Reproductive Mental Health, Race, and Systemic Trauma: Holding Space for BIPOC Communities

Dr. Nouna Jalilzadeh
Jul 10
2 min read

Reproductive mental health doesn’t exist in a vacuum.

It is shaped by systems—medical, political, cultural—that either affirm our humanity or erode it. For women of color and immigrant families, these systems often fail. Whether it's navigating maternal health care, coping with loss, or managing PMADs (perinatal mood and anxiety disorders), the path to healing is frequently obstructed by systemic inequities, intergenerational trauma, and cultural silence.

Structural Inequities Run Deep

Women of color—particularly Black and Indigenous women—face disproportionately high rates of maternal mortality and perinatal mood disorders. These disparities are not biological; they are structural. Systemic racism in healthcare, financial barriers, language inaccessibility, and a lack of culturally responsive providers all contribute to dangerous outcomes. For immigrant families, the situation is even more complex. Documentation status, lack of insurance, and fear of engaging with systems (or simply not trusting them) make it even harder to access support. And when systems are actively attacking your rights, fear becomes more than a feeling—it becomes survival.

The Weight of Intergenerational and Racial Trauma

The body remembers what the mind can’t always speak. Ancestral trauma, passed down through generations, lives in the nervous system. When today’s stressors—racism, discrimination, isolation—intersect with unhealed communal and intergenerational pain, they amplify the risk of poor reproductive mental health outcomes.

It is not just about what happened to you—it’s about what happened to your family, your culture, your community.

So What Can We Do?

If You Are a Client from a BIPOC Community:

Your feelings are valid. Your fear, your mistrust, your exhaustion—they all make sense. You are not broken; you are navigating systems that are not always designed with your wellbeing in mind.

At Helping Hands Psychotherapy, we are here to walk with you. We support your choices, empower your voice, and connect you with professionals who respect your lived experience.
Therapy isn’t the only path to healing. Immerse yourself in your culture. Reclaim your traditions. Attend community events. Read books written by people who reflect your story. Reconnect with ancestral healing through spirituality, ritual, or storytelling. Find what resonates—and let it nourish you.
Community Resource: Postpartum Support International’s BIPOC Mental Health Alliance

If You Are a Clinician:

Broach identity early and often. Let clients know that their cultural, racial, and personal identities are not just welcome but essential to the work.
Invite traditional and cultural healing into the therapeutic space. That might look like somatic work, storytelling, family involvement, spiritual or religious practices, singing, movement, poetry, and sound healing. Therapy must stretch to hold what the client brings—not the other way around.
Engage in interdisciplinary collaboration. Build a network of culturally congruent, trauma-informed providers—doulas, herbalists, birth workers, spiritual leaders, and social justice-minded professionals—and help your clients access care that feels safe and aligned.

Healing is not linear. It is layered, communal, and deeply personal.

By honoring both systemic realities and cultural wisdom, we begin to move toward a model of care that doesn’t just treat symptoms—but centers dignity, justice, and restoration.