Modeled after the famous book by Victor Hugo Green, the Psychiatric Green Book guides families through mental health crises.
Overview: The Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective (BEAM) has launched a new resource titled “What I Wish My People Had Known — The Psychiatric Green Book: A Guide for Black Folks.” Inspired by Victor Hugo Green’s historic Jim Crow-era travel guide, this comprehensive manual equips Black families and individuals with practical tools—including checklists, legal rights navigation, psychiatric advance directives, and crisis response protocols—to safely navigate systemic barriers and advocate effectively before and during mental health emergencies.
Credit: Photo courtesy of the BEAM Collective
A historic resource offers practical tools, legal rights, and advance directives to help families navigate mental healthcare before a crisis hits.Mental Health & Wellness
According to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, more than 61 million U.S. adults experienced some type of mental illness in 2024. This includes almost 15 million who dealt with bipolar disorder, major depression, or schizophrenia. And roughly 7 million children had mental health issues.
A first-of-its-kind resource is now available to help Black families manage one of the most unsettling occurrences it can face — a family member’s mental health crisis.
“What I Wish My People Had Known — The Psychiatric Green Book: A Guide for Black Folks,” published by the Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective, is written by experts to help families before and during a mental health emergency to effectively advocate for their loved ones in a mental health system that often is harmful to Black people.
It features checklists and step-by-step guidance for navigating a psychiatric crisis, explanations of legal rights and involuntary holds, and guidance for drafting psychiatric advance directives for oneself or a family member.
Preparing Before A Crisis
The guide is meant to reach families before a crisis hits.
“Too often, Black families are forced to make life-changing decisions during psychiatric crises without the information they need,” said BEAM founder and executive director Yolo Akili Robinson.
Robinson created the book with mental health advocate and author Kelechi Ubozoh “so our communities can prepare before a crisis happens, while being able to understand their rights and advocate for themselves and their loved ones with greater confidence and care.”
Ubozoh said the guide “isn’t simply to help families respond during a crisis, but to equip them with knowledge beforehand, so they’re empowered to ask questions, make informed decisions and advocate for the care they deserve,” she said.
The Psychiatric Green Book was developed with Disability Rights California, the Georgia Advocacy Office, Depressed While Black, and psychiatrists, psychiatric survivors, parents, caregivers and advocates nationwide. Its name honors Victor Hugo Green, creator of “The Negro Motorist Green Book,” which helped Black travelers safely navigate the United States during the Jim Crow era. BEAM’s Psychiatric Green Book serves the same navigational purpose when facing roadblocks and pitfalls in the psychiatric care system by offering clear explanations of patients’ and families’ legal rights and tactics for supporting loved ones through a crisis.
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