Atlanta psychotherapist Dr. Ed Garnes wears more hats than a pub coat rack. Healer. Educator. Community activist. Writer. Podcaster.
A protege of Dr. Joseph White, a groundbreaking Black therapist, Garnes’ list of friends and associates stretches from legendary Black arts poet Nikki Giovani to Princeton University professor and presidential candidate Cornel West to Grammy Award-winning rapper Killer Mike.
Despite such varied, complex interests, Garnes says his professional goal is quite simple. He wants to demolish the trope that Black people — specifically, Black men — don’t look after their mental health. He wants to make therapy cool.
Credit: The Reckoning
Credit: The Reckoning
“We’ve always dealt with emotional healing,” he says, pointing to African traditions of communal support and interconnection. “We’ve always had psychological strengths. But if we don’t know how to pull on those Black psychological strengths — that’s the problem.”
It’s a conundrum Garnes experienced personally when, as a college student at Depauw University in central Indiana, he spoke out against racism and got death threats in return.
“In the early ‘90s, we were experiencing hate crimes,” he said. Garnes references the killing of James Byrd, a middle-aged Black man who was tied to the back of a pickup and dragged to death. Garnes protested and was quickly targeted.
“My phone is ringing; people (are) trying to kill me,” Garnes says. It plunged him into a dark place that led him to seek professional help.
A therapist introduced Garnes to the writings of White, the influential Black therapist who delineated how Black patients have different needs than whites. An English major at Depauw, he was intrigued. Several graduate degrees and mentorships later, Garnes emerged as a clinician whose practice centers on the Black American experience.
“We will never, in America, reach full equality, but what we can do is support our own missions,” he says. ”That’s what I try to do as a therapist.”
As he became more established in the field, Garnes expanded his reach, using a variety of means to reach Black people where they were with a message of healing. He hosts a weekly podcast aimed at Black men, where he preaches the message that vulnerability is OK. And his online community, “Afros to Shell Toes,” is growing as he’s a sought-out expert on Black mental health.
But that, Garnes says, doesn’t distract him from his core mission.
“I think that I’ll continue to be successful, but I’m more concerned about liberating other people and making sure that they reach their full potential,” Gaines says. “I think if all of us focus on reaching our true full potential, liberating others to do the same — that’s how we create a bright future.”
HOW TO HELP
To learn more about Dr. Garnes, visit his website at dredgarnes.com.
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