Partnering With Refugee Communities to Improve Mental Health Access: Going From “Why Are They Not Coming” to “What Can I (We) Do Differently?”

Refugees are disproportionally impacted by trauma and its negative sequelae. Even after being resettled in the United States, refugees face disparities in accessing services due to the stigma attached to mental health symptoms and the paucity of culturally and linguistically accessible services. Thus, there is a great need to develop methods that facilitate the engagement of refugee communities. Community-Based Participatory Research recommends the forming of equal and equitable partnerships with communities and stakeholders to enhance community capacity and ownership of the research process and outcomes (Israel et al., 1998). The present article shares one approach to operationalizing these principles with the Somali refugee community.