SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Brothers Marichal and Rodney Brown follow in their father’s footsteps at their HAIRitage barbershop on Sacramento’s Broadway.

Earlie D. Brown was a certified master barber in their Bay Area hometown who counted San Francisco Giants’ players among his clientele — he even named son Marichal for family hero and Giants’ Hall of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal.

But their father’s shop was much more than a haircut and a shave. It was also a sanctuary with Earlie, known as a trusted ear. His shop featured a back room where he would sit with customers who wanted a more private conversation.

“We as Black men, we’re taught not to show emotions,” Marichal said. “But, as Black men, we can talk to others who understand.”

Today, the Browns and their Sacramento shop are part of a growing national network of Black barbers and stylists who have become front-line mental health advocates in their communities as members of the Confess Project of America barber coalition.

The project capitalizes on the centrality of the barbershop in the lives of Black men and youth by becoming a conduit for care. The project is the brainchild of Lorenzo Lewis, the Atlanta-based behavioral health professional who founded Confess in 2016.

The project’s vision: “I am more than a pair of clippers; I am improving my community through the barber chair one client at a time.”

The Confess Project to date has trained more than 4,000 barbers and stylists in 54 cities across the country since its inception. Barbers must be licensed, have access to social media and be willing to receive mental health training to become part of the coalition.

“Cultural biases have caused so many problems — misdiagnoses in treatment, lack of understanding. It’s important to advocate for ourselves,” said Darnell Rice, one of the trainers who joined Lewis in Sacramento last month on the first stop of a multi-city tour for the Confess Project’s “Beyond the Shop” program.

The program extends Confess’ mission by training and helping Black hair care and other workers to help be mental health advocates for Black men, boys and their families, connecting them with mental health services and helping to close the gap of mental health access and care. In Sacramento, Confess barbers and stylists work with Turning Point Community Programs.

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