How to create mental health content for diverse audiences
- Amanda Thomas
- Mar 8
- 6 min read
In some communities, telling your grandmother you're seeing a therapist would bring shame to the entire family.
In others, therapy is as routine as seeing a dentist.
Mental health content that ignores this reality serves only one group and excludes everyone else.
If your organization publishes mental health content for a general audience, you're probably making assumptions you don't even realize.
English-speaking. Middle-class. Therapy-positive. Insured.
Those defaults aren't neutral. They're barriers.
Here's how to create mental health content that actually reaches the people who need it.
Start with language that people actually use
When someone searches, "Why do I feel so stressed all the time," they're not thinking in DSM-5 categories.
They're describing what they're experiencing in their own words.
But most mental health content immediately pivots to Western psychiatric language. "If you're experiencing generalized anxiety disorder..."
And just like that, you've lost half your audience.
People across different cultures describe and understand mental distress differently. In some places, people talk about physical symptoms — headaches, fatigue, body pain —rather than emotional ones.
In others, distress is framed as spiritual imbalance or family problems rather than something wrong with an individual.¹
This doesn't mean clinical accuracy doesn't matter. It means your content needs to meet people where they are.
Try this instead:
"If you've been feeling persistently sad, hopeless, or disconnected — feelings that might be depression — there are different pathways to support. Some people find talking to a therapist helpful. Others start by talking to a trusted family member, faith leader, or community elder."
You're describing the experience, acknowledging multiple frameworks, and offering options. That's inclusivity that actually works.
Talk about cost like it's real
Here's what doesn't work: "If you're struggling, talk to your therapist."
That single sentence assumes:
Someone has a therapist
Can afford $100-200 per session
Their insurance covers it
They have insurance
Almost 30% of people with private insurance say cost is a barrier to getting the mental health care they need.² For people living below the poverty line who do seek treatment, about 13% spend more than 10% of their income just on out-of-pocket mental health costs.³
When your content doesn't acknowledge this, you're telling people without resources that your content isn't for them.
What works better:
Address the barrier directly.
"We know not everyone has health insurance or can afford therapy. Here are sliding-scale options, community mental health centers, and free support groups in [your area]."
Then actually list them with phone numbers, websites, and specifics about what "sliding scale" means.
Your audience isn't stupid. They know therapy costs money.
Pretending otherwise just makes your content feel out of touch.
Understand why trust is complicated
"Just call your doctor" sounds simple.
Unless you're part of a community that has valid reasons not to trust the medical system.
From 1932 to 1972, the U.S. government ran a study in Tuskegee, Alabama, where they watched 400 Black men with syphilis suffer without treatment — even after penicillin became widely available. Researchers lied to these men, telling them they were being treated for "bad blood" while actually just observing how untreated syphilis progressed.⁴
Most Black Americans know this history. A 2024 survey found that 75% of Black adults have heard about the Tuskegee study.⁵
And a 2025 study showed that Black people living closer to Tuskegee, Alabama, were significantly slower to get COVID-19 vaccines compared to white neighbors decades after the study ended.⁶
This isn't ancient history. This is why someone might scroll past your blog post about "breaking mental health stigma" and think, "You don't get it."
What actually helps:
Acknowledge the mistrust without dismissing it.
"If you've had negative experiences with health care systems in the past, that's valid. Here are resources led by and for [specific community]."
Then link to those resources. Culturally specific mental health organizations and therapists who share cultural backgrounds exist.
Make it easy to find them.
Understand that cultural values shape help-seeking
Different communities have different relationships with mental health treatment, and it's not just about "stigma."
It's about deeply held cultural values. Researchers found that Asian and Latinx college students who valued family and group harmony over individual needs were less likely to think they needed mental health treatment, regardless of their ethnicity.
These cultural values also predicted more negative attitudes toward seeking help.⁷
This doesn't mean people from collectivist cultures don't need support. It means they might seek it differently — through family, faith communities, or other trusted networks first.
What actually helps:
Acknowledge multiple pathways to support.
Don't make therapy the only option presented. Include information about peer support groups, faith-based counseling, family counseling, and community resources alongside clinical options.
Different cultural frameworks aren't obstacles to overcome. They're valid ways of understanding and addressing distress.
