Our Stories:
Meet Brian and Sanchez

Meet Brian and Sanchez from Black Health Initiative

“We’re the transformative mental health coordinators. We work together in the community on wellbeing and mental health, with people of all ages, genders and races. We support people in their wellbeing, making them smile, making them feel happy, finding out where their trauma might come from and how to find a solution. That could be exercise, healthy eating, sleeping patterns, making them laugh. We try loads of different things. Anything that can reduce the cause of stress or poor mental health. 

Brian: I’ve got the experience of having children, having Sanchez, and I will speak to my son in a particular way to make him have a bigger outlook on life. I always told him, whatever he wants to do, I will support him. I’ll speak to some of the young people as if they were my children. I’ll give them that same insight, that fatherly or uncle talk, about their dreams and aspirations, that they can become anything. I’m a professional dancer, a model for Tommy Hilfiger, I’ve made feature films. I’m well-travelled and quite seasoned, so I use that experience when I speak to people. 

Sanchez: I think it’s good to see the father-son dynamic, because unfortunately, the typical stereotype is that Black fathers are absent. My dad’s been there through thick and thin. I’ve not only had a role model, but I’ve had a friend, someone that I can go to for advice. Now I can advocate for that. I tell people who are my age, who are estranged from their family members, to go and create that link. And my dad is saying the same thing. You have to see it to believe it sometimes. Representation really matters. The fact that we’re coming from two different generations, a father and son, we’re showing that. It works well. 

I know people have been let down. People have suffered through everything from racism, to stereotypes, to all the things that they’ve been through. We are here to be a vessel for people to get better, to do better. But we can do only so much. We need people to reach out and help us to help them. We ask that people use all the talent and experience that we have at BHI and allow us to continue to do great things.” 

Black Health Initiative works with disadvantaged and marginalised communities across Leeds to promote equality of access to education, health and social care. Funding from Leeds Community Foundation has supported a range of their activities, including mental health work and support for the organisation’s strategic development.