The Gentlemen’s Factory is a workspace and community founded in 2016 by Jeff Lindor in response to a “trend seen with men of color growing in isolation but not in community”. Jeff, Founder and CEO, saw this company as a means to encourage men to “learn, build, and connect with each other while closing gaps in health, wealth, and economics for Black men.”
In an interview, Jeff shares how profound conversations are not hard to come by at the Gentlemen’s factory. Discussions on trauma, racism, and its ramifications in adulthood, especially for current and future fathers raising young boys of color are examples of the tough discourse occurring in this workspace.
United through a shared lens, members get to speak openly about their experiences as Black males while taking part in membership programming that enhances opportunities to promote growth and overall health.
On January 26, 2019, the Gentlemen’s Factory did what it does best, push the envelope by hosting an open forum discussion on mental health with its members and the community.
The topic,“ Get your Mental Health Checkup – Doctors Orders,” was presented by Dr. Magdala Chery, a board-certified
internal medicine physician and assistant professor, along with DeRonn Kidd, from the Mental Health Service Corps, who serves as a ThriveNYC Initiative speaker and facilitator.
A forum of uncensored dialogue on how mental health presents clinically in black men, transformed into a safe space for men of color to open up about their struggles with suicide, depression, and anxiety.
Globally, we can learn a lot from the Gentlemen’s Factory. The power of community is most certainly highlighted as this resource club provides an outlet, a healing ground, and a shared voice to one of the most disenfranchised groups in America.
The solidarity of community as the foundation for creating a safe space may be the answer to shifting the culture of health in our Black communities.
Mental health is an entity that has been stigmatized for decades. Despite the launch of social media campaigns such as #Breakthestigma, #GotPanic, #YouGoodMan to help spread awareness, there are clear disparities in the rates of mental health services used in the Black Community, especially among Black men [1]. This includes lower rates of prescription medications and the use of outpatient services overall for the treatment of any mental health condition [1].
There are plenty of factors that put Blacks at higher risk for depression, anxiety, feelings of sadness, and hopelessness. Adult Blacks are 20 percent more likely to
report serious psychological distress than adult Whites [2]. Psychological distress is defined as a state of emotional affliction brought on by stressors and demands. This distress, as a result, makes it difficult to cope with regular day to day living.
According to US Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, African Americans living below the poverty line are nearly 3 times as likely to endure this psychological distress [2].Therefore linking socioeconomic status, in turn, to mental health. Although we know the risks, communities of color lag behind in mental health awareness and as result fail to benefit from early and effective interventions [3].
This is what makes what occurred at the Gentlemen’s factory so powerful. Since mental health conversations do not occur openly enough at home or in highly celebrated and anticipated Black culture social gatherings like the cookout, in church, and/or while playing recreational sports.
This is where we need to bridge the gap. More must be done beyond just ensuring there are adequate and culturally competent services in place. We must also identify and create our own safe spaces in the community where we can begin to dismantle the mental health taboo.
DeRonn Kidd, from the Mental Health Service Corps and a ThriveNYC Speaker/Facilitator states:
”In regards to black men, there are two major problems. First, there is a lack of
recognition of the signs and symptoms of mental conditions like depression or anxiety. Second, there is a mistrust of the healthcare system overall.
Couple these big factors with the responsibilities of most black men to have to pay bills, maintain a family, conform to societal hypermasculinity; mental health becomes low on our priority list.
Mr. Kidd believes the reason why spaces like the Gentlemen’s Factory are so pivotal lies primarily in the:
“trust, comfort, and positive messaging it represents. You now have a place to come to for non-judgmental, transparent, and reliable dialogue. This is what men of color need.
This is how we discourage the notion that mental health is a “weakness” while offering a space that provides a “permission slip” for black men to confess, ask for help, vent, get pointed in the direction of mental health professionals, and removes toxic expressions of masculinity.”
Closing the gap in mental health for communities of color, also means we need more representation in medicine. A little over 13% of the population identifies as Black or African American, yet only 4% of the physician workforce is black.
In a study performed in Oakland California, “Does Diversity Matter for Health? “, it revealed that patients are more likely to talk with a black doctor about their problems, and black doctors are more likely to
write comprehensive notes about their patients [4, 5]. Also in the study, it was noted that black men were more likely to agree with certain preventive measures when seen by a black doctor [4, 5].
This is key when thinking about how mood disorders are screened and assessed in primary care settings. Screenings tools like the “Patient Health Questionnaire” (PHQ-2/PHQ-9) for depression and the “General Anxiety Disorder scale” (GAD-7) for anxiety disorder only help if patients feel comfortable to answer honestly. Again, emphasizing why opportunities to change the culture around mental health is so decisive.
The Gentlemen’s Factory is the perfect example of what we need to break down the barriers of mental health as a society. It’s time we provide spaces like these in order to model authenticity and foster transparency while upholding our responsibility to thrive as a unit in the Black community.
No longer can we stand behind the notion, “Don’t ask. Don’t tell,” when it comes to mental health. Our Black men, our Black communities, need to start healing.
Magdala Chery, DO, MBS is a Board Certified Internal Medicine Physician, motivational speaker, and health policy enthusiast. Dr. Chery currently practices as a primary care general internist and assistant professor at Rowan Medicine in New Jersey, serving the South Jersey and Greater Philadelphia community. Connect with Magdala on Instagram @drmagdalachery.
References:
[1] Mental Health Disparities: African Americans. (2017) American Psychiatric Association. Retrived from https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/cultural-competency/mental-health-disparities
[2] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Mental Health. (2016). Mental health and African Americans. Retrieved from http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4&lvlid=24
[3] Mental Health America. Black & African American Communities and Mental Health. (2014). Retrived from http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/african-american-mental-health
[4] The secret to keeping Black Men Healthy? Maybe black Doctors. (2018). New York times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/20/health/black-men-doctors.html
[5] Does Diversity Matter for Health? Experimental Evidence from Oakland. 2018. The national Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from https://www.nber.org/papers/w24787.
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