Step into my chair: offering men therapy at the barbershop
CBC Radio | Posted: October 12, 2018 8:49 PM | Last Updated: October 15, 2018
In Little Rock, AR., men can get mental health advice and a great fade at the same spot: the barbershop.
Lorenzo Lewis runs Beyond the Shop, an initiative designed to get barbers talking to their clients about anxiety, depression and other mental health issues. He works to bring mental health awareness to black men and boys as part of the Confess Project.
"[Your barber] is the person that you go to when you want to feel good about yourself. You talk about politics, manhood. So many conversations that come up in one space," said Lewis.
Lewis based his idea on his own experience with depression growing up. His father died when he was 10 and his mother passed away 11 years later. He essentially "grew up" in his aunt's barbershop and met barber Sylvester Stewart, who became a mentor.
"[He] would pick me up and put me in his chair and would just really challenge me to just to understand who I was," said Lewis.
"I thought, 'What if I can bring the same energy to a barbershop but also to talk about mental illness?'"
'When you share your pain, that creates your purpose'
Now in places like Goodfellas Barbershop in Little Rock, The Campus Barbershop in Louisville, KY — or others in New Orleans, Atlanta, Memphis, Tenn. and Columbia, S.C. — barbers look for signs that a man is suffering from mental health issues.
As part of the program, barbers offer assurance that it's okay to experience anxiety and depression and direct their clients to professional therapists if needed.
He stressed, however, that this occurs as part of an "organic conversation." If a man doesn't want to discuss their mental health, they don't have to.
Lewis wants to focus on the black community because they face higher rates of trauma but have greater barriers to treatment in the U.S.
The National Institute for Mental Health in the U.S. says that only 29 per cent of black adults get treated for mental health issues, compared to nearly 49 per cent of whites.
Lewis points out that men have a particularly hard time talking about their anxieties.
"We [men] can only show anger and rage and by doing so it has created toxic masculinity ...'Hey it's not OK for me to vent. And surely not cry in front of others, right?'" said Lewis.
"I think that creates a negative look that … has really tainted our vulnerability and being able to talk out about how we feel and how we can reach that place of wellness."