COFFEE, HIP HOP & MENTAL HEALTH CELEBRATES MILESTONE
Coffee, Hip Hop & Mental Health celebrates milestone
BY TIA CAROL JONES
When Christopher LeMark founded Coffee, Hip Hop & Mental Health, his aim was to normalize therapy and mental health and wellness in the Black community. Now, with a global pandemic, racial inequality and civil unrest, the need for mental health resources is more important than ever before.
LeMark’s own mental health journey began when he had a mental and emotional breakdown inside of Starbuck’s Coffee located at the Millennium Park Train Station. LeMark, who has been a musician for more than 20 years, said he used music to deal with things, but realized he needed to go to therapy. Through therapy, he was able to work through his childhood trauma.
“I started having these transformative moments and I started to see this is really good for me. I was dealing with things head-on for the first time and it felt like I was on a healing path,” he said. “And so, I wanted to take the same things that were happening in therapy on stage.”
LeMark said he wanted to use his platform and resources and leverage his story, along with therapists, to help others. “Let’s talk about normalizing this conversation, mental health. Let’s talk about depression, let’s talk about our stuff,” he said. “Because we know Black men and women are dealing with stuff that we don’t discuss.”
LeMark said he wanted to be a bridge between the mental health space and the Black community and to advocate on behalf of therapists and the Black community. He said after five or six therapy sessions, he wrote down, “coffee, hip hop and mental health.”
“Over time, I launched the first event, we went from 20 people in one room at Bassline, one therapy, myself and a moderator and a few of my musician friends, to one year later [where] I have a[n] incredible relationship with AT&T, now Mariano’s and quite a few other reputable brands and organizations,” he said.
LeMark credits the success and growth of the movement to the organic building of Coffee, Hip Hop and Mental Health. “Who knew that people would be so open to pay and sit and listen to therapy and have a conversation about it,” he said. “And, not only that, we ended up having a pandemic when everybody needs this stuff the most. I would say it was God’s perfect timing.”
LeMark said pre-COVID-19, Coffee, Hip Hop and Mental Health was already advocating for mental health and providing resources. So, once the shelter-in-place order was instituted, LeMark decided to pivot to do an online series called, “Storytellers,” which allowed people to tell their story about whatever was happening in their world.
“That grew us up a lot, because I had people all over the country, all over Chicago submitting these videos. We just really had a solid moment of organic growth and it started pushing people our way,” he said.
LeMark and Coffee, Hip Hop & Mental Health has helped people find resources for teletherapy sessions during COVID-19. He said everything was about timing and added what meant the most to him, was men reaching out to him for mental health services.
LeMark said the group set out to feed 100 families when grocery stores were closed due to damage caused by civil unrest. He decided to increase the number to 1,000 families.
“I believe when you go big, big stuff will come. We looked up and Mariano’s gave us $4,000,” he said. “And, we were able to raise $17,000-plus to feed 1,000 families and we did it in two weeks.”
Now, LeMark is gearing up to serve 10,000 families at the end of August. He is looking for 300 volunteers to help serve on Saturday-Sunday, Aug. 29-30. He said he is looking to give care packages with the hope that it will change people’s lives.
LeMark said he’s learned a lot about inner poverty, how people feel about themselves and how they feel about their lives. People are really struggling, he said. “We have to bear the weight of people. We have to uphold people.”
For more information about Coffee, Hip Hop & Mental Health, visit https://chhamh.com/.
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