Tryan L. McMickens, Ed.D., is lead co-editor of the first issue of Black College Men’s Mental Health.
“Today, more college students are coming to campus with mental health challenges, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which occurred from 2020-2022 and whose effects still linger, has exacerbated the mental health conditions of college students,” said McMickens, an associate professor of higher education at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) and director of the Master of Science in Higher Education program.
The serial book was published in June – Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month – by Wiley’s New Directions for Student Services. It is composed of eight chapters by 12 contributors.
Contributors cover such topics as the factors that contribute to mental health concerns for Black males in higher education, underscore critical challenges to help-seeking behavior for Black males in college grappling with mental health issues, the role of student affairs departments in the wellbeing of Black male faculty, understanding suicide prevention among Black college men and multi-pronged frameworks to address Black men’s mental health.
There are also lists of community-based organizations and professional associations that support the mental health needs of Black men.
Among the mental health issues Black college men might experience are anxiety, stress, depression and suicidal ideation. While students of any race in higher education might experience such challenges, the book also explores the role of institutional and aversive racism and white supremacy and how it can impede the progress of Black men in college.
“Oppression is part of the unique context that is at play for Black men in American society and in college and university environments,” McMickens said.
McMickens hopes that faculty in higher education administration, counseling, social work and other help-seeking disciplines in addition to college and university administrators read Black College Men’s Mental Health.
Some of the chapters may be accessed for free by the public here.
Those who log onto the NCCU James E. Shepard Memorial Library website can access the entire serial book.
