How Barbers Are Getting Black Men Talking About Mental Health

The barbershop might not seem like the most obvious place to talk about mental health, but for Black men, it’s a natural atmosphere for sensitive conversation. 

“It’s one of the most important community settings and institutions in the Black community,” explained Michael Lindsey, executive director of the NYU McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research.  

Historically, Black barbershops have provided solace during personal turmoil. The Great Depression, World War I and II, the civil rights movement, and the Vietnam War prompted African American men, young and old, to find a communal space to make sense of the alienation and strife they often felt, said Quincy Mills, Vassar College history professor and author of “Cutting Along the Color Line: Black Barbers and Barber Shops in America.”

“Black veterans came back from war and tried to make sense of what they’d just gone through, being away fighting for democracy that wasn’t for them at home,” said Mills. “[Barbershops] provided them private space in the public sphere outside of white surveillance and became good organizing spaces in the midst of national crisis affecting African American men.”

“We come to the barbershop for everything else,” said Lewis. By including mental health in the conversation, “we invest in a conversation about us, the way we feel, and how we can transform that.”

There’s a pervasive stigma among Black men about admitting and seeking help for personal trauma and mental health concerns. Blacks are 10% more likely to have psychological distress than whites, yet half as likely to receive mental health treatment or counselling, according to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health. 

“They perceive treatment as a place where crazy people go and leave a black mark on their life and how people perceive them,” Lindsey said. 

The resistance to treatment isn’t limited to psychological struggles. Black men in America have a long-standing systemic distrust of doctors and health services reinforced by a lack of access, the inability to afford proper care, and a lack of diversity among licensed professionals. 

Lindsey, who worked as a barber during his undergraduate studies at Morehouse College, believes the barbershop should be seen as a surrogate health center for African Americans: “It’s a place where you have a critical mass of people that could be influenced. It’s a prime place to do great work.” 

“We have treatment disparities for highly treatable diseases in our community because we don’t go to the doctor,” Lindsey said. “We only go to the doctor when there’s a crisis. The barbershop is a critical place to funnel information about health through dialogue and critical discussion.”