Mental health for African-Americans in the community was put under the microscope in Charlottesville Tuesday night.

A number of groups gathered for Black Mental Health Matters at the Jefferson School African-American Heritage Center.

The event addressed the stigma of mental health in African-American communities

“I hope that stigma is reduced and that everybody knows that there is help available and it's okay to get the help that you need,” said Deidre Creasy of Region Ten.

"It's been passed down from generation to generation that we're just supposed to be strong, or you just don't talk about these things, or you pray them away or something like that. But I feel like we have professionals in this profession for a reason,” said Vice Mayor Wes Bellamy who organized the event.

Darnell Walker was a guest speaker at the event. He screened a portion of his film dealing with the issue.