Meeting the Psychological Health & Growth Needs of Black College Students: Culture, Resonance and Resilience

ABSTRACT

Under-utilization of mental health resources by Black students stands in sharp contrast to exploding demand for clinical services on campus. Review of existing literature indicates that African-Americans experience unique patterns of stress exposure throughout childhood and on predominantly White college campuses. Cultural preferences, underrepresentation of providers of color and lack of culturally relevant intervention models contribute to perpetuating college mental health disparities. Changing Minds, Changing Lives, a strength-based resilience training model, promotes healthy adaptation to college life among Black male college students in the absence of a shared socio-cultural identity between facilitators and participants. Participants report both positive psychosocial skill development and personal transformation following the 5-week, ten session CMCL academic course. Qualitative data indicate that model design factors promoting group norms of authenticity, mutuality, reciprocity and deliberate de-centering of professional authority contribute more to transformational change than facilitator identity. Group-as-a-whole mirroring and resulting cultural resonance appear to enable the model to serve as an effective psychological wellness opportunity structure for students of color during the transition to college. Implications for improving college mental health systems and better meeting the needs of students of color are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• College counseling
• students of color
• multicultural practice
• resilience
• cultural mirroring
• cultural resonance
• cultural competence

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.