Within counseling and other mental health disciplines, Black women are underserved, psychologically misdiagnosed, and one of the least researched minoritized cultural populations. We used a hermeneutic phenomenological study to understand the lived experiences of 16 Black women who experienced mental health stress to understand their mental health needs, barriers to mental health care, and help‐seeking and self‐care practices. Findings included the following four themes: perspectives on oppression on mental health, socio‐cultural messages about self‐care and help‐seeking, perspectives about self‐care, and perspectives about professional counseling. Implications for counselors are discussed.