As Ireland grapples with a mental health crisis marked by limited resources and long wait times, people of colour are met with an additional barrier to getting the help they need, unable to find culturally appropriate resources.
The Higher Education Authority (HEA) identifies ethnic minorities as one of the student groups at greater risk of mental health difficulties. Additional at-risk groups include LGBTQ+ individuals, international students, asylum seekers, refugees and those from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.
This issue manifests at Trinity College Dublin, where students from ethnic minority backgrounds, including Kiran Singh in an op-ed for The University Times last year, have spoken out about significant challenges in accessing culturally sensitive mental health care. Many students part of this community may approach therapy hesitantly and flee quickly due to its predominantly white environment and the stigma surrounding mental health.
“In my experience, ethnic minority students do not seek mental health support for a significant amount of time because of the belief that they can tough it out. They tend to look towards their community or social support system,” said Ejiro Ogbevoen, founder of Black Therapists Ireland.
“When they do overcome the limiting belief of not seeking help, the fact that they do not see anyone like themselves in the service may further confirm to them that this is not the place for them.”
According to Student Counselling Service (SCS) data, the majority of clients at SCS are white, with 54.2% identifying as White Irish and 21.2% as other White backgrounds, followed by 11.6% identifying as Asian or Asian Irish, 2% as Middle Eastern, and 1.9% as Black or Black Irish; 5% preferred not to answer, and 3.9% identified as other, including Irish Traveller or multiple ethnic backgrounds.
Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) Welfare and Equality Officer Hamza Bana spearheaded the establishment of the Ethnic Minority Support Group after noticing there were only white counsellors at Student Counselling Services (SCS). Bana said he and many of his peers have experienced racism on campus, whether it be in a class lecture or in a society meeting. While students may talk to their peers about it, many never report it or unpack it with a counsellor out of fear of being invalidated.
“It was a bit of an issue […] If a student of colour came in and asked for a person of colour, they wouldn’t be able to get that,” he said. “The support space allows students to go to a space that’s dedicated to them and talk through their feelings and be able to relate to other people that have the same experience.”
The group aims to offer Trinity students from cultural and ethnic minority backgrounds, including Irish Travellers, an open and safe space where they can engage in group therapy led by a therapist who shares and understands their lived experiences.
The group meets every Monday from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in the Seminar Room and Group Room of the SCS building on 7-9 South Leinster Street and is facilitated by SCS counsellor Sinead Crowley and Ogbevoen. Any student can drop in at any time.
“Joining a drop-in group may sound intimidating at first, but groups can act as a support network and sounding board for members,” Crowley said. “Members of the group often help each other come up with ideas around improving a difficult experience, listen and empathise with one another and often can relate to the issues brought by other group members.”
As a white therapist co-facilitating this group, Crowley emphasised the importance of practising cultural competence to build trust and achieve better therapeutic outcomes, approaching her role with cultural humility, openness to learning about different cultural experiences, awareness of power imbalances, and a commitment to ongoing self-reflection.
“I feel that supporting the needs of ethnic minority students, empowering their sense of belonging in Trinity and supporting them in advocating for their needs is all of our responsibility, and not just the responsibility of members of ethnic minority groups,” she added.
Having a facilitator from within the ethnic minority community has been integral to the group, as students voiced it was important for them to have a facilitator they could identify with and could understand their lived experiences.
“I immediately said yes to Sinead from the SCS when she brought this to my attention. I thought it was a very important space to create, and I wanted to be part of it,” Ogbevoen said. “Black Therapists Ireland focuses on bringing counselling to people from minority ethnic communities living in Ireland. An opportunity to partner with one of the prestigious Trinity College to pioneer such great work is one not to be missed.”
Some of the most common issues students may face include loss, longing for what is lost or left behind, belonging, racist acts, systemic racism and oppression, according to Ogbevoen. These may lead to insecurities, anxiety, low self-esteem, identity problems and poor physical health.
From familiar faces to new participants each week, Bana said student feedback has been positive, with many expressing that they feel heard and comfortable sharing intricate details of their experiences.
As more colleges, such as Maynooth University and Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art Design and Technology, join in on the initiative, Bana said he hopes to see it carried out nationwide.
“I’d love to see it go towards the west and just nationwide, have it be in Galway, Limerick and Cork because there are minorities in those parts of Ireland as well,” Bana said.
Additionally, he said he hopes to see SCS bring in a counsellor from an ethnic minority community for one-on-one counselling as the next step.
According to Director Patricia Murphy, SCS is actively recruiting counsellors from diverse backgrounds and regularly provides professional development courses in cultural competency. The service has been working with its professional bodies to provide equity, diversity and inclusion scholarships to encourage individuals from diverse backgrounds to pursue psychotherapy training, increasing diversity among professionals available to work in SCS services.
Barriers to people of colour in Ireland pursuing careers in mental health counselling and therapy include cultural and societal stigma surrounding mental health and therapy, racial discrimination, the cost of education and training in psychology and psychotherapy and a lack of culturally appropriate training programs and support networks.
Ogbevoen considers representation in counselling fundamental to the well-being of society as a whole. She emphasised the importance of recognising that people are shaped by both nature and nurture to acknowledge individual and communal uniqueness.
“Counselling needs to also acknowledge that aspect of the individual that was shaped through nurture — both favourable and unfavourable — culture, traditions, migration, social status, marginalisation, oppression,” she said. “We live in a society that prioritises certain standards, which excludes by default.”
