African Americans and Mental Health is a book written to portray African Americans’ mental health needs and shares multiple barriers and challenges they encounter.  The book also delineates the trauma of being an African American in this century. It is primarily written by African American counselor educators who draw from their own practical and personal experiences. It describes, asks, and answers the questions that pervade the African American communities throughout the United States. The book’s chapters open with discussions on Who are African Americans? It identifies barriers and access issues to African American mental health care and further explore the mental health challenges mostly unique to different subpopulations like children, adolescents, and the elderly. Additionally, it articulates diagnosis issues and the culture of family togetherness as an avenue to enhancing resilience in African American communities. This book also addresses coherent points about mental health therapies and intervention strategies that can be used to aid the African American community; it even discusses the issues around recruiting African Americans as mental health professionals. 

The book is a contributed volume of research, backed with practical applications and information from various African American counselor educators. It will aid researchers, scholars, professionals, and students to learn more about the basic concepts of African American mental health. Researchers can use the book to learn more about different interventions that assist African Americans. Counselor educators can use this book as both a teaching tool for their students and for advancing their relationship in mentoring aspiring African American professionals. Professional counselors’ use of this book will center on critical points raised in the book that will aid them in working with African American diverse clients. Practitioners in related fields like psychiatrists, social workers, and even medical residents can refer to this book to enhance their knowledge of important basic concepts that foster African Americans’ mental health. The book is a must-read for all those who teach students and those who counsel African Americans. Students in counseling and other related fields can use the book to bolster their knowledge in multicultural counseling and other related areas of study. The book’s unique contribution will allow students to perceive the strengths inherent in African Americans and aid professionals in learning about the difficulties that this population currently faces. Students and professionals will benefit from the book’s references to unique characteristics related to the African Americans community and will aid them in learning about this population’s mental health needs and aspirations. The book is a must-have for all who want to learn about assisting the African American community in mental health.