Abstract
Nigeria has the sixth highest number of students from non-EU countries coming to the UK. Not only are professional mental health services underutilised by black men, but the acculturative stressors that typically accompany international students can heighten the risk of experiencing mental distress. The help-seeking experiences of male Nigerian international students in the UK are a significantly under-researched area. Interviews were conducted with eight male Nigerian international students from a UK university, an Interpretive Phenomenological analysis was used to explore how this population makes sense of their help-seeking experiences. The results identified four themes (1) Coping strategies (2) barriers to accessing support, (3) African identity and (4) Masculinity. Findings suggest a preference for using a combination of independent coping strategies, with most participants considering formal psychological support as inappropriate. Clinical implications and the limitations of the study are discussed.