Black mental health and resilience

Understanding resilience

“Resilient” is a term often used to describe the Black community, and while not an innately negative word, not enough consideration has been given to the impact that term has within the context of Black mental health and wellbeing. 

We all need resilience. By definition, being resilient means being able to adapt to life's misfortunes and setbacks, something which is vitally important to our mental health and wellbeing. However, there are important nuances within this definition. When the setbacks are rooted in things like systemic racism and discrimination we must ask if the term is truly being used to empower or being used to cover over centuries of complex trauma. Resilience helps people cope; it should never be used to excuse systems that cause harm.

The history of Black mental health

To understand this a bit better let’s look to the past. Throughout history Black people have experienced neglect, racism, and discrimination by healthcare institutions who were either unwilling or unable to cater to their needs. This has been the result of historical legacies of colonialism, slavery, and historical malpractice¹.

Even the idea of resilience within the Black community can be traced back to a racist myth that Black people have thicker skin or less sensitive nerve endings than white people – a statement which 40% of white medical trainees believe⁶. Because of everything that Black people have endured throughout history there is this idea that they are “stronger” an idea which not only is untrue but has many unintended consequences for mental health. It’s also important to note that those living today still feel the trauma and impact on their mental health of the historical racism, discrimination and colonialism their ancestors experienced through intergenerational trauma, so even Black people who did not experience a trauma directly may have inherited trauma symptoms, such as anxiety and mood dysregulation⁷.

A lack of a discussion around mental health

Despite positive steps and contributions towards Black mental health (see: The unsung heroes of Black history and mental health) there is often still a lot of taboo around mental health and talking about mental struggles. A recent study showed that Black people are significantly less likely to seek mental health treatment⁸ as well as being less likely to talk openly and honestly about mental health struggles. This is in part due to the perception of strength discussed earlier, resulting in the perception among some Black people that talking about mental health may be seen as a sign of “weakness” or “vulnerability”.  

How do we address these inequalities? 

Both as individuals and as a community there is much, we can do to address these inequalities including: 

• Lobbying mental health service providers and policymakers to increase cultural competence, improve data collection, increase representation, and co-produce services with communities.
• Lobbying government to change legislation, such as the Mental Health Act, to address embedded racial injustice and reduce disparities in detention rates as well as financially support policies and programs that increase access to culturally appropriate care, reduce economic disadvantage, and increase interpreter availability.
• Ensuring anti-racism frameworks are implemented within mental health services.
• Increase representation of Black people on boards and in leadership positions within mental health. This helps create more equitable services by ensuring their experiences are considered.
• Ensuring services are accessible, culturally appropriate, and address the impact of racism and socioeconomic factors.
• Advocate for systemic change and hold institutions accountable for addressing racial inequality in mental health care.
• Seek, support, highlight and/or create spaces, that offer support to the Black community.