Black women's help-seeking and self-care strategies: A phenomenological exploration

Within counseling and other mental health disciplines, Black women are underserved, psychologically misdiagnosed, and one of the least researched minoritized cultural populations. We used a hermeneutic phenomenological study to understand the lived experiences of 16 Black women who experienced mental health stress to understand their mental health needs, barriers to mental health care, and help-seeking and self-care practices. Findings included the following four themes: perspectives on oppression on mental health, socio-cultural messages about self-care and help-seeking, perspectives about self-care, and perspectives about professional counseling. Implications for counselors are discussed.