The Black Man Project (BMP), a Houston-based non-profit with national reach, working to explore the complexity of Black masculinity for men and boys, and also to create space spaces for healing, accountability, and brotherhood, seeks to extend its impact even further.
And it involves Healing Forward, the BMP’s mobile educational vehicle aimed at connecting with at-risk youth.
“Healing Forward allows us the opportunity to broaden our scope and more specifically work with youth, and so the healing therapy vehicle will go to schools and we’ll be able to provide cuts, conversations and holistic curriculum,” said BMP founder Brian Ellison. “On top of that, we provide a haircut. When you look good, you feel good, the opportunity to do good is increased and so that is what Healing Forward provides.”
Founded just a few years ago, BMP has been on a mission both locally and beyond to take healing and accessibility to mental health resources directly to communities.
One way BMP accomplishes this goal is through its monthly therapy sessions.
“We provide safe spaces where we have a community of people. We have therapists on hand, where we are able to have dialogue and conversations around the things that we have to navigate on a day-to-day basis,” said Ellison.
And with Black men, healing is much needed, but rarely sought.
Exposure to trauma, whether through witnessing or direct victimization, is often a daily reality for many Black males, according to Robert Motley and Andrae Banks’ article National Library of Medicine article, “Black Males, Trauma, and Mental Health Service Use: A Systematic Review.”
Findings from their review suggest that 56-74% of Black males exposed to traumatic events may have an unmet need for mental health services.
Motley and Banks contend future research examining the relationship between trauma and mental health service use for Black men and factors that moderate and/or mediate this relationship is warranted.
And they may be right. As their report points out, Black male trauma survivors were significantly less likely to be utilizing mental health services than other sex-ethnic groups.
High levels of daily crises, a lack of knowledge of steps to obtain services, and service eligibility issues were significant individual barriers to mental health service use for Black males, whereas social support, occupational disability and PTSD symptoms severity were significant facilitators for mental health service use.
These realities make BMP’s work all that much more important. And according to Howard C. Stevenson, PhD, director of the Racial Empowerment Collaborative at the University of Pennsylvania and a national expert in helping people of color address and heal from racism, BMP is on the right path.
“We should place less emphasis on whether Black men are resistant to therapy,” said Stevenson, “and more on understanding the contexts in which they already feel comfortable talking about their feelings and traumas. If a Black man is able to find a treatment that is culturally responsive, that he understands, and that embraces the uniqueness of his difference, he is more likely to use that service.”
And BMP is laser-focused on utilizing those areas where Black men already feel comfortable expressing themselves. BMP currently offers its therapy sessions once a month at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and has been doing so for the past three years.
“We live in a world of comparison and kids have access to technology and constantly comparing their realities, so we’re teaching kids anger management skills, coping skills. To learn how to affirm yourself is a skillset; to learn how to talk positive to yourself is a skillset,” explained Ellison.
“We have therapists on hand, where we are able to have dialogue and conversations around the things that we have to navigate on a day-to-day basis.”
Brian ellison
“We have therapists on hand, where we are able to have dialogue and conversations around the things that we have to navigate on a day-to-day basis,” said Ellison.
Healing Forward allows BMP to literally deliver healing opportunities to individuals and communities in need. Additionally, BMP has teamed up with Google in Seattle, help rap sessions with brothers in Brooklyn, partnered with Black Men Smile and Emory University in Atlanta, and held healing conversations with Black men at Staple Barbershop in South Central Los Angeles.
Another part of BMP’s leadership team is Marlon F. Hall, an international lecturing anthropologist, practitioner and storyteller who uses film, art-installations, salon dinner parties and yoga to, in his words, “unearth beauty from brokenness.”
Hall, who founded Awakenings Movement, has a long history of advocating for activities that address the mind, body and spirit health needs of Black men, Black people in general, and all people, for that matter.
Through his various areas of expertise, Hall helps individuals and organizations develop sustainable practices, rituals, values and programs that deepen their connections, strengthen their culture and broaden their impact.
BMP’s creative director, Anthony Suber, said the group has expanded its reach to include the Black Woman Project (BWP).
“It’s an effort for us to kind of connect to community, be inclusive of Black men and Black women, and also [to facilitate] a multi-generational conversation,” said Suber.
He added that the aim of the Black Woman Project is to show that we stand strong together as a community.
BMP and BWP will host youth workshop sessions at the MFAH in conjunction with the exhibition “Kehinde Wiley: An Archaeology of Silence” on March 9 from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
The workshop seeks to create a space for boys and girls to explore their impressions of the world-renowned exhibit and engage in conversations about healing, wholeness, leadership, and community. The workshop, led by Artist Tay Butler, is open to teens, middle school to high school, accompanied by an adult chaperone.
For more information about the March event, BMP, and BWP visit www.theblackmanproject.com.
(source: ABC13.com)
