Newsmakers: ‘Culturally Responsive Mental Health Care’ Offered to Brooklyn Center Residents
Brooklyn Center residents will gain access to teletherapy provided at no cost through a partnership between Hurdle Health and Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
“Culturally responsive mental health care means you are trained in multiple traumas, sometimes compounding traumas,” said Bukata Hayes, Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s vice president of racial and health equity. “We know race presents different outcomes within the community, so culturally responsive teletherapy takes that into account.”
The services are part of a pilot program created by a partnership between Hurdle Health and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. Hurdle Health was created to meet the unique needs of BIPOC communities and services are offered virtually as a way to meet people where they are.
Bukata Hayes, vice president of racial and health equity at Blue Cross.
“We know it’s been a tough couple of years, both with COVID and the disproportionate outcomes that we’ve seen in Brooklyn Center and with the killing of Daunte Wright and the aftermath, so we’re really trying to hone in and provide some services for folks in Brooklyn Center to engage in and begin the process of healing,” said Hayes.
Hayes says Hurdle Health will be out at community outreach events to engage the public and share more about the teletherapy services.
“There’s a lot we’ve been through, how do we begin to understand,” said Hayes. “This pilot is one way, through Blue Cross Blue Shield Minnesota to provide service throughout, address a need that we know is present. How do we deal with the stressors that have been the last few years in Minnesota and here in Brooklyn Center?”
Look for more information on how to participate at a Health Fair in Centennial Park on Aug. 13.
See also: Psychologist: High-Profile Cases Can Cause Trauma
