Ethnic Counselors Needed To Meet Demand For Mental Health Services Nationwide
This year, millions of people will use the internet to search for ethnic and culturally oriented mental health information and resources. Many are looking for services for themselves, a family member or someone else they know. Unfortunately, finding ethnic Psychiatrists, Clinical Psychologists, Clinical Social Workers, Licensed Professional Counselors and Marriage and Family Counselors that can help them with their unique counseling and cultural needs has become increasingly difficult.
(PRWEB) 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 organizations...it's also a dynamic
online community where members network, share information and resources and
support one another as well", said Johnson.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/10/prweb166524.htm