Therapy for Black Girls Directory Review

Research shows that Black adults experience feelings of sadness and hopelessness more than white adults. Over 16% of Black Americans have reported struggling with mental illness, yet only one in three Black adults gets the mental health help they need for a variety of reasons, including stigma, issues of accessibility, and a lack of cultural sensitivity to some mental health providers. 

“Black women experience unique stressors in society and the workplace,” says Nic Hardy, psychotherapist and one of the subject matter expert consultants who helped us assess the directory. “These experiences often require that they connect with someone in a therapeutic environment who shares similar experiences.” 

That’s why, as a Black woman, I was excited to come across Therapy for Black Girls. Its focus, directory of therapists, and additional resources speak to the needs of Black women. The directory is filled with useful information and a variety of options for both online and in-person therapy sessions. It's encouraging to see faces like mine, and I feel like they'll have a better understanding of my issues. 

To see how effective Therapy for Black Girls is at serving therapy seekers, we surveyed 180 people who had used it to find a therapist, interviewed over 10 therapists listed on the platform, and tested the directory’s search functions across 18 results. We also compared our results for Therapy for Black Girls against 24 other directories. Here’s how it fared in our research. 

What Is Therapy for Black Girls?

Joy Harden Bradford, PhD, is no stranger to the stigma surrounding mental health and therapy that often prevents Black women from seeking services. That’s why she founded the popular Therapy for Black Girls blog in 2014 and added a directory of therapists two years later. 

The website’s home page says it is an “online space dedicated to encouraging the mental wellness of Black women and girls.” With therapists who treat a wide range of needs and many online resources, Therapy for Black Girls works to make mental health treatment accessible to all women of color. While the company did not respond to our questionnaire, it’s clear that the company’s mission statement seems to resonate with the users we surveyed. Over half said the mission statement was “very good.”  

“It’s incredibly important that there is a designated space in mental health for a community who has historically been pushed out of mental health care,” states Hannah Owens, the mental health editor at Verywell Mind. 

The presence of Therapy for Black Girls fills a void. Almost half of the survey respondents said that they searched the website to find a therapist with a similar cultural background to theirs. That representation matters because, as the American Psychology Association notes, only 4% of the psychology workforce is Black.

“It is more difficult for many Black Americans to access mental health services in general—many Black Americans live in ‘health deserts,’ where fewer or no services are even available,” notes Owens. This is another advantage of Therapy for Black Girls, especially compared to other directories we reviewed: It lists therapists who are available throughout the U.S. and Canada. 

Users can search for a therapist who offers services online, in person, or both. While some states only offer a few in-person choices, there are many virtual options. Those choices help make therapy more accessible to Black women, who can have a session from the comfort of home.

The therapists in this directory provide a variety of services, ranging from individual therapy to group therapy to marriage counseling, and provide treatment for a variety of conditions, including depression, anxiety, trauma, addictions, and domestic violence.

First Impressions 

Photos of Black women on the homepage of the website immediately give you a sense of the directory’s focus, as does the statement, “Black. Girls. Thriving.” It is a welcoming image that gave me comfort and instantly made me feel supported when I visited the page for the first time. 

“The site has a clear message about the services provided, along with a comprehensive offering including but not limited to: a podcast, community support group, and recommended book list via Amazon,” notes Dr. Hardy.

The podcasts offer a weekly look at issues impacting communities of color. The site also features a blog written by different therapists on a variety of compelling, current topics, though it is not updated that frequently. Sometimes, there are gaps of several weeks between blog posts.

Since 2014, Therapy for Black Girls has amassed a solid presence on social media, particularly Instagram and Facebook, where it is followed by a total of nearly 680,000 people, with 500,000 on Instagram alone. The directory’s weekly posts on both platforms highlight its podcasts, different resources, and tips for mental health support.

The online community, called TfBG Sister Circle, promises to be “a cozy corner of the internet for Black women to BE. Be in the community. Be supported. Be yourself!" It invites Black women to join and take steps towards improving their life by developing lasting and healing relationships with other Black Women through community support. This community is noteworthy and unique to this site, at least compared to other directories we reviewed, but it’s important to note that this service, unlike the “find a therapist” search, is not free. There is a monthly cost of $9.99 to join, or you can pay $99.99 annually. 

There are a few challenges with navigation on the website though. For instance, as you browse through different pages on the website, the footer containing quick links disappears. But half of our surveyed users still said the site was “very easy” to navigate and 32% noted it was “easy."

