Mitch Momodu remembers as though it were yesterday, the day his uncle took him to a Jamaican barber in Clapton more than 30 years ago, for an eagle fade haircut.
Bonding with elderly black men while sitting in the shop – an intergenerational safe space – inspired the barber who now runs Fade Fabric Barbers in Dalston, to pick up clippers himself in secondary school.
“For the black community, we don’t have a pub culture,” the British-Nigerian barber said, against the buzz of his clipper. “The pub culture for the average Brit, it’s not just about drinking. It’s about socialising, it’s about communities coming together,” he said.
Black British barber shops have long been a sanctuary for black men and youth, not only to transform their hair, but to talk about love, financial woes and even mental health. “The barber shop has always been a hub for black men,” Momodu said.
Along with four other Islington barber shops, the 40-year-old recently completed a new training course to learn how to speak with customers about mental health, to recognise when they might be struggling, and signpost customers towards professional support.
Black people of African and Caribbean heritage are far more likely to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act. Black people are also 40% more likely to access treatment through a police or criminal justice route, and less likely to receive psychological therapies.
Two-thirds of permanent school exclusions are black pupils, and 60% of black people in England feel they are treated with less respect than others because of their ethnicity, according to data from Islington council.
“Maybe I could spot something early that could intervene in a young person going too far,” said Momodu, who has a two-year-old son. “It’s also being able to pass on what I’ve learned to other people, even some dads that may have issues communicating with their kids.”
The course is part of a three-year programme, Young Black Men and Mental Health, launched in November by Islington council and the NHS.
Together, they have invested £1.6m to support young black men and boys with their mental health and to improve aspirations and life opportunities.
“What we wanted to create is a lighthouse model, so that there are places in the community that offer spaces of safety, and we saw that through the barbers programme,” said Charisse Monero, the project manager.
Ivelaw King, 47, a barber from Guyana who also trained on the programme, recalls one client who took his life. “Men don’t want to come over as: ‘I’m a soft guy’. They want to be macho,” King said, of the cultural reasons why some fail to seek help.
The training is an extension, King said, of what many barbers already do. “At first, they don’t really open up,” he said. “Once they get to know you, all of that becomes easier [for them] to talk about financial struggles, troubles with the Mrs, trouble with the children, and different aspects of their lives,” he said. “We just need more people to come out and talk about these things more.”
Through focus groups and interviews in 2021, Islington council worked directly with 43 black youth and men to co-design the programme.
The programme is split into strands, one which will see full-time counsellors placed in four Islington secondary schools to provide long-term support for black youth aged 16-25 at risk of poor health, violence and exclusion.
Another strand includes key workers who will provide support and coaching, and a “cultural competency” programme for police, GPs, social care and schools.
A year on from the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic shedding light on health inequalities, combined with a glaring lack of role models, wider institutional racism, and the murder of George Floyd meant that at the time, “there was a lot of despair”, Monero said.
Kwaku Asiedu, 21, who was born in Islington to a Ghanaian family, felt the pressures to succeed and defy stereotypes, as a young black man in London from an immigrant family.
“I internalised all of it, the shame, the feeling of needing to do well,” he said. “That led to me going through my own mental health problems, even getting to points where I nearly took my life.”
Alongside Islington council and RAW London, Asiedu was cast in a short film about a young black Londoner with mental health issues, who eventually confides in his teacher. It is a film Asiedu hopes will signpost help for other black British youth like him before it is too late.
• In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.
