African American College Students First Experiences in Counseling

African Americans have experienced mistreatment at the hands of the medical community. Knowledge of the Tuskegee Experiment and the travesties done by J. Marion Sims to slave women have been passed down through the generations causing cultural skepticism of the medical field, subsequently hindering African Americans from seeking medical services. This historical legacy of maltreatment has caused African Americans to seek medical help at a lower rate than their majority counterparts. African American college students seek out mental health services at a much lower rate than White students while experiencing mental health symptoms at the same or sometimes higher rate. This research will explore the phenomenon of African American college student\u27s first experiences with receiving mental health services