Stop assuming everyone's situation looks the same
Most mental health content is written for people who live in nuclear family households, work predictable 9-5 jobs, have reliable transportation, speak English fluently, and can take time off work for appointments.
But what if someone:
Works three part-time jobs with unpredictable schedules
Relies on public transportation that doesn't run evenings or weekends
Lives in a multigenerational household where privacy is impossible
Can't afford childcare during therapy appointments
Would face immigration consequences for seeking certain services
Your content needs to account for these realities.
Even after the Affordable Care Act improved health care access, problems, like transportation, scheduling conflicts, and not knowing where to find services, continue to prevent people from getting care. Some of these barriers have actually gotten worse over the past decade.⁸
Make your content useful:
Offer graduated options.
Crisis lines work when someone needs help immediately. They're free, available 24/7, and don't require transportation.
Telehealth addresses some logistics but not all (you still need internet access and privacy at home).
Community support groups, faith-based counseling, and self-help resources give people options when they're not ready for or can't access therapy.
Not everyone starts at the same place. Your content should reflect that.
Test your content before you publish it
You can't catch your own blind spots. That's why they're blind.
Before you publish mental health content, show it to people from the communities you're trying to reach.
Pay them for their time. This is expertise, not a favor.
Ask them:
Does this feel like it's for you?
What assumptions does this make that might not be true?
What's missing?
Is any language outdated or offensive?
Then actually revise based on what they tell you.
This isn't performative diversity work. It's making sure your content doesn't accidentally exclude the people who need it most.
What this actually looks like in practice
Let's say you're writing a blog post about managing work-related stress for a hospital system's website.
Default version: "Talk to your supervisor about accommodations. Schedule therapy appointments during your lunch break. Practice self-care by taking a mental health day."
Accessible version: "If you can, talk to your supervisor about what might help — flexible scheduling, reduced hours, or different responsibilities. Some workplaces are more supportive than others.
If therapy feels right for you, some options include: [local sliding-scale clinics], [telehealth services that accept insurance or offer payment plans], [peer support groups that meet in the evenings and on weekends].
Not everyone can take time off work without losing income. If that's your situation, here are things you can try during breaks: [specific, realistic suggestions]."
See the difference? The second version acknowledges reality instead of pretending it doesn't exist.
This isn't about perfection
You're going to get things wrong.
Your first draft will have blind spots.
You'll use language that doesn't land the way you intended.
That's expected. What matters is what you do next.
Creating mental health content for diverse audiences requires ongoing learning, humility, and willingness to revise.
It's not comfortable. But neither is publishing content that tells entire communities "this isn't for you."
Your mental health content can reach more people. It can serve communities that have been historically excluded from mental health resources.
But only if you're willing to do the work to make it truly accessible.
References
Bhugra D, Watson C, Wijesuriya R. Culture and mental illnesses. International Review of Psychiatry. 2021;33(1-2):1-3.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09540261.2020.1777748
Modi H, Orgera K, Grover A. Exploring Barriers to Mental Health Care in the U.S. Association of American Medical Colleges. October 2022. https://www.aamc.org/about-us/mission-areas/clinical-care/exploring-barriers-mental-health-care-us
Gao YN, Olfson M. High out-of-pocket cost burden of mental health care for adult outpatients in the United States. Psychiatric Services. 2025;76(2):200-203. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11786981/
University of Michigan School of Public Health. Understanding Black Distrust of Medicine. May 2021. https://sph.umich.edu/findings/spring-2021/black-distrust-of-medicine-from-sims-to-tuskegee-and-its-impact-on-vaccine-hesitancy.html
Pew Research Center. Black Americans' trust in medical scientists and views about the potential for researcher misconduct. July 2024.
Hou X, Chen Z. Study underlines role of past injustices in medical mistrust. University of Georgia. July 2025. https://news.uga.edu/study-underlines-role-of-past-injustices-in-medical-mistrust/
Zhou E, Kyeong Y, Cheung CS, et al. Shared cultural values influence mental health help-seeking behaviors in Asian and Latinx college students. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. 2022;9:1325-1334. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40615-021-01073-w
Olfson M, Wall MM, Barry CL, et al. U.S. health care reform and enduring barriers to mental health care among low-income adults with psychological distress. Psychiatric Services. 2021;72(6):609-617. https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ps.202000194
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