If you’ve been unfortunate enough to experience physical, emotional or sexual abuse or any other kind of traumatic experience.
you know how hard it is to overcome these experiences. They tend to live inside of you, eating up your self-esteem day by day. However, as these days, mental illnesses and hardships get more and more attention, it becomes easier for those who are wounded to open up about their hardships. Nevertheless, many stereotypes still prevail, especially when it comes to men’s mental health. Matt Brown is a barber whose mission is to help men heal from their past traumasMatt Brown is a barber in Christchurch City, New Zealand but he does way more than just cutting hair.
you know how hard it is to overcome these experiences. They tend to live inside of you, eating up your self-esteem day by day. However, as these days, mental illnesses and hardships get more and more attention, it becomes easier for those who are wounded to open up about their hardships. Nevertheless, many stereotypes still prevail, especially when it comes to men’s mental health. Matt Brown is a barber whose mission is to help men heal from their past traumasMatt Brown is a barber in Christchurch City, New Zealand but he does way more than just cutting hair.
He set up his own barbershop in a shed in his backyard, but fast-forward today the barbershop has become a whole movement, helping men in pain, to heal. Matt started barbering more than a decade ago. While barbering in Auckland, New Zealand, he realized something men who come into a barbershop come for more than just a haircut. “Men were coming in and not you know, wanting more than just the haircut, they wanted a conversation. And not many places, spaces, allow men to really open up quite like the barber chair,” Matt told the media. So when he set up his own business, he knew that’s what exactly he needed to do.
Matt’s business, My Father’s Barbers, evolved into a safe space where men can open up the issues that they have without the fear of judgment. “A lot of my friends were joining gangs, were addicted to sex and drugs, you name it, some committed suicide, some are going into prison. And I just wanted to create a space where men could come and talk,” the barber opened up to the media. He says that men talk about various things, including sport, TV and how their weekends went. But it doesn’t stop there they open up about their struggles and fears and emotional traumas.“I’ve had grown men cry; I’ve sat with some of the staunchest, most successful, ruthless men in my city in my chair crying together. This is not a very popular business plan, step one get a barbershop, step two cry with your clients!”
