Men To Heal Archives

Black men are significantly underserved by the mental health industry in Richmond, but three different providers are working to change that.

Brie Jordan-Cooley, Mickeal Pugh Jr., and James Harris are strangers with the same goal: to help black men in Richmond seek access to mental health treatment.

“I think that because our systems have notoriously been unsupportive and even disregarded African Americans … there is a lack of trust there,” said Jordan-Cooley, a mental health clinician who mostly works with African American males.

With different backgrounds in mental health, Jordan-Cooley, Pugh, and Harris said they realized at a young age that there is a lack of mental health care access for African American males.

African American men die from suicide at a rate more than four times higher than African American women, according to 2017 data from the U.S. Department of Health and Services’ Office of Minority Health.

Jordan-Cooley grew up in Richmond’s Church Hill neighborhood and attended Richmond Public Schools, which has a predominantly black population.

“I’ve learned at a very early age that there was a pretty significant difference in how I was perceived and how people interacted with me versus many of my friends,” said Jordan-Cooley, who is white.

After graduating from high school, she attended Boston University and later left for The Evergreen State College in Washington with hopes of better aligning her values of environmental and social justice. She received a master’s degree in social work from Virginia Commonwealth University and now works as a mental health clinician for ChildSavers, a nonprofit that provides mental health services for children and their families.

Jordan-Cooley said her patient list is increasing. However, Virginia has a higher prevalence of adults with mental illness and a lower rate of access to care, according to Mental Health America, a nonprofit that addresses the needs of those living with mental illness.

*A supporter of mental health reform holds a fist in the air at a rally to show his support of the National Alliance on Mental illness in Virginia. Photo by Mark Robinson.*

Barriers to care

According to the American Psychiatric Association, only 7 percent of African American males in the U.S. used a mental health service from 2008 to 2012, compared to 10 percent of black females and 11 percent of white males.

There are many barriers that stop black men from receiving mental health treatment. One of the biggest reasons Jordan-Cooley, Pugh, and Harris have found is that it’s difficult to find psychologists and counselors that look like them.

“I’ve met with some black male clients, like in my clinical work, and I’ve really noticed the value of sitting across from a black male therapist,” said Pugh, an assistant counselor at VCU University Counseling Center and psychology doctoral program student at VCU.

Dr. Shawn C.T. Jones, assistant professor in the counseling psychology program at VCU, said there also is a lack of trust in the healthcare field due to African Americans being the “guinea pig” for experiments in history, for instance the Tuskegee Study of untreated syphilis. The 40-year study included hundreds of black males with and without syphilis. Participants weren’t told of the study’s purpose and those with syphilis weren’t adequately treated for syphilis so the disease would remain untreated, even after penicillin was discovered as a treatment.

Poverty is an additional barrier. African Americans who live below the poverty line are twice as likely to have psychiatric distress, reports the Office of Minority Health. Data published in 2017 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 19 percent of African American adults between the ages of 18-49 could not see a medical doctor due to cost, compared to 15 percent of white adults in that age group.

According to Mental Health America, Virginia ranks No. 37 in the country for access to care. This is measured by access to insurance, access to treatment, quality and cost of insurance, access to special education and workforce availability.

“The system is not structured in a way to make therapy accessible for everybody,” Pugh said. “I think it’s really important for black men specifically to seek therapy. It’s not just a matter of taking care of ourselves, but it’s also a matter of taking care of the communities that we care about.”

After graduating from the doctoral program, Pugh plans to continue his research of racial discrimination in mental health services and possibly launch his own practice. He said he wants to look past the standard form of therapy and move toward a more informal treatment method involving community integration for men, women and children. As a short-term goal, he plans to coordinate with a few colleagues and male therapists to develop a database of solely male providers in the Richmond area.

“Unfortunately, therapy isn’t modeled to be a service for your entire life … the whole purpose of therapy is to give people the skills they need to operate, not just how they operate in therapy, but to learn those skills outside of therapy and apply it to their lives for themselves,” Pugh said.

Men to Heal and The Healing Hub

Pugh isn’t the only one looking to bridge the gap to mental health services for black males. That’s where James Harris comes in. A U.S. Army veteran who also has a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling, Harris said he is on a mission to help black men seek help for mental health issues. His Men to Heal initiative helps make therapy accessible while educating the community that mental health must be a priority for black men.

Harris was inspired to start Men to Heal after seeing a lack of black male mental health care providers. He also started offering mental health services at his other venture, The Healing Hub. Located on North Arthur Ashe Boulevard, The Healing Hub provides mindfulness, yoga, massage therapy and clinical therapy.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, in 2013 only 6 percent of psychologists and advanced practice psychiatric nurses, 13 percent of social workers, and 21 percent of psychiatrists were members of minority groups.

“I’ve been a part of the lack of treatment from providers who look like me,” Harris said.

Harris said he wants to end the Hollywood therapy approach, where clients sit on a couch to talk about their mental health issues. Instead, he wants to focus on helping clients resolve mental health issues.

“If you look at TV, you think therapy is like going to this office, you sit on the couch, and tell us about your issue,” Harris said. “So with me, it’s not that, it’s more us working together as a cohesive unit to try to identify the areas that you need assistance with.”

Harris uses two techniques with clients, cognitive behavioral therapy and reality therapy.

