Your teenager is struggling. You can feel it — in the silence, in the withdrawal, in the way they respond to questions with one word when they used to talk.

Depression in Black and Brown teenage girls is one of the most consistently underidentified forms of emotional suffering in mental health care. Not because it is rare — but because it is hidden.

If you are a Black teenage boy, you have probably been told — directly or indirectly — that being strong means not showing what you feel. That getting through things matters more than talking about them.

So you're thinking about therapy — or someone in your life suggested it — and part of you is already skeptical. Maybe it sounds like something that's not for you.

It is one of the open secrets of the mental health field: therapists have their own trauma too. The training tells you to be aware of countertransference. It does not always tell you what to do when your client's story sits in your chest long after the session ends.

People who spend their lives caring for others — teachers, nurses, social workers, home health aides, family caregivers, community organizers — are among the most emotionally generous people in any community. They show up. They stay. They absorb.