Renew Your Mind: A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)-Based and Spiritually Integrated Mental Health Training for African American Faith Leaders

African Americans face disproportionate exposure to psychosocial stressors—such as systemic racism, poverty, and neighborhood disadvantage—that adversely impact mental health. Despite these exposures, they remain significantly less likely than White Americans to seek formal mental health services, often turning instead to faith leaders and church communities for support. In response, this article describes Renew Your Mind (RYM), a culturally tailored, spiritually integrated mental health training for African American clergy, co-developed through the CHURCH (Congregations as Healers, Uniting to Restore Community Health) Project, a community-partnered participatory research (CPPR) initiative. Grounded in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles, RYM integrates evidence-based mental health strategies with Black church traditions and theological frameworks to enhance faith leaders’ ability to provide informal psychosocial support. Although designed for clergy, RYM first invites leaders to experience its benefits before adapting and modeling it within their ministries. The study is presented using Provus’s program evaluation framework, with emphasis on the first two. A brief overview of evaluation plans and preliminary findings is included, with detailed results forthcoming. RYM represents a novel, community-grounded model that bridges formal and informal care systems, addressing long-standing mental health disparities through faith-based, culturally congruent approaches.