Napier barbershop creating safe space for men’s mental health

Boxed Out Barbershop in Napier uses barbers’ power of conversation to do good for men’s mental health and create a safe space for men who feel boxed in.

Brad Warren, the 32-year-old founder, said
he had struggled with mental health since he was a teen and had difficulty expressing his feelings and what was going on to professionals in a rigid institutionalised setting.

His experience getting his hair cut inspired him to train as a barber and open his barbershop a year and a half ago.

“You’d come in and out of a barbershop and that was almost like a counselling session right there. I connected with my barber and that made me want to become a barber,” Warren said.

“I didn’t just want to cut hair, I wanted to create a safe space for males to share, to connect. It didn’t have to be all about their feelings or how their mental health was.”

He said there was a high level of trust given to barbers.

“You are sitting in that chair and instantly trusting that person in that personal space, touching your face, touching your head. What naturally comes after is talking.

“It is crazy the amount of stuff we get told on the daily. I know I am not the first barber to create a space like this, but the more of us there are the better chance we have got of actually making a difference.”

He has had men in very dark places open up to him while in the barber’s chair.

“One guy said he doesn’t want to be here. I could see him struggling to talk and he told me his [teenage] son at home was the only reason he was alive. I sent him straight down the road to Wellesley [Napier Health Centre] and their mental health team, because he didn’t know where any of that was.”

Warren emphasised the shop was not the answer to serious issues. It was there to help and guide people to the right places if the situation called for it.

“We are very cautious and any advice I do give is to push [people] in the direction of professionals. That is why I have cards for Helpline and the Mental Health Foundation on hand, I’ve got safety nets in place if a person does open up to an unsafe point so I know questions to ask or what to do before they leave the shop.”

“Some people just want to get their hair cut and switch off. I don’t want it to feel like when you come in here you have to talk or that this is a counselling session.”

He said he had hit his own “rock bottom” with suicidal thoughts, patterns of behaviour and trouble with the law before he turned it around with a healthier lifestyle, his business and his young family, and he felt he could connect to the stories of many of his customers.

“I’ve definitely had a rough adolescence, taking the wrong roads and turns but coming out the other end is what has made this business and made me.

“Having a Friday afternoon where there is basketball on the TV, there are three different conversations going on, there is laughing, the only other place you kind of get that is the pub but you are taking out the alcohol here.

“It is a cool, healthy, genuine place and it is 100 per cent what gets me through my day.”

One of his biggest inspirations was Mataio (Matt) Faafetai Malietoa Brown, Christchurch-based founder of the She Is Not Your Rehab movement and the recently closed barbershop My Fathers Barbers.

“I’ve read his book four times. He basically opened up his shop as a safe space for his community as well.”

Warren said he was his own inspiration too, when he looked back at where he had come from to where he was now.

“Seeing my own journey coming from absolute rock bottom to owning a business, having a baby and having a healthy lifestyle.”

Where to get help:

• DEPRESSION HELPLINE: 0800 111 757• KIDSLINE: 0800 543 754 (available 24/7)• LIFELINE: 0800 543 354 or 09 5222 999 within Auckland (24/7)• NEED TO TALK? Free call or text 1737 (24/7)• SAMARITANS – 0800 726 666• SUICIDE CRISIS HELPLINE: 0508 828 865 (24/7)• WHATSUP: 0800 942 8787 (1pm to 11pm)• YOUTHLINE: 0800 376 633, free text 234 or email talk@youthline.co.nz

James Pocock joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2021 and writes breaking news and features, with a focus on environment, local government and post-cyclone issues in the region. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives in Napier. james.pocock@nzme.co.nz