Trim day at the barbershop can bring a sharp line or fade, but now that time in a chair comes with much more than a dope cut.
Through a program called The Confess Project, licensed barbers are trained to be mental health champions for Black men who are less likely to see a therapist. Many clients say barbershops are a safe place for African American men, and it’s in the barber’s chair that clients get a fresh look designed with mental healing.
Organization founder and Little Rock, Arkansas, native Lorenzo Lewis struggled with his own mental health issues for years.
“It started with just my story, my own depression, and it’s a national movement,” Lewis explained.
It is a movement that began in 2016 and now consists of more than 1,000 barbers in 15 states who are trained how to listen, detect problems and guide clients to professional help if needed.
The mental health advocate said it is tough getting Black men to the therapist. According to the Office of Minority Health from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, suicide was the second leading cause of death for African Americans between 15 to 24 in 2019. A year earlier, the rate of suicide for black men was four times higher than for Black women.
In each city, The Confess Project has a partnership with mental health treatment centers where men are encouraged to go if they are having problems that need serious attention.
“Our barbers are pure ‘intervention specialists,’ I like to call them,” Lewis said. “They’re advocates on the front lines, and they really support someone through conversation that can really lead to true impact, true quality of life change.”
Read more at Fox5SanDiego.com.
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