Skip to main content
Webinar on culturally responsive care announcement.

The Defensive Line’s 2026 BHM Mental Health Panel

Black communities are navigating a moment of sustained collective trauma, shaped by overlapping personal, social, and political stressors. These stressors directly impact mental health, safety, and well-being. In response, Black practitioners and community leaders across the mental health spectrum are drawing on culturally grounded, community-centered approaches to create pathways to healing that are rooted in trust, joy, faith, and lived experience.

This virtual webinar brings together voices from across the spectrum of mental health support, including peer leaders, advocates, faith-informed practitioners, and public health experts, to explore what culturally responsive care looks like in practice. Panelists will discuss how communities can disrupt stigma, challenge harmful narratives, and design trauma-informed responses that reflect their own experiences, while also sharing insights on sustaining care for both leaders and those they serve.

Meet the Panelists" text with sparkles.

Jennifer Oparaodu, Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) 

Jenn Oparaodu is a Texas-based Licensed Professional Counselor offering trauma-informed, somatic, and relational therapy for individuals (16+), couples, and families, both in person and online. With a master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from The King’s University, training in EMDR, Gottman Couples Therapy, somatic embodiment, and polyvagal-informed care, Jenn’s work centers the connection between the brain, body, emotions, and lived experience. Drawing from clinical work in higher education, nonprofit, and intensive trauma-treatment settings, as well as her own healing journey, she helps clients move beyond coping toward deeper regulation, self-trust, and connection, believing therapy to be a radical act of care, resistance, and empowerment.

Vic Armstrong, MSW, Vice President for Health Equity and Engagement @ AFSP 

Vic is a nationally recognized mental health and suicide prevention advocate with more than 30 years of leadership experience across public health and healthcare systems. Born and raised in rural North Carolina as the son of a pastor, Vic brings a deeply community-centered lens to health equity, having served as North Carolina’s inaugural Chief Health Equity Officer and in senior leadership roles with Atrium Health, the NC Division of Mental Health, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Known for his work advancing culturally relevant care, faith-based suicide prevention, and stigma reduction, Vic is also the host of the Strong Talk Podcast and a passionate voice reminding us that access to care must reflect lived experience.

T-Kea Blackman, MPS, Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS) 

T-Kea Blackman is the Executive Director/Co-Founder of Black People Die By Suicide Too (BPDBST), a national speaker, and a consultant with the Mental Health Empowerment Agency. An award-winning peer recovery specialist, mental health educator, and author of Saved & Depressed, T-Kea brings a powerful blend of faith, peer support, and public health leadership to her work—grounded in a deep commitment to hope, healing, and community-centered care. As a suicide attempt survivor, she uses her lived experience to prevent suicide and advance mental health education within the Black community. T-Kea is currently a PhD student researching suicide prevention through a public health and health communication lens and serves as an instructor at the University of Maryland College Park.

Autumn Lockwood, Philadelphia Eagles Associate Performance Coach

Autumn Lockwood is an associate performance coach for the Philadelphia Eagles and a passionate advocate for athlete well-being, known for her commitment to physical, emotional, and mental health support. She made history as the first Black woman to coach in a Super Bowl and the first Black woman to win a Super Bowl with the Eagles’ Super Bowl LIX victory in 2025, breaking barriers in the NFL and elevating representation for women and people of color in professional sports.