The black congregation at the Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, TN, does not embrace counseling ministries at the institution despite such services being critical. In addition, counselors in black community churches offer services integrated with the scripture and culture of black people. Therefore, it is expected that those affected by mental health issues would prefer utilizing counseling services at the black community churches over professional therapies. Considering that systemic disparities contribute to the lack of access and unaffordability of counseling services for the black community, it is unexpected that such a vulnerable population would be reluctant to use free, accessible, and culturally sensitive counseling services offered by the church. The issue calls for an in-depth investigation to establish the causes of the reluctance and implementation of viable projects that would reverse the situation and promote the utilization of counseling ministries by the black congregation at the Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, TN.
The Research Process and Steps
The current research will deploy an explanatory case study to investigate the counseling ministries’ issue and implement a workable solution to eradicate the problem. An explanatory case study is suited for this case study because it involves investigating an issue that has not been researched before or is unique and nonconforming to distant literature. Since the case of reluctance towards counseling ministries at the Bethel Church has not been previously investigated and does not align reviewed literature, an explanatory study will be deployed to explore factors contributing to the issue. Also, the explanatory study will enable the researcher to formulate and implement a solution and monitor its efficiency over time. The monitoring process will ensure the sustainability of the project and provide the researcher with information that will guide recommendations for future projects.
The first step of the current project will entail a review of distant studies to establish factors that make persons with mental health issues unwilling to utilize counseling services offered by church ministries. The review will target the black community and the black churches. It will investigate multiple barriers to counseling, existing myths, and challenges relatable to the issue at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, TN.
Secondly, the researcher will narrow the investigation by moving from secondary literature to review primary data and information at the Bethel Church. The review of primary data at the church will deploy interviews and surveys to ensure the researcher accesses vital information about the counseling ministries and the challenges they face.
Contact Persons
Pastors and Church Leadership
The first line of contact will be church pastors and leadership. Pastors and leaders at the church have critical information about challenges that affect the counseling ministries. They understand what has to be done and areas that should be strengthened to make the black community embrace counseling services at the church. Besides, pastors and church leadership play a role in either supporting or discouraging the black congregation from using counseling services. Therefore, information from the leaders and pastors will seek to unravel whether they perform their expected roles, the challenges they face, and the support they need to make the congregation embrace counseling services. Furthermore, churches have cultures that either support or discourage counseling services. The leadership and pastors will provide critical information about the Bethel Church’s culture and whether it supports or discourages services offered by the counseling ministries. The researcher will seek information about the church’s culture and leadership roles because it is key in determining whether the intervention measures will succeed. If the church is found to have an unsupportive culture, increasing awareness levels of the counseling ministries would have an insignificant effect on the reluctance since the root of the problem will persist. Also, if the church leadership does not play their roles in counseling ministries, raising awareness levels would not increase the utilization of services. Therefore, the researcher must establish whether the leadership plays its role and if the church’s culture is supportive before implementing the designed intervention.
The Congregation
The second contact line will be the Bethel Church’s black congregation. The black community is the target group for the current research project. They must be contacted for input about their challenges while seeking counseling services at the ministries. The congregation will provide information about their attitude toward counseling ministries, access issues, potential discrimination, and other factors discouraging them from utilizing therapy services. They will also recommend areas the church should strengthen to make them embrace counseling ministries. Information from the congregation is critical as it will make the researcher customize the interventional project to eliminate issues identified by affected persons.
Form of Contact: Interviews and Surveys
The researcher will deploy interviews and surveys to obtain critical information from pastors, church leadership, and the black congregation. The interviews will be conducted through face-to-face narrations. Face-to-face interviews will enable the researcher to capture detailed information because they enhance communication through holistic conversations promoted by tonal variations, pauses, and controlled pace. Also, face-to-face interviews are dynamic and allow the researcher to observe respondents’ body language and cues as they emerge. In addition, the researcher will build rapport and trust before the interviews, encouraging interviewees to be open and generous with valuable and sensitive information.
Besides the interviews, the researcher will conduct anonymous surveys for informants unwilling to participate in face-to-face interviews. The written surveys shall be administered during church sessions to ensure that those who respond are church members and have vital information about issues impacting counseling ministries at the Bethel Church. Members willing to participate in the surveys will be identified after church services and given short survey forms they will fill out and submit back to the researcher as they leave the church premises.
After the second step (gathering primary information), the researcher will collect baseline information about the current rate at which the black congregation utilizes counseling services at the Bethel Church. Data gathered at this level will include the number of black congregants seeking counseling services at the church’s ministries in the last month. Also, the researcher will tabulate the number of those who have testified in church about counseling services.
After that, the researcher will embark on the intervention phase, which is the implementation of the Brochure Project. The researcher will design, print, and distribute brochures promoting counseling ministries at the Bethel Church during this stage. Key messages in the brochure shall include the counseling ministries’ core values that show commitment to a safe and nonjudgmental environment during counseling sessions. The values shall promote respect, empathy, and compassion for all those seeking counseling services. Also, the brochures shall outline areas covered by counseling to ensure complete awareness of all available services. The designer shall elaborate on depression, anxiety, behavior issues, identity, self-esteem, grief, trauma, relationships, academics, and substance abuse as areas where counseling services emphasize. Also, the brochures will detail the types of therapies used, such as family, art, play, individual, and cognitive behavioral therapy. In addition, the brochures will capture the benefits of therapy sessions to encourage members to utilize counseling ministries. The sessions shall be promoted as efficient in providing emotional support, mental wellness, grief care, stress management, and self-discovery. Contact details and social media links shall be provided for members’ follow-up and booking opportunities.
The researcher will distribute the brochures for one week after administering the interviews and surveys. They will be distributed randomly to all church congregants, regardless of age, gender, race, and social status. Immediately after the distribution of the brochure starts, the researcher will begin to observe and record changes in activities at the counseling ministries. After the implementation period (one week), the researcher will continue to collect post-intervention data that will guide data-driven decisions about the impact of the Brochure Project on the utilization of counseling services at the Bethel Church. Similarly, data collected in the post-interventional phase will include the number of black congregants seeking services from the counseling ministries and those who testify in church after receiving therapy sessions. The post-interventional data will be collected for one month. After that, the researcher will tabulate the results, analyze, and make conclusions about the efficiency of the Brochure Project in making the black community utilize counseling services at the Bethel Church in Murfreesboro, TN.
Bibliography
Dempsey, Keith, S. K. Butler, and LaTrece Gaither. “Black Churches and Mental Health Professionals.” Journal of Black Studies 47, no. 1 (2015), 73-87. doi:10.1177/0021934715613588.
Simons, Megan A., and Jenny Ziviani. “Explanatory Case Study Design—A Clarification.” Journal of Burn Care & Research 32, no. 1 (2011), e14. doi:10.1097/bcr.0b013e3182033569.
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