The I.M.P.A.C.T. Theory™

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Abstract

The I.M.P.A.C.T. Theory™ is a trauma-informed theoretical model developed from a qualitative, multiple-case study exploring how African-American Evangelical clergy perceive and integrate evidence-based mental health treatments into religious counseling. The theory identifies six key dimensions—Integration Needs, Mindsets of Theology, Perspective of Pain, Alliance Across Disciplines, Competency Through Education, and Transformation of Norms—as the primary factors influencing clergy decision-making. Rooted in Black ecclesial identity and pastoral lived experience, the theory bridges the epistemological gap between theology and psychology. It contributes a new framework for faith-based institutions seeking structural, culturally responsive, and systemically sustainable mental health integration.

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Introducing the I.M.P.A.C.T. Theory™

A Trauma-Informed Framework for Clergy-Based Mental Health Integration in the Black Church

By Dr. Vanessa R. Brooks, Ed.D. Based on her dissertation: Brooks, V. R. (2024). Exploring Depression in the Black Church: Are African-American Evangelical Clergy Willing to Integrate Secular, Evidence-Based Mental Health Treatments With Their Religious Counseling Practices? Houston Christian University.

What happens when a church expects you to preach people through pain that’s neurological, generational, or systemic?

This was the critical tension my dissertation sought to explore—and it is this tension that gave rise to the I.M.P.A.C.T. Theory™.

For decades, scholarship on pastoral care in Black churches has focused on spiritual resilience, communal strength, and the church’s role as a surrogate for mental healthcare. What has been largely absent, however, is a model that accounts for the psychological, theological, and structural tensions clergy experience when trying to integrate modern mental health frameworks into historically spiritual spaces.

The I.M.P.A.C.T. Theory™ emerges as a response to this gap. Rooted in Black cultural realities, pastoral lived experience, and trauma-informed care, it offers a systems-based, evidence-informed, and faith-rooted approach to reimagining ministry leadership in the 21st century.

The Problem with Pastoral Expectation

Within the Black Church, clergy have long carried an unspoken triad of responsibility: to lead, to heal, and to hold. They are theologians, therapists, and trauma containers. But few have been trained to navigate the emotional weight of that calling with clinical discernment, administrative support, or institutional protection.

The Black Church has always been more than a religious space—it’s been a cultural home, a site of resistance, and a sacred place of identity formation for African Americans.

But through my research, I began to see something deeper.

Despite the cultural and spiritual power of the Black Church, many clergy are leading people through trauma they were never trained to hold—and never taught to heal.

Through my qualitative, experimental multiple-case study of six Evangelical African American pastors, I uncovered what many of us have sensed intuitively:

• Clergy are shouldering depression and crisis without clinical training

• Their decision-making is shaped by complex theology and spiritual pressure

• And without trauma-informed frameworks, they risk replicating the same religious harm they want to heal

This discovery led me to develop what I now call the I.M.P.A.C.T. Theory™—a trauma-informed, culturally grounded model for faith-based mental health integration.

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Positioning the Theory: Beyond Integration—Toward Infrastructural Healing

The I.M.P.A.C.T. Theory™ is not a plug-in tool for adding counseling to ministry. It is a paradigm for institutional reformation. It demands theological interrogation, cultural humility, and systemic literacy.

Effective mental health integration in the Black Church requires more than personal conviction. It requires:

• Contextualized leadership support

• Structural competency

• Systemic trauma literacy

• Theological reappraisal

• And organizational scaffolding for sustainable care

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The Six Pillars of the I.M.P.A.C.T. Theory™

I – Integration Needs

Churches are not homogenous. Denominational doctrine, geographic region, pastoral training, and church size all impact openness to mental health practices. Integration must be contextual—not clinical-by-default.

M – Mindsets of Theology

As theology shapes cognition, it also shapes behavior. Pastors with an over-reliance on divine healing narratives may interpret depression as spiritual weakness. The theory calls for theological reappraisal as an entry point to clinical openness.

P – Perspective of Pain (Religious Coping & Trauma)

Religious coping is not inherently harmful—but when it replaces trauma processing with spiritual bypassing, it delays healing. This pillar explores the ways unprocessed trauma hides beneath familiar spiritual language.

A – Alliance Across Disciplines

Clergy should not act as isolated gatekeepers of healing. They must engage in cross-disciplinary partnerships with culturally competent clinicians—creating what I call “sacred referral networks.”

C – Competency Through Education

Mental health education is not a clinical license—it is a leadership imperative. Education builds not only literacy but belonging, as clergy begin to see themselves as part of the care ecosystem, not outside of it.

T – Transformation of Norms

Integration is not complete until trauma-informed care becomes a cultural norm—reflected in protocols, preaching, leadership modeling, and ministry infrastructure.

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Theoretical Contributions

The I.M.P.A.C.T. Theory™ contributes to scholarship and practice in five distinct ways:

1. Bridges the epistemological divide between spiritual formation and clinical care.

2. Centers Black ecclesial identity in mental health scholarship and systems design.

3. Offers a model that is both diagnostic (what’s broken) and developmental (what’s needed).

4. Provides a trauma-informed framework that honors both pastoral authority and mental health best practices.

5. Establishes a new paradigm for culturally responsive institutional care and leadership sustainability.

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Conclusion: From Crisis to Cultural Legacy

The I.M.P.A.C.T. Theory™ is not a reactive model—it is a call to rewire the systems of spiritual care and mental health support in Black faith communities.

It is the foundation of my certification programs, executive consulting model, and strategic leadership framework.

Because the future of the Church cannot depend on untrained leaders, over-spiritualized solutions, or emotional exhaustion.

It must rest on leaders who are equipped to build systems that heal—not just shout.

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