Tarji P. Henson breaks the silence on mental health with the launch of a Foundation

The Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 2018 by Taraji P. Henson and led by Executive Director, Tracie Jade Jenkins. The foundation is named in honor of Ms. Henson’s father, Boris Lawrence Henson, who suffered with mental health challenges as a result of his tour of duty in the Vietnam War.

The group works toward increasing the mental health support within the African American community. “Mental health issues are huge in communities of color. We experience trauma on a daily basis, in the media, our neighborhoods and schools and prison system,” Henson tells Healthline.

The BLHF focuses on three core initiatives bringing mental health support to urban schools, reducing the recidivism rate in prisons and increasing the number of African American therapists.

Henson talks about her father who was a Vietnam veteran who would have PTSD years after the war was over. She remembers her dad wanting to attempt suicide and not knowing what to expect when her dad was in so much pain. She mentions things got better when her father met her stepmother but then he was diagnosed with a bipolar disorder. Years later, the father of her son died and then her father died two year later, she was then in need of support but had nowhere to turn. Henson says her extensive search for African Americans therapists came up short. Henson wanted to help change that for future generations. There were several barriers that contributed to the gap, including lack of health insurance and fear of being stigmatized in the community. Part of The Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation mission is to focus on ending the stigma in African American communities.

Tarij P. Henson on Capitol Hill Friday June 7th, to raise awareness about Mental Health in the black Community. Among those attending is media personality Charlemagne Tha God.

.“We in the African American community — we don’t deal with mental health issues,” said Henson. “We don’t even talk about it.” Ms. Henson added, "We were taught to pray our problems away, to just get over it."

Resonating points Ms. Henson made regarding the current but long standing acceptance of young people not allowed and raised to believe that talking about the pain and the traumatic experience, not only damage these youth in the black community, but it ultimately creates generations of distrust and the inability to communicate, causing overall trauma and long term damage to the black communities and the united states, calling it a "national crisis".

Getting mental health support can make a big difference in your quality of life and Henson encourages anyone who feels like they need help to ask for it. Henson hosted an event where she raised money to support BLHF’s first initiative, called “A Little Piece of Heaven”. The project was partnered with artist Cierra Lynn to uplift art to inner-city school bathrooms, places where students experience depression and bullying. Taraji looks forward to seeing the foundation grow and says there’s more to come.