Barbers become mental health advocates in Black communities

An innovative national program that trains barbers as mental health advocates for men in Black and brown communities kicks off in Tampa this month with a free
public event.

The Confess Project of America’s Barbershop Conversations will launch locally with a community meeting and panel discussion featuring barbers and mental health professionals. The event is 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. June 22nd at The Skills Center, 5107 N. 22nd St. in Tampa.

The initiative is an effort to overcome a stigma in communities of color against men seeking help for mental and emotional problems, says Antionette Davis, founder and CEO of EnVision Resolution Foundation, the nonprofit agency training barbers to be mental health advocates. The local program is funded by the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County.

“The Children’s Board’s focus really is that the family unit will be able to work more efficiently for the benefit of producing productive children in our society,’’ Davis says. “So given the data that have been found around the increase of suicide among young Black males and others, they have decided that they wanted to fund this initiative really to address the stigma and to leverage the trusted relationships that barbers have with the community.’’

During the panel discussion at the June 22nd event, barbers and mental health professionals will share “real-life stories’’ of program participants to show how Barbershop Conversations works, according to a news release.’’

“The event will highlight how trusted, culturally relevant spaces like barbershops can play a vital role in breaking down the stigma and expanding access to mental health support – especially in communities of color,’’ the release states.

Davis says that while family doctors now ask questions about their patients’ mental well-being, some men may not feel as comfortable talking to their doctors as they do to their barbers.

Barbers in the program are trained in communication skills and how to identify the signs during a conversation that a customer may be looking for help but not know how to go about it. The barbers will be able to suggest community programs and resources that address the customer’s concerns. They can also provide a “community resource map’ that points out programs and resources, Davis says.

The Confess Project of America launched in 2016 “because we recognized a need to equip marginalized communities with mental health strategies and coping skills to help them move past the pain,’’ the nonprofit organization’s website says. With the addition of Florida, the organization's Barbershop Conversations program is now in 33 states.

Davis says EnVision Resolution Foundation grew out of a church ministry advocating for health in Black and brown communities and launched in 2023.

EnVision Resolution Foundation CEO and founder Antionette Davis“We work to address disparities in health that produce poor health outcomes,” she says. “We know there are chronic diseases that are passed down in Black and brown communities from generation to generation. So our organization and foundation exists to find new ways to address those chronic conditions.”

The organization also encourages people in those communities to advocate for their own health.

Davis says the foundation’s theory of change is identified by the acronym OPA, which stands for ongoing engagement, personal accountability, and advocacy

“Part of what we teach the community is that going to one health fair, going to one job fair, going to one therapy session is not going to be the solution that they need to change behaviors that are entrenched,’’ Davis explains about the importance of ongoing engagement. 

As for personal accountability, she says the solution lies within each person’s commitment to make changes.

The third principle, advocacy, is threaded throughout the other two parts of the theory of change, Davis says.

“Once you become more educated on certain things, then you are more equipped to advocate,” she says.

As an example, Davis shares the story of a man who regularly attends EnVision’s monthly “real talk’’ events in local barbershops. The monthly topic for May was a healthy heart. Medical professionals told the group the signs of heart problems and which tests to ask for if they experience those symptoms.

“One of the guys was there with his ongoing engagement, just regularly being there,” Davis says. “He learned those things and that night he started having the symptoms that were described to him. He went to the hospital, he asked them for the tests that he was told he should ask for, and the response was, ‘Are you a doctor?’ He had become equipped to become a self-advocate.’’

For more information, go to The Confess Project, EnVision Resolution, and Children’s Board of Hillsborough County

For information and registration for the June 22nd event, go to EnVision Resolution Barbershop Conversations