Black Caribbean Immigrants: A Qualitative Study of Experiences in Mental Health Therapy

Abstract

Black Caribbeans seeking mental health treatment in the United States may be mistakenly identified as African American because of their shared skin tone and features. This racial consolidation does not take into account their distinct histories, immigrant experiences, and cultural separateness and may be particularly problematic in therapy. We explored the mental health therapy experiences of eight Black Caribbeans in the United States in this phenomenological qualitative study. We highlight themes that bring to life the client experiences and reveal if and how the counselors addressed the client’s cultural distinctiveness. Implications for mental health counselors include the importance of respectful inquisitiveness about cultural identities and immigration experiences and the importance of inviting Black Caribbean clients by mentioning knowledge of Caribbean cultures in one’s practice information.

Representations of Mental Illness in a Ga Community in Southern Ghana

“…For instance, individual illness beliefs (such as social and self-stigma) and social relations have been identified as key influences in help-seeking among African American men in Midwestern United States seeking help for psychological distress (Cadaret & Speight, 2018), and for African American and Caribbean women making decisions about seeking help for depression in the United States (Nelson et al, 2020). Similarly, Venner and Welfare (2019) identified important socio-cultural influences in the experiences of Black Caribbeans accessing psychotherapy on the eastern coast of the United States, such as identification with the values of their cultures of origin. For both Africans on the continent and Africans in the diaspora, help-seeking behaviors have been argued to have developed as a result of both stigma and the ways in which mental illness is represented within their communities and through the health system.…”

“…For both Africans on the continent and Africans in the diaspora, help-seeking behaviors have been argued to have developed as a result of both stigma and the ways in which mental illness is represented within their communities and through the health system. Unlike what is reported in some African countries, the hesitance and stigma surrounding mental health care utilization in the African American and Black Caribbean communities have resulted, not necessarily from animist beliefs, but more likely due to historical issues of distrust and feeling unsupported by the health system (Venner & Welfare, 2019). Mental health experiences and health care utilization in the Black community are therefore driven by an intersection of history, social context, and beliefs.…”

Navigating multiple identities in the American workplace: Microaggression and the caribbean diaspora

“…In a qualitative study by Venner and Welfare (2019), 32 participants were recruited using snowball sampling technique, with 24 of the 32 declining to participate. The study explored the mental health experiences of eight Black Caribbean adults.…”