A Mindfulness Based Psychoeducation Course to Address Mental Wellness in HBCU College Students

Overview: Black college students are less likely to utilize mental health services and are at increased risk of developing a clinical mental health diagnosis. Issues related to social injustice and historical trauma impact usage rates. This presentation highlights collaboration between interprofessionals in creation of a course targeting mental health and mindfulness.Proposal text:

Learning Objectives:
1. Participants will learn how mental health and service utilization impacts Black HBCU college students
2. Participants will learn how a faculty and student affairs professional collaborated to develop a mindfulness based psychoeducational 3 credit course for undergraduate college students enrolled at an HBCU.

Black college students have utilized mental health services at a lower rate and yet experienced the effects of mental illness at a higher rate when compared to their white peers (Masuda et al., 2012). Black college students can experience emotional distress as any other group but are less likely to utilize mental health services (Williams, 2014). Historical issues related to help seeking attitudes, mental health stigma, cultural mistrust of mental health providers and self-concealment prove to be barriers to the usage of counseling related services. Black college students are at high risk for developing a depressive episode in part due to the impact of racism, stress and sleep deprivation in addition to a lack of academic and/or social support (Stansbury et al., 2011). College students who suffer from unmet mental health needs are at a significantly higher risk of lower graduation rates along with higher rates of unemployment, homelessness and other comorbidities (Williams, 2014). There is evidence to indicate that current mental health treatment modalities are not adequate for ethnic minorities. (Cheng & Stanley, 2014). The treatments which have been identified as evidenced based practices are not culturally relevant for African Americans (Gilbert et al.,2009). Social work clinicians will need to use culturally sensitive and non-traditional methodologies to develop effective interventions to assist the mental health needs of the Black college student population (Smith et al., 2014; Boone et al.,2011; Masuda et al., 2012).
The theme of human rights are global rights supports the exploration of diverse perspectives to develop programming to help counteract the impact of social injustices on marginalized and oppressed populations. Access to mental health care, awareness of associated services and the normalization of mental health challenges are continued points of concern for various populations. This proposal takes a specific and targeted look at Black undergraduate college students enrolled at an HBCU as there is no immunity to the increasing public health concern of mental health challenges. Psychoeducation focused on healthy coping skills and the practice of mindfulness meditation are two such strategies to address the mental health challenges experienced by the emerging adult population. Mindfulness meditation is often practiced to alleviate the suffering associated with mental health challenges. Unaddressed mental health challenges and unhealthy coping skills eventually translate into clinical conditions such as depression, anxiety or substance abuse (Gilbert et al., 2009; Rogers & Maytan,2012). The use of mindfulness-based psychoeducation outside of the clinical context is indicated in the development of programming targeted to address the mental health needs of Black college students.