. We want people to tell us, ‘I don’t want just a black therapist, I want someone from Ethiopia. I’m not just Latino, but from El Salvador,'” Coly said. said.
“We also ask, ‘How important is it to have a therapist who looks like you?’ and people can respond, ‘Oh, I want someone who’s black, and I don’t care where they’re from, but I want them to be weird,’ “he said. “There are a variety of needs and we want to make sure we give our patients the therapist they need.”
Patients can also choose which religion they want their therapist to be, which can help solve problems stemming from religious values and identity.
By offering the service in app format, Freeman says it could even help overcome some of the stigma associated with mental health in the black community, as well as many others.
“The main thing is this mentality that the black community has about mental illness. It is this idea that mental illness is not something that black people go through or that it is not a luxury that we can afford as white people,” he said. Freeman.
With the app on a person’s phone or tablet, it can be used privately and without judgment.
Ayana will cost $ 140 a month for unlimited text messages and two half-hour phone calls, or $ 180 a month for four half-hour video calls and unlimited text messages. So far, 260 therapists of different races, religions, sexual orientations and backgrounds are available on the platform.
Coly has also partnered with three foundations to make the app free for people who can’t afford the monthly fee.
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