The Pursuit of Wellness: Psychotherapy for Men
Maurice Harvey leads a movement to make it better for men of color
After he graduated from UNC Charlotte in 2008, Maurice Harvey scanned the Charlotte area in vain for his peers, Black men who worked as therapists. “When I decided to do this, I didn’t know any Black males who were actively practicing therapy,” Harvey says. “It was like, Do Black males do therapy?”
They do, but you have to look hard to find them. As of 2021, only 5% of professional therapists in the United States were Black, compared to 81% white—and only 17% of Black therapists were male, according to an American Psychological Association analysis of Census data. Harvey, 39, founded his own practice, Choose B.E.T.T.E.R. 4 U—“Becoming Empowered To Transcend Every Roadblock”—in 2015. But he also wanted to create an organization of Black and other therapists of color who could support each other and refer clients. In 2022, Harvey founded Black Male Therapists of Charlotte, a nonprofit with about 20 active members.
Harvey says the combination of COVID and the police killing of George Floyd isolated and frustrated young Black men in particular, which highlights the need for therapists who understand their pain. “Black men are hurting, and it’s not just their own hurt. It’s community hurt. It’s familial hurt,” he says. “We often get caught up in this idea of ‘nobody can help us do it,’ especially in the Black community. It’s
