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The Therapist

In every neighbourhood of every city, there's a safe haven for Black Men.

Starring: Ash Barba, Brett Curtis & Priscilla Fagbemi

Directed By Akwasi Poku

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This week Macmillan Cancer Support rolled out their latest inititave and launched the Macmillan Barber Shop Project Mixtape.

The 3-hour mixtape, produced by BBC 1Xtra's DJ Seani B, will be played in barbershops across London to open up vital conversations about cancer.

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Beyond the Shop aims to make mental health care more accessible to Black people by hosting conversations—led by a Black therapist—directly inside Charlottesville beauty salons and barbershops. At the monthly sessions, participants can get a free haircut while discussing a variety of important topics, from self-care to generational trauma, with other Black women or men, and receiving encouragement and support.

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📢 It's finally here!

Our first Trim 'N' Grin podcast hosted by @iammrtownsend with @tamemc repping the BAME Barbers Network, Dr. Wale (@walintinbaby) and our OTR (@talkOTR) counsellor Chantal.

This episode explored the impact #Covid19 and the vaccination.

HUGE THANKS to @yianthebarber for allowing us to use his venue to film and to @adrianne_________ for the videography.

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Coastal Bend barber Robbie Richard has used her salon capes to save bad hair days, and be a listening ear to customers for more than 50 years.

For more than five decades, Robbie’s Barbershop has opened its doors to customers helping for haircuts, clean shaves and building meaningful relationships with customers that keeps them coming back.

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At home, he was quiet, almost mysterious. “But I remember going to a barbershop with him often,” Igbokidi said, “and him talking about things I’ve never heard him talk about.”

Igbokidi’s dad, who immigrated from Nigeria, found brotherhood among men getting haircuts in Little Rock, Arkansas. Now, as a third-year medical student at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU, Igbokidi invites people to a similar space in barbershops across North Texas. 

The first Barbershop Talk Therapy in 2023 will take place Sunday, Feb. 5, at the Lake Como House of Fades Barbershop in Fort Worth. The event includes free haircuts, free health screenings and a psychiatrist-led discussion to help people process the death of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man whom Memphis police beat during a traffic stop. His funeral was Wednesday, Feb. 1. 

They’ll also talk about stress, anxiety and depression. 

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Great initiative by Islington council - together with the NHS, they have invested £1.6m to support young black men and boys with their mental health and to improve aspirations and life opportunities.

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This weekend we trained five barbers yesterday, equipping them with the skills to engage their customers and provide them with balanced information about COVID-19, the role of vaccinations and where they can be accessed for anyone wishing information on vaccination and the booster jabs and where they can be accessed.

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This afternoon we're hosting a free back to school haircut event in collaboration with @project4youthempowerment at Active Communities Hub in Centrale #Croydon.

Thanks to barber @julsthehairklinik for supporting today's Trim 'N' Grin.

📸 Superintendent Andy Britain stopped by too!

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It's our 2nd Trim N Grin event this summer and this time round we were at Pollards Hill Youth Centre in Mitcham. We're glad to say that the event was real a success!

You can't deny the feel-good factor after a great trim.

A huge THANKS to @barberkrish for supporting the day.

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It's been a while since we've provided an update about our own work!

Our free haircut event, Trim 'N' Grin, now has a logo and which we've used on T-shirts, baseball caps, a pop-up banner and barbering capes.

And this week, we held a Trim 'N' Grin event at Melbury College, an alternative education service in Mitcham in the London borough of Merton.

It was really rewarding to meet the pupils and listen to them open up about how they promote their wellbeing. We're pleased that we were able to put a smile on their faces that day. We are grateful to have two engaging barbers, Julien and Yian from the BAME Barbers Network to support the event and provide the haircuts.

We look forward to holding more free haircut events in the summer and for back to school.

Follow us on IG: @mindmyhair

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Colorado Black Health Collaborative hosts the barbershop and salon screenings every week.

Longtime Denver internist and primary care Dr. Terri Richardson smiled at the exchange. 

She helped found the Colorado Black Health Collaborative. It’s a community-based organization committed to improving health and wellness in the state’s Black, African, and African American communities. It works through collaborations and partnerships with community-based organizations, nonprofits, public organizations, private entities and government agencies.

Every Saturday since 2012, volunteers have been giving health screenings at salons or barbershops. The pandemic forced the program to take a two-year break, but Richardson said it’s back. 

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In the near future, Black men in Compton may be able to get a haircut, have their blood pressure checked and maybe even get their COVID shots all in one place: the barbershop.

This is the vision of TRAPMedicine, an organization led by a soon-to-be doctor and three others who are already practicing. All are Black men concerned about health inequities in their communities. They want to create a “barbershop wellness hub” that provides a wide variety of basic health services alongside barbers cutting hair and dispensing health advice.