West Hollywood Barbershop Brings Mental Health Support to Men

A West Hollywood barbershop is turning haircuts into a gateway to mental health treatment, and the model could help connect men struggling with co-occurring disorders to the dual diagnosis treatment they rarely seek on their own.

California is the most populous state in the country, and The Golden State boasts a wide range of programs. The city of West Hollywood alone has hundreds of verified residential and outpatient programs for substance misuse. Nevertheless, the stigma of treatment can remain a daunting hurdle for many folks, which is where barbershops come in.

Barber Spike Eldib noticed that, while cutting hair at his Entourage salon, his barber’s chair doubles as an informal therapy couch. Male clients open up about things they won’t share anywhere else. He started training his barbers in intentional listening and supportive conversation techniques. Thus was “hairapy” born.

Licensed marriage and family therapist Neal Tobisman works alongside the program. He says that barbers occupy a unique position to spot red flags and share info about important resources. This includes helping clients navigate financial or insurance barriers to care.

Men Avoid Mental Health and Addiction Treatment

The stakes behind this initiative are significant. Research shows men are much less likely than women to seek mental health help, partly due to social stigma. Even worse, proposed state budget cuts for mental health services threaten to expand the already-serious gap in treatment providers. That avoidance has direct consequences for addiction rates.

The pressure to maintain a facade of strength can be overwhelming for men. Many guys turn to substances such as alcohol, street drugs, or prescription medication to numb their emotions and temporarily escape their mental health struggles. Using substances as a coping mechanism can quickly spiral into dependence or addiction, making it even harder to seek help.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse has found that men are more likely than women to use almost all illicit drugs, and 1 in 5 men develop alcohol dependence during their lives. Yet since males are less likely to seek treatment for health concerns and substance abuse, the presence of co-occurring disorders among men is often underreported. For those in West Hollywood, famous for its active LGBTQ+ community, residents may face additional challenges in seeking care. 

Connecting Mental Health to Addictions

This is exactly where dual diagnosis treatment becomes critical. When untreated depression, anxiety, PTSD, or trauma drives a man to self-medicate with alcohol or drugs, the result is a co-occurring disorder in which a condition where mental illness and substance use disorder exist simultaneously and feed one another. Treating only one without addressing the underlying behavioral health condition dramatically increases the risk of relapse.

Tobisman observed the stigma results “in a lot of people just kind of trying to manage these things on their own and just feeling kind of increasingly isolated and unsupported.” That isolation is precisely what programs like hairapy aim to address before it becomes a crisis. 

Hairapy as a Bridge, Not a Finish Line

Hairapy is a valuable entry point but isn’t a substitute for clinical care. Barbers are being trained in intentional listening and supportive conversation when college students, seniors or any average joe sits in the chair. When questions become too difficult to answer, a licensed therapist steps in to connect clients to professional resources.

Hairapy isn’t alone in this approach. The Confess Project connects Black men with mental health options and has spread to thousands of barbershops nationwide since 2010. These community-based touchpoints are increasingly recognized as effective at reaching men who would never walk into a therapist’s office or residential treatment center on their own.

Dual Diagnosis Treatment for Men

For men whose mental health struggles have escalated to substance use, comprehensive dual diagnosis treatment offers the most effective path forward. Integrated behavioral health programs address both conditions simultaneously through evidence-based therapies including behavioral therapy and trauma-focused care. Holistic programs can help target the emotional roots of addiction, not just the substance use itself.

Residential treatment centers that specialize in men’s behavioral health provide structured environments where clients can stabilize, develop coping skills, and build the kind of honest communication that hairapy reflects in the barbershop chair. Outpatient mental health services offer flexible options for men who need support while maintaining work and family responsibilities.

Comprehensive Behavioral Health Treatment

If you or someone you know is showing signs of co-occurring depression alongside substance use, integrated care through a mental health treatment facility is the most effective option. 

You can start by browsing our directory for treatment centers located anywhere in the country. Or, dial [NUMBER] to speak with a specialist on finding comprehensive mental health and addiction treatment options.

Author

Terri Beth Miller, PhD

Author, Award-Winning Post-Secondary Teacher

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Terri Beth received her PhD in English literature from the University of Tennessee Knoxville and is an educator and disability studies scholar. For more than a decade, she has written extensively in the fields of mental health and addiction recovery and fiercely advocates for the destigmatization of mental illness.

Editor

Peter Lee, PhD

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Peter W.Y. Lee is a writer and historian of American history during the Cold War. His primary focus is the relationship between youth and popular culture and its impact on U.S. society during the twentieth century. He has published widely on how the public has used popular culture as a mechanism to address political and social shifts throughout time