Exploring Black British African and Caribbean Peoples’ Experiences of Mental Health Challenges and Help-Seeking

Objectives
It is important to understand the underrepresented experiences of self-harm and accessing support among Black British African and Caribbean individuals. This study aimed to Black British individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and experiences of self-harm, and to understand their lived experience of seeking, or not seeking, community-based support.
Design and Method
Purposive sampling was utilised to identify Black British people that self-harm and have either accessed community-based services or never sought support. Six people took part in semi-structured interviews. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse the data.
Results
Three group experiential themes emerged from the data: ‘complexities of self-harm’, ‘navigating expectations’ and ‘promoting equity’. Self-harm manifested in diverse ways and was something participants had a complex relationship with. Participants concealed self-harm to protect against stigma and to uphold valued cultural norms of strength and success. Community-based services were a preferred means of support but noted unaddressed hardships and a need for more culturally sensitive support.
Conclusion
Findings highlight the need for community-based services to develop equity-focused resources to achieve more culturally responsive care. Key findings, limitations and implications are discussed in relation to existing theory and suggestions for future research are made.