When using CBT, Harris gives clients assignments and research to help with their mental health issues. Harris said reality therapy is based on the here and now, where he helps clients resolve issues surrounding mental health in real time, rather than over a long period.

Since opening in August, Harris said the Healing Hub has brought more awareness to mental health by holding quarterly panels in Richmond with celebrities discussing their mental health issues. Panelists have included NBA player Andre Ingram and actor Mark Curry from the TV show Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper.

“Primarily I wanted this to be a spot for somebody to come in to start a conversation,” Harris said.

Written by Aliviah Jones and Imani Thaniel, Capital News Service. Top Photo by Mark Robinson.

With his Men To Heal movement, James Harris works to make therapy accessible and mental health a priority for working-class men of color.

As a child in the foster care system, James Harris grew up attending mandated counseling sessions provided by the state. Now, Harris has started his own movement to end the stigma of men’s mental health: Men to Heal.

During Harris’ childhood, counseling was seen as taboo — and he says it still often is seen that way now. In spite of the fact that it was discouraged in his community, Harris was required to attend sessions as a ward of the state after he had been separated from his family.

These counseling sessions were not something that Harris always took seriously. They lacked the genuine connection he so desired. “It was hard for me to want to engage with somebody who doesn’t look like me,” he said.

However, while he didn’t always find that connection he yearned for when he was growing up, he felt it was important to create that connection for the generations of men that came after him — to not only change the stigma, but encourage others to pursue help when needed.

“I definitely wish I had gotten more out of it and took it more seriously,” Harris said of his childhood counseling. “That’s the whole purpose behind my movement, and the whole purpose of why I went back to school.”

After his first year of college and two years overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan with the U.S. Army, Harris decided to finish his education and earn a masters in clinical mental health counseling. As a resident in counseling, Harris currently hosts community-based services, volunteers, and offers outpatient counseling services to male clients.

For Harris, the way that therapy is portrayed adds to the stigma that deters people from trying it.

“I want people to understand that Hollywood therapy is different than actual therapy,” Harris said. “I want to be engaging and create a cohesive relationship with the people that I serve and serve people that I look like.”

As a black male counselor, Harris is a rarity in the world of clinical counseling. He sees his work as filling an important need for an often-underserved community who don’t get the kind of help they need in order to really connect and make improvements in their lives.

“Think about the 13 year old African American who’s living in low socioeconomic areas,” he continued. “They’re not comfortable with talking to this white man who probably can’t relate.”

With that understanding, Harris began his Men To Heal movement with hoodies and t-shirts, as well as a variety of programs focused on changing the idea that men and cannot and do not experience depression and other mental health concerns.

One of Harris’ most involved and supportive followers of the movement has been his cousin Andre Ingram. Ingram, who played for the NBA minor leagues for years and recently joined the NBA G League’s South Bay Lakers, struggled with mental health while playing abroad in Australia two and a half years ago.

“Men, athletes, and men of color are the three types of people that don’t want to ask for help,” Ingram said. “That was me wrapped in one.”

After hearing about Harris’ movement to address mental health for men, Ingram knew he wanted to be involved in any way he could. What Ingram most related to was the stigma that surrounds men’s mental health today, leading men to try getting a handle on their lives themselves instead of seeking help.

“I directly relate mostly to every time he posts about the stigmas,” Ingram said. “We’ve got to end it all.”

Not only does Harris frequently post about his movement on social media, he also hosts programs to educate those who are interested in finding the mental health-related answers they’re looking for.

As an active member in the Richmond community as co-owner of Brewers Waffles and The Well art gallery, Harris has been approached by local organizations seeking seminars and other programs related to the movement. Harris has also hosted sessions with national and international organizations, spanning from right here in the U.S. to Afghanistan, Germany, and Spain.

Through his programs, Harris shares statistics about the ways men and women differ in seeking services, addresses different mental health symptoms, and diagnoses. He educates about healthy coping habits, and how women can best support the men in their lives. Participation in the movement has been diverse, reaching African American, Asian, and Caucasian men since its inception.

“People want services from people who look like them,” Harris said. “So, it’s been received well.”

Despite having reached over 1,000 people between the seminars, programs, and apparel, Harris has yet to market the movement; all growth has been produced organically. Those who have come across the Men to Heal apparel have contacted Harris directly to order their own through Instagram, he said.

Ingram attested to the genuine manner in which Men to Heal has grown, citing the ways his teammates have responded to his involvement in the movement.

“It’s just putting an end to so much of that macho feel,” Ingram said. “People are coming directly for the help they need.”

“It’s a wonderful thing to see a man not be afraid to say ‘Hey man, I’m struggling. I need some help. How do I get that?’” Ingram said. “We all go through it.”

In the future, Harris said he hoped to expand the movement into a possible non-profit organization, which he hopes will be able to assist more people.

“Right now I just want to continue to grow and to bring awareness to it, and continue to help people,” Harris said. “As it comes, I’ll figure out where it needs to go.”

As a participant in the movement, Ingram said that he had seen the stigma change for people, and even in his own understanding of self-worth.

“You want to see people well,” Ingram said. “Your health is the true wealth.”

Find James Harris and Men to Heal on Instagram at @men_to_heal.

Photos via James Harris/Facebook

Richmonders Work to Improve Black Male Mental Health Access

Erasing The Stigma