Partnering with African American Churches to Create a Community Coalition for Mental Health

Community partnered participatory research (CPPR) emphasizes community engagement, respect, and empowerment as guiding principles to promote mental health equity. This article describes the “Vision” stage of a CPPR-informed model to implement evidence-based practices for de­pression in two African American churches in Harlem, New York. Essential parts of the Vision include engagement of stakeholders and collaborative planning. The engage­ment process increased awareness about the project via a community-focused mental health symposium. The collaborative plan­ning stage resulted in creating a multi-dis­ciplinary Community Coalition for Mental Health, establishing the Coalition’s values, agreeing to change the initial chosen study intervention from Interpersonal Counseling to Mental Health First Aid, and developing a website to disseminate the group’s work. Key lessons learned from our partnered process are: 1) support from the lead pas­tor is crucial; 2) balancing community and academic interests can be challenging; 3) icebreaker activities foster relationships and reinforce CPPR principles; 4) multiple com­munication channels can enhance commu­nity participation; and, 5) should organize data in ways that make them easier to interpret. Ethn Dis. 2018;28(Suppl 2):467- 474; doi:10.18865/ed.28.S2.467