NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Local barbers can sign up to help break the cycle of domestic violence. The new program is called ‘Black Barbers Promoting Black Love: A Peer Group Intervention for Reducing Intimate Partner Violence.’

For the next six-weeks, barbers can sign up to meet from 6 to 7 p.m. every Monday at Samaritan House in Virginia Beach.

“This is the start of a program that we think is very helpful because barbers are so influential in our communities as a whole,” said Courtney Pierce, the Black Advisory chair with Samaritan House. “We’re taking our own spin on it to be able to work with barbers who really have a heart to see intimate partner violence and domestic violence numbers go down so that we can all live in safe communities and keep one another safe.”

Pierce explained the lethality rate for Black women is 2.5 times higher than any other ethnic group.

“We want to make sure that we are having these conversations and we are having them from a holistic perspective,” Pierce said. “There is a lot of issues surrounding the Black and African American community on why we have increased violence. This is our way of doing our part.

“One of the beautiful things about being Black and our community is that we’ve always had a community-focused lens. I understand there are views around ‘what happens in my house stays in my house’ or ‘we should mind our business,’ but violence in communities is everyone’s business. It’s important that people get involved safely.”

The program is made possible through grant funding from Norfolk State University in partnership with Eastern Virginia Medical School and Samaritan House. NSU Professor Dr. Stephenie Howard worked to create the program after a survey showed barbers will help stand against domestic violence.

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“There are a handful of programs to train beauty stylists about domestic violence, but there are none for barbers,” Howard said. “So, really we just thought its a missed opportunity. We wanted to fill that gap.”

Both Howard and Pierce said the ‘Black barbers promoting Black love’ peer group focuses on the Black communities ‘strengths and resilience’ to address a wide variety of topics.

“They are influential, we go to them for advice, they hear things,” Howard said. “They are this instrumental resources and we have so few resources and that’s what makes it such a lethal problem in our community. Its certainly not that we are more violent, its really that we don’t have enough resources in our community. We want to build one more resource.”

Several barbers at Trimmers & Shears 2 on Tidewater Drive plan to take the classes.

“[Clients] look at the barbershop as a safe haven. They can come vent,” said Joseph ‘JoJo’ Barrett, manager of Trimmers & Shears 2. “Customer service is everything in this field.”

A $25 Visa gift card and a certificate will be provided at the end of the weekly sessions.

To sign up for the ‘Black barbers promoting Black love: a peer group intervention for reducing Intimate Partner Violence,’ email Howard at swhoward@nsu.edu.