Black Men Prioritize Mental Health Healing in Los Angeles

Desmond Carter is working to improve the mental health of Black men.

Carter, founder of Mental Health Is Real Wealth, leads a bi-monthly mental health group in Los Angeles’ Leimert Park neighborhood. Recently, 15 Black men gathered inside a conference room without women.

The men greeted each other with embraces and wore Los Angeles apparel, including hats and shirts. The group ranged in age from 19 to more than twice that age. They attended because they recognized the importance of mental health.

Before the session, Carter, 37, shared the story of his best friend, who died by suicide after a schizophrenia and depression diagnosis. He said his friend often hid his struggles and pretended to be fine. Carter started the group to help others facing similar challenges.

The group provides a safe space for Black men to express themselves at a time when suicide rates among Black boys and men have increased by 25.3% in recent years. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for Black male adolescents and young adults.

Black men often face a difficult situation, lacking healthy spaces to express themselves emotionally. They are less likely to seek mental health support and, when they do, may receive inadequate care rooted in racist health disparities.

Research indicates increased loneliness and isolation during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. While debates exist regarding a “male loneliness epidemic,” the mental health of Black men remains underresearched.

Psychologist Lance Lenford noted an identity crisis among Gen X and millennial Americans who have not achieved traditional markers of success. This is particularly true for Black men.

Lenford said, “I think that there’s this space where we’re figuring out how to be and how to exist in this – just to be frank – in this white world that we’re in while trying to spread our own wings and be who we feel we are meant to be, or who we can be … But you run into this wall, and you get to a point where it’s like, I don’t really know what I’m doing any more.”

Older Black men also experience an identity crisis as they consider retirement and their ideal future. These issues are compounded by financial pressures related to parenthood.

While Black millennial men are spending more time with their children than previous generations, stress can prevent them from seeking therapy. They may also struggle to establish their own identity before becoming parents.

Lenford said, “You have this duality of, ‘I have to be the provider,’ I have to be this person that I want to be, and I believe that I am, and I presented myself to be, but I’m also kind of falling apart because I don’t really know where I’m going or how I’m really doing this.”

Significant challenges for Black men include economic, healthcare, and educational disparities, systemic racism, and social injustice. Deaths of despair, including suicide, alcohol use, and drug overdoses, are now higher among Black people than white people.

The men in Carter’s group discussed pressures to act tough, to already possess certain skills, and to suppress emotions. Some were encouraged to attend by other men. Others expressed feelings of stress, depression, or overwhelm. They discussed adjusting to the responsibilities of family life and parenthood.

One participant, whose father and grandfather had a history of bipolar disorder, said, “If I can do anything, if I look back and look at their lives and see that they didn’t do this, that they didn’t express themselves. They were mad, and it took years, and then they just were more mad. And then something happened in their life, something flipped.”

Wayne Bennett, president of Mental Health is Wealth and a corporate wellness consultant and men’s life coach in Los Angeles, helps men develop healthier ways to express their emotions. He said the group provides a safe space where men don’t have to wear a mask and aims to break generational cycles of emotional suppression.

Bennett, 41, said, “A lot of the men talk about being depressed or not having any type of leadership growing up and just kind of having to figure things out on their own. A lot of the men may have never been to therapy before, so this is a great gateway to going into therapy.”

In Los Angeles, a region with a history of police brutality, gangs, and mass incarceration, Black men often feel the need to be guarded. Bennett said he has observed a lack of trust among Black men in the city.

Carter created the group in 2022 as a preventative measure to encourage Black men to seek counseling and therapy. He finds talking to other Black men to be healing.

Carter said, “I just wanted this to be a space where they could kind of just dump, not only dump, but also celebrate wins as well. I want this space for people and for our brothers to get their flowers.”