Finding a Therapist at Therapy for Black Girls

When you select the header at the top of the website to search for a therapist, you are directed to a page to choose from in-office or virtual visits. If you’re looking for someone with in-person availability, you’ll be prompted to enter an address to search for the therapists closest to your location. 

If you're open to virtual providers, you’ll be able to view all the options available to you in your state.

Once on the search page for in-person or virtual therapists, you have filters for insurance, state or province of licensure, therapy specialty, and therapy options (such as group therapy or whether you want someone who can prescribe medication). You’ll also be able to narrow results to just show if the therapist accepts new clients. 

While the filters are helpful, they are not as intuitive as they could be. For example, there is no option to select a single state and look at all of the therapists available in that area. It is also not very easy to search for child therapists, and sometimes selecting a filter will mean you only see therapists who added that specific keyword, omitting others that might be a good fit but who didn’t fill their profiles out the same way.

One of our user testers found that certain filters resulted in only seeing three therapists in that zip code, but the non-filtered list showed many more that actually might be good fits for a specific need.

Therapy for Black Girls also doesn’t offer any language filters, like some of the other directories we reviewed do. This may be a real drawback for you if English is not your first language or the language you feel most comfortable speaking. Of the users we surveyed, 97% stated that their sessions were conducted in English. So while there may be therapists who offer sessions in other languages, you’ll need to reach out to the therapists you’re interested in to find out if other language offerings are available. 

It’s worth noting that the majority of the therapists in the directory appear to be Black women. There is no filter for nonbinary or male therapists, nor for therapists who specialize in sexuality and gender. This means that if you’re a therapy seeker interested in a Black therapist who is not a cisgender woman, you will need to do a little extra research, reviewing individual therapist bio pages, or even clicking on the therapists’ individual websites.

When the listing of therapists comes up, you will find some general information about each therapist. However, the list of therapists is not in alphabetical order, listed according to specialty, or grouped in any logical way. 

This makes it challenging to sift through the results, which is frustrating and could be a deterrent.  The limited search options and confusing listing of information to sift through make the therapy search not as straightforward as it could be. 

Still, 70% of our survey respondents said it was easy or very easy to find a therapist in this directory; only 5% said it was difficult or very difficult. However, when we asked respondents what they thought the directory could do better, 12% said they wished the search functionality helped them better filter and find therapists. 

Directory Bio Pages

After selecting a therapist, you’ll see their (or their practice’s) photo and bio page. Each profile also highlights a list of specialties, such as anxiety, race-related stress, and identity. Helpful details such as states of practice, whether the practice is online only, and if the therapist prescribes medication are also listed in some bios. Some therapists also list their religious backgrounds. 

All the therapists in the directory are licensed, many in multiple states or provinces. A number of therapists also have post-graduate degrees. Every mental health professional who applies to Therapy for Black Girl is vetted by the company before the listing is approved. However, not all therapists list qualifications on their directory profile, so sometimes you’ll have to click through to the therapist’s website for more information. 

At the top of bio pages, there are buttons to allow a user to call or email a therapist, visit their website, or view the location of their in-person practice. The directory does not have a scheduling form, like some of the others we viewed do. 

While the majority of our survey users said they were able to find whether a therapist was accepting new patients on the bio page, 25% said there were no available openings when they called.

You’ll find their self-pay rates per session on each therapist’s profile page. Many providers note the types of insurance they accept, if any, as well as whether they offer a sliding scale of prices. The directory does not handle payment or insurance reimbursement for you, as some of its competitors—like Headway—do; thus, you are not guaranteed that a therapist you like will accept your insurance plan. 

However, 74% of our respondents said they were able to use their insurance to help pay for a session with a therapist from Therapy for Black Girls.

The fact that so many therapists accept insurance is attractive for this site and demographic, but it may also account for challenges in finding available appointments. When people find a therapist who takes insurance, they snap them up, leaving instead more experienced, expensive therapists who only accept self-pay options remaining. Research shows that low reimbursement rates from insurance companies may lead to more experienced therapists deciding not to accept it.

How Useful Is the Directory for Therapy Seekers?

While the filter options could be improved, the directory is a valuable tool for Black women seeking therapists who share their lived experiences. Almost half of the users in our survey said that they searched the website to find a therapist with a similar cultural background to theirs. In addition, 77% of the directory users we surveyed identified as Black, and 78% as women, suggesting that the directory is reaching and serving its target client base.

Sixty-four percent of our respondents reported that they were currently seeing the therapist they had found using Therapy for Black Girls. Furthermore, a total of 76% said that they were either likely or very likely to still be working with a therapist from the directory six months from now.

