Seventeen percent of American adults say they have poor mental health. That's according to a 2025 poll from the National Alliance on Mental Illness. One group remains among the least likely to seek therapy. But as WNIJ's Yvonne Boose reports, they're starting to open up to the idea.
That group is Black men. Research shows they're more likely to distrust the healthcare system, have less access to it because of poverty or a lack of health insurance, and hold traditional views of masculinity such as toughness.
"We've been taught as boys and becoming young men and adult men that we are not supposed to show or express our vulnerability, that that's the sign of a weak man," said Kweisi Gharreau, poet and founder of Innocent Rage Foundation, an Illinois nonprofit that focuses on trying to end gun violence and promote healing through art and poetry.
Gharreau grew up without a father and lost his younger brother to gun violence. He numbed the pain with drugs, alcohol and women.
"As a man, when you're dealing with some undiscovered trauma," he explained, "you don't know where your behavior is coming from or why you have these particular patterns."
He first tried therapy in California two decades ago.
"It was a part of just the lifestyle there, " he said. "Understanding your mental health and wellness. Understanding that there it’s not looked at as taboo in the community."
Therapy helped him uncover and address his trauma
Henry Farmer's upbringing in Maywood, Illinois was different than Gharreau's. Farmer's parents divorced when he was young, but his father was still a part of his life.
"I had a fairly middle-class background," Farmer said. "I did not deal with some of the challenges that other Black men deal with. So, I can only begin to imagine the uphill battle that some of my fellow Black men have."
Farmer said although his parents were able to give him things he wanted, they didn't provide the emotional support or attention he needed.
His mom died in 2016, and a friend died in 2022. That combined grief pushed him to seek help.
He thought about getting therapy but held off. His excuse was wanting to have a Black therapist.
"I wanted," he said, "someone that could relate to my upbringing and my background."
According to the American Psychological Association’s most recent data, Black psychologists made up less than 6% of the doctoral-level workforce and most of those were women.
Farmer received an unexpected push when rapper Kendrick Lamar released his album "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers." The project is based on Lamar's own therapy journey.
"It kind of resonated because he was speaking about how he would seek negative behaviors to cope with his grief."
Farmer said he did not turn to substance abuse. Instead, he soothed his grief through shopping. Buying sneakers became his vice, but paying about $150 a pair added up.
He said therapy now helps him process emotions and set healthy boundaries.
"I think it's important for anyone, but especially for Black men," he said, "to be able to unpack some of the, some of their life experiences that will probably would be considered traumatic."
He encourages people working on their mental health to be open about it so they can get the help they need. Farmer is having those conversations with his adult sons.
Quintin Ingram, who is also Black, is a therapist at Family Counseling Services in Aurora. He's worked there for nearly three years and said he's noticed a shift in attitudes with his Black clients.
"Their minds have changed as they kind of gotten enrolled in services here and stuff like that," he explained. "And seeing the potential. Seeing that, you know, therapy is useful and seeing that the stigma that's been carried on through generations is, you know, incorrect."
Ingram entered the field to reach people like him.
"We should be able to see familiar faces doing these kinds of things and being able to influence others," he said. "Letting people know that these fields are necessary and they’re cool."
Gharreau, the poet, said if men can't talk with a therapist, they can use pen and paper to process their feelings.
"If you want to curse somebody out, write that," he suggested. "If somebody disappointed you, it doesn't even have to be a poem. It's just, 'I am mad today. She upset me. He upset me. I'm mad at my girl. I'm mad at my brother.' And then, 'OK, I got it out.'"
May is Mental Health Awareness month. Here is a list of resources for Black men.
Copy Edited by Eryn Lent
