Credit: Kyrie Thomas | Campus LTV Producer
Balancing class schedules, jobs, internships and social engagements can leave many college students facing mental distress as they progress through their academic careers.
For Samuela Osae, a third-year in molecular genetics and co-president of the Black Mental Health Coalition, said these traditional stressors — on top of the challenges that accompany being a minority student — led her to experience mental health struggles throughout her time at the university. During that time, she said she felt like she wasn’t receiving the support she needed.
“Looking for care and trying to find someone that has the path I needed, not just a professional, was really hard,” Osae said. “I feel like it wouldn’t be as hard for someone who didn’t identify as the same things I identify [as].”
Though many of the struggles Osae faced are specific to her, the experience of Black individuals feeling unseen or underrepresented within mental health care is not unique.
A July 2024 Health Policy Institute of Ohio study found that 10.7% of Black Ohioans “reported feeling mentally distressed for 14 or more days over the past month,” which is over 2% higher than the overall state rate of 8.2%.
In addition, the study found that 10.2% of Black Ohioans had faced “unmet mental health needs” in the last year, which is nearly 3% higher than the average state rate of 7.5%.
“We experience these issues to this extremity because of living in America,” said Micah Evans, a second-year in psychology and secretary for Black Students in Psychology and Neuroscience. “Being Black, you already have a target on your back.”
When Black individuals feel as though they are being seen for their skin color first, and then their personality and other attributes second, Evans said it can create feelings of worthlessness and self-loathing within the wider community.
“This is the social notion surrounding Black people: ‘Y’all are evil. Y’all are beasts. Y’all are animals. Y’all aren’t human,’” Evans said. “This generational trauma just carries and carries because there was never a space or time when it was just, ‘You’re Black, and we love you.’”
Stigmas and stereotypes surrounding the Black community are factors that Osae said play a huge role in how Black people are treated when it comes to obtaining mental health services.
“There’s the common belief that Black people don’t experience more pain or have a higher pain tolerance, and just all these different things,” Osae said. “It’s really hard to talk about these issues because you face the challenge of not trying to be seen as weak and having that resilient mindset.”
A lack of access to health care can also create a barrier for the Black community, with Evans citing socioeconomic obstacles like high insurance costs and systemic racism as contributing factors.
According to The Commonwealth Fund 2024 State Health Disparities Report, structural health care disparities disproportionately affect Black, American Indian and Alaska Native people. The website states these populations “live fewer years, on average, than white and Hispanic people and are more likely to die from treatable conditions, more likely to die during or after pregnancy and suffer serious pregnancy-related complications, more likely to lose children in infancy, and are at higher risk for many chronic health conditions, from diabetes to hypertension.”
“Because of the racial gap, when it comes to money and resources, like insurance, it can be harder for Black communities and Black members in the communities to get those mental health resources,” Evans said.
Beyond these setbacks, when seeking professional or external resources to care for one’s mental health, Osae and Evans both said resistance can often come from within the Black community itself.
“A lot of the Black community is either Christian or Muslim, and having struggles and talking about them doesn’t really fit that framework a lot of the time,” Osae said.
Evans said very often, members of the community will urge those struggling with mental health issues to turn to religion for assistance as opposed to outside resources, which may not always be the best fit for each individual.
“Say someone is having depression or extreme anxiety, some people are like, ‘Let’s just pray about it,’” Evans said. “Religious members of the community will say, ‘God will help you,’ and others are like, ‘You’re fine. There’s other problems to deal with.’”
Though these barriers are notable in how they impact and restrict care for the Black community, Osae said having these difficult but important conversations can help rewrite the narrative.
“That’s really the main thing a person can do because in that, you’re educating other people and letting them know someone who has the same cultural background as you also went through this,” Osae said.
Negative stereotypes against the Black community are nothing new, but Osae said just because these obstacles are deeply ingrained within society does not automatically mean they cannot be uprooted.
“[We] can help break up these [long-held] ideas [by] letting people know just because they’ve been around for a long time doesn’t make them alright,” Osae said.
