“You know so and so is not right”: Black women leaders combating mental health stigma within Black churches

Abstract

Black communities are greatly affected by barriers that negatively impact their mental health. One of the significant barriers is that of stigma. Leaders of Black churches are in a position to shift the narrative. Black women church leaders, specifically, are uniquely positioned to provide a more progressive perspective and style of leadership to encourage the destigmatization of mental health. From the standpoint of Black Feminist Theory and sensemaking, this dissertation assesses Black women religious leaders' current role in discourse normalization surrounding Black mental health through sensebreaking. A series of in-depth interviews were conducted to capture the perception, personal experiences, and sensegiving messages Black women religious leaders shared around mental health. Findings indicated that Black women religious leaders combat the norm of stigmatized messages shared by communicating sensebreaking messages to promote the importance of mental health with their congregants and community members.