When we asked users what improvements they’d like to see Therapy for Black Girls make, users rated listing therapists who accept a variety of insurance policies as a key request. Almost 20% of users also said they would like therapists with more experience and specialized training in different areas. 

“Their ability to meet the need of niche [areas] such as older age, faith orientations (outside of Christianity), [and] polyamory relationships, is sometimes lacking,” Dr. Hardy says. “[For] these issues, I found it difficult to find a therapist who had experience working with individuals.”

Still, 83% said they would use this directory to search for a new therapist. In addition, while the majority of survey respondents visited Therapy for Black Girls to find help for depression, many told us that they were able to find help for a wide variety of other mental health issues using a number of techniques, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), trauma-focused therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and ADHD coaching. 

How Useful Is the Directory for Therapists?

Therapy for Black Girls offers therapists the opportunity to target a specific audience that they want to reach. Niche marketing to a specific audience in a directory like this bring certain advantages: Therapists are able to save on marketing and advertising, and they can more easily be identified as an expert in a particular field. 

"My client roster has grown; it gives me more exposure," ShaQuan Read, LPC, says. Still, Read notes that she also uses other directories—the exposure from Therapy for Black Girls is not enough to sustain her on its own. Other therapists we spoke to also mentioned that they are also listed with more than one directory to cast a wider net for clients. 

The directory is relatively affordable for therapists though. They can be listed in the directory for $25 per month, or an annual payment of $300. There is potentially a 48-hour waiting period prior to approval. There also doesn’t seem to be a trial period, but therapists can cancel at any time. 

In addition to the directory listing, therapists can promote their practice on the organization’s social media and podcasts. Because of this, it seems that this directory is most helpful for therapists who are working to build their businesses. It gets them before a large clientele and has the name recognition of Therapy for Black Girls.

How Does Therapy for Black Girls Compare to Other Online Therapy Companies and Directories?

Therapy directories, like Therapy for Black Girls, are a popular way to increase the visibility of a therapist and attract more clients. For therapy seekers, directories offer a way to look at multiple options at once, usually for free. Using a directory with a very specific focus can help simplify a therapy search. 

As opposed to online therapy companies, which charge a fee (often as a subscription) for access to therapist options solely within the company, directories like this one allow therapy seekers to search for providers for free, and often offer more diverse options. However, therapists listed on directories—unlike online therapy companies—often pay to get their names and information before prospective clients.

Compared to Therapy for Black Girls, other directories cast a wider net in terms of clientele and service providers. Psychology Today’s directory has more filters, allowing for searches that include ethnicity served, age range, price, and languages. 

Meanwhile, online therapy companies like BetterHelp or Talkspace ask users a number of questions to match them with the right therapist, which can help to remove some of the guesswork when looking for a provider. Both are beneficial for a larger audience, whereas Therapy for Black Girls targets a unique and specialized group.

However, over 40% of users surveyed said they rank this website’s directory as much better than others they’ve used. 

Final Verdict

Dr. Hardy believes that “this website measures up very well to its competitors. In fact, for those focusing on Black women and/or BIPOC populations, I would rate it at the higher end because of its layout, ease of use, and available resources.” 

As a Black woman, I know what it feels like to want to talk to someone who understands me, and who doesn’t require long explanations to culturally relate to my viewpoint. I believe Therapy for Black Girls understands the importance of this, too. This website’s offerings are unique, focused, and impactful because they give something that Black women can’t get in other directories. I think that’s why more than half of the users we surveyed said they were very likely or likely to recommend this directory to others.

Methodology

To write this review, we conducted original, data-driven research in order to get a full sense of how Therapy for Black Girls helped therapy seekers and therapists connect and how it compared to other popular directories. We began by evaluating around 180 users at each company (4,862 respondents total) and collecting data and research on the company, such as when it was founded, the number of therapists it lists, what states it serves, and more. We also interviewed or surveyed a minimum of 10 therapists listed on each directory about their experience using it, including how the directory has affected their caseload, and whether they’d recommend it to their colleagues. 

Next, we tested each directory ourselves by searching for therapists who might be appropriate for 37 different but common reasons why someone might be looking for a therapist. We assessed the website's accessibility, whether it was culturally sensitive, and how well it met condition-focused needs. 

We then asked our three subject matter experts, Amy Marschall, Nic Hardy, and Hannah Owens, to score these testing results to get a sense of the directory’s search functionality and the ease of these searches for users. We also sent a questionnaire to each company, though not all companies responded.

Finally, I explored and tested the directory myself to get a real sense of the website, how it worked, and what I responded to as a Black woman. Read our full methodology here.