Recognizing Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Month

Join AAMFT for a special LinkedIn Live event on July 27 at 12 PM ET in recognition of Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Month.

Resilience, Rest, & Resistance will explore how marriage and family therapists can help individuals, families, and communities navigate barriers to care while fostering healing, connection, and hope.

Inspired by the legacy of BeBe Moore Campbell—an author, advocate, and champion for mental health awareness in communities of color—this timely discussion will examine how marriage and family therapists can help individuals, families, and communities navigate barriers to care while fostering connection, restoration, and hope. Panelists will explore the importance of culturally responsive therapy, the impact of stigma and systemic inequities on mental health, and how therapists can support resilience by honoring lived experiences, strengthening relationships, and creating spaces where healing can flourish. Together, they’ll discuss the role of rest as an act of restoration, resilience as a source of strength, and resistance as a pathway toward greater mental health equity.

We hope to see you there.

Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Month

Originally published July 30, 2025

Commemorating Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Month should send echoes of Legacy and Responsibility through our mental health community. Legacy—the impact that one leaves well after their time has passed—requires those who believe in their work to carry their lessons forward for others to learn. Ms. Campbell’s legacy as an American author, journalist, teacher, and mental health advocate calls on us, as Marriage and Family Therapists, to continue advancing her mission.

Ms. Campbell, born in Philadelphia, PA, in 1950, hit the ground running as an educator and journalist in her twenties. For most of her adult life, she produced literary works that not only educated readers on topics like equality, race, class, oppression, and mental health issues but also provided them with meaningful and intimate stories illustrating human experience, particularly those experiences within the Black community. Her writings served as a foundation and platform from which she was able to advocate for the underserved minorities whose voices, at the time, were barely a whisper. Her debut novel, Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine (1992), was inspired by the murder of Emmett Till and earned acclaim as a Times Notable Book and winner of the NAACP Image Award for Literature. Her next three novels were all New York Times Best Sellers: Brothers and Sisters (1994) explored race, class, and the aftermath of the LA Riots; Singing in the Comeback Choir (1998) explored community and social mobility; and friendship, betrayal, and historical trauma are themes presented in What You Owe Me (2001). In 2003, her works became more pointed towards her mental health advocacy with Sometimes Mommy Gets Angry (2003), which won the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Outstanding Literature Award, and 72 Hour Hold (2006), a novel that provides a raw depiction of bipolar disorder (BD) and family dynamics within a Black family. These stories gave Ms. Campbell an opportunity to share a common, yet unacknowledged truth with those who were far removed from disenfranchised perspectives while also serving as a role model for others. Being a Black mother who struggled to find help for her own daughter, she understood the complicated dynamics—oppression, access to resources, and social stigma—that prevented her and those like her from getting the help and support they needed. In her countless speeches and interviews, she promotes the need for cultural humility from the majority and strength and vulnerability from the minority. To create a bridge between the two, she co-founded the NAMI – Inglewood Chapter, a chiefly Black neighborhood, in 2003. And until her early death at 56 years old in 2006, Ms. Campbell loudly called upon our country to hear, see, and serve those whose stories had been, mostly, left untold and whose voices were rarely heard. In

2008, the U.S. House of Representatives announced July as the Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Month to honor her legacy.

Today, our responsibility as marriage and family therapists is to keep her legacy alive through our dedication to serving and protecting minorities. Developing cultural humility, addressing microaggressions, naming racism and trauma, practicing interventions that honor lived experiences and cultural strengths, and advocating through local, state, and federal government are just a handful of ways we can fulfill our ethical duties and honor a true hero. To start, use the comprehensive toolkit below including sample captions, graphics, flyers, and more to educate and inspire your communities.

Diana Smith, AAMFT Member

Check out AAMFT’s Linked Live panel Resilience, Rest, & Resistance

Download NAMI’s Bebe Moore Campbell’s National Minority Mental Health Month Toolkit here for ready-to-post content.

Client resources:

NAMI Sharing Hope: Designed by and created for people of Black/African Ancestry communities

NAMI Compartiendo Esperanza: Created by and for Hispanic/Latin American communities

NAMI Chai & Chat: For, by, and about South Asian communities

NAMI Maniwala: Created to empower Filipino/Filipinx/Philippine communities

References

Mental Health America. (n.d.). Bebe Moore Campbell National BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month. https://mhanational.org/bipoc-mental-health/bebe-moore-campbell/

National Alliance on Mental Illness. (n.d.). About Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. NAMI. Retrieved July 15, 2025, from https://www.nami.org/get-involved/awareness-events/bebe-moore-campbell-national-minority-mental-health-awareness-month/about-bebe-moore-campbell-national-minority-mental-health-awareness-month/