Ethnic Counselors Needed To Meet Demand For Mental Health Services Nationwide



October 10, 2004 -- Culture Counts! That's what the Surgeon General's report on mental health says and that's what Clinical Social Worker Hasan Johnson has come to know from his professional experiences as an African American mental health clinician in New Jersey. Even though more and more mental health service providers are taking steps to be more culturally competent, some mental health consumers complain that culturally oriented mental health resources still remain hard to access and find.

The main challenge most mental health consumers face after choosing to seek counseling, is actually finding a competent, trustworthy professional counselor who is a cultural, ethnic or religious match.

According to Johnson, who is also the Founder and President of EthnicCounselors.com the process of looking for an Ethnic Counselor can be very frustrating. He believes that people who have little success finding and connecting with culturally competent or multilingual mental health services will get frustrated and eventually stop seeking help altogether. "Getting mental health help is already tough. People of all cultural, racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds need to know where they can go to get the counseling help they need when they are facing difficult times in their lives", said Johnson. "People need service options that are easily accessible and that work. I get about 10 to 15 phone calls and emails everyday from people all across the country who are trying to find Ethnic Counselors and culturally competent therapists in their local areas."

Johnson says that EthnicCounselors.com was created to focus exclusively on ethnic and culturally related counseling resources and information. He sees the site becoming the leading online resource people turn to when they want to find Ethnic Counselors and Counseling resources locally and nationwide. "My goal is to make it easy for people to find the help they need and to help Counselors and Counseling organizations let the public know that they exist and how they can be reached", said Johnson.

The site offers Free membership to the general public and college students. Members get unlimited access to a searchable database of professional counselors and counseling organizations. The site also offers articles, chat services, message boards, and online resources and links.

For a small monthly fee, Professional Counselors and Counseling organizations can create a customizable profile, post and review national job listings, post and review upcoming events and use the site's message boards, chat services, and article upload service on the website. "This site is more than a directory of ethnic counselors and organizationsit's also a dynamic online community where members network, share information and resources and support one another as well", said Johnson.





Ethnic Counselors Needed To Meet Demand For Mental Health Services Nationwide