Harry’s Helps Set Up Mental Health Network for Men and Boys
Grooming brand Harry’s is helping to launch and fund a mental health network focused on men and boys.
In July 2021, Harry’s launched the Open Minds Initiative as part of its commitment to mental health and in search for new ideas in the space.
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On Friday, the men’s grooming brand named Team: Changing Minds as the winner of the inaugural initiative and said it will donate $5 million to the group over the next three years.
Team: Changing Minds is a partnership between organizations Futures Without Violence, National Council for Mental Wellbeing, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and Harry’s. Together, they will launch a national network of mental health responders to look for signs of mental health challenges and reach men and boys, particularly those who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color, with the aim to provide preventative care as opposed to reactionary care. The program will also train coaches in youth sports and video games to help point the men and boys to the right resources.
“Many mental health challenges first show up by age 14, but it takes an average of 10 years until most people get help,” said Maggie Hureau, Harry’s head of social impact. “Of all demographic groups, young men are the least likely to get mental health support. For Black and Brown young men, deeply entrenched racism further blocks their access to help. By connecting young people to mental health support earlier and before crisis in adulthood, Team: Changing Minds hopes to cut the delivery time for support down from 10 years to as quick as 10 minutes or less.”
Hureau said that Harry’s has been focused on men’s mental health for the past three to four years and has 12 current nonprofit partners, including Shout 85258, Futures Without Violence, Black Men Heal and Headstrong, among others. The brand dedicates 1 percent of their revenue to their partners.
Harry’s said it has donated over $1 million to Black mental health organizations BEAM, Black Men Heal, The Steve Fund and Blam UK, and $2 million to veterans’ mental health, including to Headstrong and Stop Soldier Suicide, in November, to combine efforts to provide mental health support to communities, veterans, active service members and Afghan refugees.
“Our organizations are reporting on the higher rates of anxiety and rates of suicide has increased throughout the pandemic,” Hureau said. “We need to understand this more and find the organizations on the ground.”
Hureau cited a World Economic Fund survey from 2021 that found that mental health care represents only 2 percent of global health funding and 0.5 percent of philanthropic health giving. “The gap in funding is pretty shocking to us, because there is so much talk around mental health, but who’s actually giving and pushing the space forward?” she asked.
This led to Harry’s launching the Open Minds Initiative as a call to action in search of innovation in the space.
Harry’s asked applicants for letters of intention and found 50 to 60 percent of them were focused on equity and serving communities with a Black, Indigenous, and people of color demographic. They whittled the 300 applicants down to five finalists who were reviewed by a panel of judges that included Harry’s cofounder and co-chief executive officer Jeff Raider, Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble, NAMI CEO Daniel H. Gillison, politician, veteran, author and attorney Jason Kander and rapper Logic.
The winners share a mission centered on community-based programs and youth mentorship. Harry’s hopes to train 200,000 responders and reach 1 million people over the next three years.
“We’re hands-on partners in our corporate giving and want to know about the outcomes and goals,” Hureau said. “We don’t want to create a program that’ll dissipate after three years. We are going to launch [Open Minds] again with a new idea. We need space and time. It’s to be determined on when we’ll open at this size again.”
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