Cook County Commissioners Want Mental Health Services To Be More Accessible


Cook County Commissioners Want Mental Health Services To Be More Accessible

By Tia Carol Jones

Cook County Commissioners are sounding the alarm about the need for more accessible mental health services in the community for young people. During an event at Larry’s Barber College, Cook County Commissioners Dr. Kisha McCaskill and Tara Stamps highlighted the need to meet young people where they are in places like beauty and barber shops as a way to make mental health services more accessible, and provide safe spaces for them to express themselves through creative outlets.

Stamps said Sharing Hope and Overcoming Pressure (SHOP) Talk, her initiative she launched in 2024, is a partnership with beauty and barber shops to open on the fourth Sunday of each month and to provide services, with mental health support available to those in attendance. She said SHOP Talk was her way of addressing the mental health crisis taking place with young people, between the ages of 12 and 24. She said African American males have the highest growing suicide rate in the country.

Stamps said that people go to the beauty salon and barbershops and in the Black community have historically been safe spaces. She said women have relationships with their stylists and men have relationships with their barbers where they open up, express themselves and share information in a way that doesn’t happen in a lot of other places.

“There’s an organic kind of trust and safety that happens in barbershops and beauty salons and I wanted to leverage that, duplicate it and pivot the conversation in a place that is already regarded in our community as safe and sacred,” Stamps said.

McCaskill attended the event as a way to support Stamps and her endeavor to keep the mental health crisis among young people at the forefront of people’s minds is imperative. She called the mental health crisis that young people are experiencing a state of emergency. She said there is a need for resources and strategies to combat the issue. She said barbershops and beauty salons provide spaces that allow for the perfect opportunity to have conversations around mental health.

On Thursday, July 24th, Stamps passed the Footwork Appreciation Month resolution for Cook County for the month of August. She said the resolution speaks to music and dance and creative spaces and how they are necessary to address the mental health of young people. She said the arts community can play a pivotal role in addressing mental health amongst young people. McCaskill said Stamps’ bringing in the footwork resolution was ingenious because that dynamic of how dance and art actually impact how children and young people receive information are often overlooked.

Stamps said that Cook County is trying to pick up the mantle in the wake of the mental health clinics that were closed in Black communities. She said the County has been supporting people who are out in the community, engaging people in the midst of a mental health crisis, to assure that they can receive services in real time. And, that those workers receive funding to continue their work.

 She said last year, Cook County Health and Hospitals hosted the first ever mental health summit and a conversation with mental health professionals. In addition to those conversations, Stamps said Cook County has also given up to $74 million to community-based organizations that address mental health needs.

McCaskill said there was an additional $5.9 million directed to the South Suburban area for creative spaces, including one in Hazel Crest that is being used for art and dance. The goal of that space, which is being used by young people and seniors, is to bridge mental health and awareness through generational connectiveness. People use the space to work on projects and have conversations around mental health.

Stamps wants to see the city, county and state elected officials advocate for the mental health of young people. She said what happens to children is everyone’s responsibility and it is imperative to ensure that there are guard rails in place, so young people are protected.


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