Healing happens when care meets people where they are.

For too long, Black and BIPOC communities have carried grief, stress, trauma, and responsibility without always having access to the language, support, or culturally grounded care needed to heal.

 
The Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation was created to change that.

Our work builds pathways to mental wellness that feel reachable, trusted, and rooted in community—in therapy rooms, classrooms, campuses, gathering spaces, and everyday moments of need.

BLHF’s impact is not only measured by how many people we reach, but by what becomes possible when care is no longer out of reach: a student learning how to pause, a family beginning a difficult conversation, a young adult finding rest on campus, a person starting therapy for the first time, and a future clinician receiving support to continue the work.

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Creating access to care

For many, the first barrier to healing is access – the cost of therapy, the search for a provider who understands, or the stigma of asking for help.

Through the Mental Wellness Support Program, BLHF connects individuals and families to free therapy sessions with licensed clinicians, creating an entry point to care for those navigating stress, grief, anxiety, depression, hopelessness, and life transition.

A therapy session can become the first place someone exhales, speaks honestly, and begins to feel supported. Learn about therapy support.

Bringing wellness into community

Healing does not only happen in clinical spaces. It also happens through connection, movement, breath, creativity, rest, and shared understanding.

Through Hangouts, BLHF creates community-centered wellness experiences rooted in guided conversation, meditation, yoga, sound therapy, dance, art, somatic healing, and joy.

Through Wellness Pods, BLHF brings safe, accessible spaces for mental health support, psychoeducation, rest, and reflection to campuses and communities, including HBCU environments where students can pause, reset, and receive care where they already are.

Through the Take A Minute Challenge, BLHF brings daily wellness practices into school communities, inviting students to spend three intentional minutes breathing, moving, journaling, reflecting, creating, or simply pausing. These small moments help young people build emotional awareness, self-regulation, and a deeper understanding that their mental health matters before crisis begins.

Making mental health speakable

Stigma thrives in silence. BLHF helps communities find the language to talk about what hurts.

Through resources like the Let’s Talk! Resource Guide and ongoing education efforts, BLHF supports individuals, families, educators, and caregivers in recognizing distress, beginning honest conversations, and connecting to care.

This work makes mental health less hidden, less shameful, and more possible to name.

Investing in the future of care

Access also depends on who is available to provide care.

Through the BLHF Scholarship Fund, the Foundation supports African American students pursuing careers in the mental health field, helping strengthen the future pipeline of culturally informed providers.

Each scholarship is an investment in a future where more Black and BIPOC individuals and families can be met by clinicians who understand their lived experience and cultural context.

Our Commitment

BLHF is building a future where mental wellness is accessible, culturally grounded, and free from shame.

• A future where care begins before crisis.
• A future where young people have tools to name what they feel.
• A future where families can talk about mental health with more support.
• A future where campuses, schools, and communities have spaces designed for rest, reflection, and connection.
• A future where Black and BIPOC communities are not only surviving, but supported.

This is the impact of BLHF: creating pathways to healing, expanding access to care, and reminding our communities that they do not have to carry it all alone.

Continue the work with us

Explore our programs, access mental health resources, partner with us, or support our mission to bring
culturally relevant care to more Black and BIPOC communities.