"I Thought I Was Going to Die": Identifying Gaps in the Intimate Partner Violence Service Provision System for Black Women.

Black women experience the highest mortality and morbidity resulting from intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization, yet there remains a dearth of culturally responsive interventions designed to meet their needs within the coordinated community response system. We employed the Theory of Help-Seeking Behavior to explicate the barriers that Black women experience when securing assistance from providers within the IPV service provision system, inclusive of the criminal legal, child protective service, shelter, healthcare, and mental healthcare systems. In-depth individual interviews were conducted with 30 people who self-identified as Black women who were help-seeking within the IPV service provision system at the time of data collection.

Should We Trust You? Strategies to Improve Access to Mental Healthcare to BIPOC Communities During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities have weathered centuries of racism, causing transgenerational mental health consequences and hindering access to quality treatment. In this commentary, we describe the systemic challenges of engaging BIPOC to promote mental health equity during the COVID-19 pandemic. We then describe an initiative that illustrates these strategies, provide recommendations and further readings for academic institutions seeking to partner with community organizations to provide equitable mental health services to populations that have been traditionally overlooked.