Meet the barbers starting a conversation about mental health

The Confess Project champions the mental health of black men across the United States by training barbers to listen to and support clients in crisis. Overcoming stigma and structural barriers to mental health care in the black community, its founder Lorenzo Lewis is transforming barbershops into community hubs where mental health awareness can flourish, through a network of 1,000 barbers in 40 cities, which in turn reach one million customers a year. Ashoka's Yeleka Barrett caught up with Lorenzo to find out more.

Yeleka Barrett: Lorenzo, let's start with the inspiration behind the Confess project. What problem did you see?

Lorenzo Lewis: To be honest, as a black man in America, I never felt seen or heard, let alone celebrated. This personal experience, shared by many other black people, was therefore the first thing that inspired me. Then there was my own journey with mental health: depression, incarceration, having a brother with bipolar disorder, and knowing friends who had PTSD from street violence. Witnessing this violence has had an impact on how I think about systemic inequalities. Beyond that, I worked in behavioral health for ten years. As a case manager at a hospital, I've seen mostly white clinicians struggle to connect with black patients.

Barrett: I could imagine that in many of those contexts you were the only black person on staff.

Lewis: Yes. There is a real shortage of black clinicians and doctors in the field of mental health. Because I am not a doctor, I did not diagnose and prescribe. But I did a lot of direct service around care and treatment, which brought me closer to patients, and I saw with my own eyes how important it could be for black people to receive care from other blacks.

Barrett: So now, with Project Confess, people are seeing what you saw ten years ago. You have now trained a large network of barbers to become mental health advocates. How do these barbers find you?

Lewis: It's largely word of mouth: many barbers know people are struggling, but don't always know where to turn for help. We give them tools to deepen those interactions and step in when they see someone who is really struggling or at risk. Plus, partnering with brands and artists, from Gillette to Oprah and Killer Mike, has helped a lot. Now that we're starting over after Covid, we'll be reaching out to Black Women's Stylists to partner with beauty brands that support women and, by extension, young Black children.

Barrett: And once the hairdresser or stylist arrives, how do you encourage them to be advocates?

Lorenzo onboards and coaches new members.

The Confess Project

Lewis: We have a standard hour-long training that focuses on four areas: active listening, validation, positive communication, and stigma reduction. We built this training with researchers from Harvard University, Georgia State University, and the Georgia State Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. We are now working with state and federal agencies to ensure this becomes evidence-based training. We want people to see CPR as a necessary and effective intervention when someone is in crisis.

Barrett: What is a common misunderstanding about your work?

Lewis: The black community in the United States is largely disconnected from what a mental health emergency looks like and the impact their mental health can have on those around them. It is because he is still stigmatized. I think slavery is a big part of how this reluctance to communicate our pain and our challenges started. Take what I call “slow suicide”: someone who abuses substances or seeks active violence because they don't want to live anymore. We want to educate people about the links between depression and trauma – to explain that, for example, gun violence is not just a rage and anger issue, it is also a mental health issue. We start a conversation.

Barrett: Why is now a pivotal time for this work?

Lewis: We're in a time of constant upheaval, aren't we? People are prepared for change. I mean, ten years ago, black people were completely unconnected to this conversation about mental health. No one should have to die at the hands of the police, but between police brutality and the world shutting down with Covid, it was amazing to watch people start to...