October 19, 2025
A group of 15 Black men gather on a bi-weekly basis to check in with each other and offer each other support.
Too often, the discourse regarding the mental health of Black men on social media can sometimes be either disingenuous or outright harmful, but in Los Angeles, a group of 15 Black men gather on a bi-weekly basis to check in with each other and offer each other their support as they navigate the pressures that come with being a Black man living in America.
As The Guardian reports, the group, Mental Health Is Real Wealth, was founded by 37-year-old Desmond Carter in 2022. Carter, as he explained to the outlet, was inspired to start the group after the death of his best friend who died by suicide after dealing with schizophrenic depression for years.
“It happened literally 10 years ago, and it’s still tough,” Carter told the outlet, noting that his friend was funny, fly and intelligent. However, Carter also remembers that he often hid his diagnosis from him. “It led me to do what I’m doing now. I see so many of my peers and people who look like me walking around, fly, cool, fresh with the weight of the world on their shoulders, and acting like they are just fine.”
The mental health struggles of Black men exist in the space between being ignored and pathologized, particularly in online discussions, but according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the third leading cause of death for Black male adolescents and young adults.
As Aaricka Washington notes in her reporting, Black boys and men compose the majority of suicides within the Black population.
According to Lance Lenford, a psychologist, the pandemic changed the way that Black Millennials and Gen X Black men negotiated their relationships with the American Dream. Lenford noted that for generations, Black men were told that in order to latch onto manhood, they had to go to school, get married, and buy a house, but with that process being increasingly disrupted, Black men are collectively questioning their roles under patriarchy.
“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 anymore,” Lenford explained.
He continued, “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.”
Wayne Bennett, the president of Mental Health is Wealth, as well as a corporate wellness consultant and men’s life coach in Los Angeles, noted that these tensions between the expected roles of Black men under patriarchy and their actual lived experiences could serve as an impetus for these men to seek therapy, many of whom haven’t done so before.
“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,” Bennett noted. “A lot of the men may have never been to therapy before, so this is a great gateway to going into therapy.”
According to the National Association of Black Counselors, the social construct of masculinity, which is also informed by the existence of Black men under patriarchy, is in need of a renegotiation, as the experience of these and other Black men corroborates.
As Dr. Nick Battle writes, “It is essential for Black men to continue to challenge the societal construct of masculinity and define it in a way that is affirming and empowering. By embracing a definition of masculinity that is rooted in self-awareness, responsibility, and community, Black men can break free from the damaging effects of the patriarchy and work towards true liberation and empowerment.”
He concluded, “By acknowledging the intersectionality of race and gender and recognizing the impact of systemic racism on their lives, Black men can begin to cultivate a more inclusive and compassionate understanding of masculinity. This, in turn, can lead to healthier relationships, both within the Black community and beyond, and a greater sense of self-acceptance and resilience.”
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