Acceptance of mental illness is essential to promoting recovery and is uniquely impacted by issues of culture, race, and ethnicity. Qualitative case narrative methodology was used to identify themes related to the cultural facilitators and barriers in the acceptance process. Five participant narratives are presented to assist practitioners in applying these findings to rehabilitation counseling. Selected case narratives represent participants from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds to illustrate cultural facilitators and barriers in the acceptance process. Implications are suggested for culturally responsive counseling and research pertaining to the process of acceptance of mental illness.
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