Name: How barbers are becoming mental health advocates for Black men
Uploaded: 2023-03-03
Duration: 4 min 56 s
Description: Black barbershops have a long history of being staples of the African American community, and now a new generation of barbers are paving the way to advocate for mental health and wellness among Black men across the U.S.

Black barbershops have a long history of being staples of the African American community, and now a new generation of barbers are paving the way to advocate for mental health and wellness among Black men across the U.S.

How barbers are becoming mental health advocates for Black men

Health

A new generation of barbers are paving the way to advocate for mental health and wellness among Black men across the U.S.

How Black barbers are becoming mental health advocates

The barbershop has just always been a safe agent for the black community. Period. I believe that we're on a road of advocacy which can help to overturn stigma about mental health and black men and boys across America. There's a true disconnect culturally within black professionals in the mental health field. And so the confessed project of Americans helping to deploy mental health tools to the barbers and stylists that work with their clients. Everyday suicide is the third leading cause For young black men and boys. But only 4% of mental health professionals are recognized as African Americans and we really park it there. We really think about why is that the challenge a majority of African Americans are less likely to receive treatment than the general public. The stigmatism around it is this mindset that we don't need to talk to anybody. But the reality is that we do. And so that's where kind of the barbershop comes and play. The barbershop has just always been a safe haven for the community. Period. Historically, we think about a lot of the work that happened, the civil rights era around voting and civic participation. A lot of those episodes in our history happened in black barbershops and so barbershops have played a huge staple, not only in the civic participation, but in regards to the quality of life for Black Americans and their families, it's always been a free space for free conversation. And when people build a relationship with their barber per se, um the barber becomes more than just the person cutting their hair. When you see this person every single week, we build these relationships. They feel like they can confide in their barber in ways that they can't confide in, in their own homes. We know our clients like that with a few words, we can tell it's something different than the last time that they sat in our chair. We like to believe that the training that we provide are seen as too just like CPR first aid, active listening, a better way to listen to their clients, to support their clients validation, being able to validate someone's emotions and feelings, positive communication, being able to communicate in a positive way, have a positive tone. Lastly, a stigma reduction, being able to de stigmatize mental health, being able to combat negative language and negative thinking around mental health. About 10 years old, I got dropped off at the barbershop. I was raised under a single mother. So her idea of me being exposed to men was dropping me off at the barbershop on Saturdays. So I would hang out at the barbershop all day, sweep the floor straighten up the magazine racks, et cetera. And I kind of made my mind up that, that was like the coolest guy in the neighborhood. You know, he was the one that everybody respected. And I wanted to be that guy just raised this standard and be this standard for my community. I was introduced to the confessed project. By way of Lorenzo, I felt like connecting with the confessed project allowed me to feel like I was a resource for my community. It's been a joy to be on this journey um of continuing to uplift just the iconic history of Black Barbershops. The organization since 2016 has now impacted 2.4 million people across 48 cities in 28 states. Over 50% of the barbers that we've trained are more inclined to understanding mental health than they were before. And over 90% of those same individuals received therapy or have therapists connected to their barbershop. We're not therapists, but I think we can converse eight to a point that we can discover whether something's really going on. And if I need to refer them to a therapist, historically, we've just always kind of been the gap between having someone to speak to professionally and the person that really just didn't even want to listen to them. My advice is confiding people that you really trust, spend time with them and, and really value your self care whether it's made attention before you go to sleep or walk, whatever it, I think we just gotta, we really got to tap in for someone who's dealt with, you know, major depression and who's been in recovery with mental health. One of the key things that I recognized was having a regiment around. How do you support your own mental health? Whether that's through journaling exercise, whether that's also through a better support system. My hopes for mental health, especially in our community is, you know, that we're more open about what we're going through just having real conversations. My message to young black men and boys was to be encouraged that it is a path of head, but there's light truly on the other side of the tunnel.