Black Culture and Mental Health

The history of mental illness for black people in America stretches all the way back 400 years, 15 million people, and an ocean that holds the stories - Nissen In recent studies, Black/African American women and men were not seeking therapy or mental health services due to under representation of licensed Black/African American therapists, social workers, or mental health professionals (Taylor & Kuo, 2018). In 2013, Dr. Jeff R. Gardere, an African American psychologist, reported that Black/African Americans would seek mental health services if there were more racial- ethnic clinicians (Smith, 2015). He expressed that it could help eliminate the mistrust that Black/African Americans may feel when seeking therapy services from those not of their race.