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African Americans face elevated mental health risks due to poverty and racial discrimination, yet are less likely to seek professional help due to stigma and limited access to mental health services. Clergy often serve as primary sources of support, but they are rarely included in mental health intervention development. The CHURCH project was created to fill this research gap by developing a spiritually informed mental health training for Black faith leaders. This presentation outlines the project's development and execution and will present findings from a process evaluation examining interpersonal dynamics within a Community-Partnered Participatory Research (CPPR) team. Rooted in Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR), CPPR expands the model by emphasizing equitable, long-term partnerships, shared leadership, and mutual capacity-building among all participants.
Methods:
The CPPR team included three African American faith leaders, two mental health clinicians specializing in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), two graduate students, and two researchers of color with expertise in psychiatry and community-engaged research. This group formed in response to a call to action from a respected African American researcher with significant faith and community leadership experience. Over the first year, members shared motivations, led and joined learning collaboratives, contributed subject matter expertise, reviewed literature and co-created knowledge. All learned CPPR principles and received certification through the Community PARTners Research Ethics Training (CPRET), which shaped the CHURCH project’s collaborative values. The team collaborated in all phases—research design, data collection, and dissemination. Team dynamics were assessed via surveys, interviews, and reflective discussions.
Results:
Semi-structured interviews revealed that honoring diverse knowledge, expertise, leadership styles, and skills is key to successful faith-based academic partnerships. Themes included the importance of clear vision, effective project management, dedicated time for relationship building, shared power, and opportunities for contribution of skills and talents in an inclusive environment. Team-building efforts led to a sustainable partnership and the creation of Renew Your Mind (RYM), a spiritually integrated, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-informed mental health training for faith leaders in Black churches. The CHURCH team produced both online and in-person versions of RYM, adapted and tested CPRET, presented at three national conferences, and published one manuscript (with two more underway) contributing to CBPR scholarship. This partnership has significantly impacted Black communities, academia and social work education. This project impacted the community by providing RYM training for 20 faith leaders across 10 churches in Homewood, a predominantly Black, under-resourced community. Faculty and students engaged deeply in community research. One pastor, holding MSW and D.Min. degrees, joined an MSW program faculty and is now pursuing a PhD in Social Work to integrate spirituality into social work education and practice.
Conclusion and Implications:
CBPR is an effective method for engaging faith communities in co-developing mental health interventions. This study highlights the importance of trust, humility, and blending academic and scriptural knowledge in designing culturally relevant, faith-based approaches with African American communities. The findings offer best practices for research-community partnerships aiming to improve mental health outcomes among racial and ethnic minority communities.