Hip-hop therapy is helping high schoolers cope with loss, generational trauma and teen stress

NBC News

03-03-2025

In the past three years, Tre'Von Johnson-Stearnes' three aunts died and he didn't know how to cope with the loss.
He would find himself trying to shop, sleep or eat the grief away but nothing worked. He tried traditional therapy but couldn't open up to his therapist, so he stopped.
But then the Cleveland student took a new approach that felt a little more accessible: hip-hop therapy. After a few weeks, the 17-year-old student said he's been able to begin the healing process.
'Pain doesn't get better unless you figure out a way forward,' Johnson-Stearnes said. 'With this program, it's a vibe and you also find out another person lost someone too and then talking about it is not as bad anymore.'
The intentionally named Cope Dealer program at Glenville High School in Cleveland is one of many hip-hop therapy programs popping up in schools and communities across the country. The aim is to help young people who may not have access to mental health resources — or who don't find traditional therapy culturally relevant to them.
'We're 'dealing' coping skills,' said Shelly Gates, Cope Dealer program director. 'We're 'dealing' actual healing techniques.'
Teenagers in the program spend 14 weeks learning skills such as journaling, breath management and community building. They also discuss topics such as racial discrimination, police brutality and neighborhood violence. Taking the skills they learn and feelings they share, they work on a song together and turn their pain into music.
'You need a healthy outlet,' said Jerome Cash, a licensed therapist and Cope Dealer program facilitator. 'When you change the language and the verbiage of things, it makes it more accessible to students to respond to.'
Johnson-Stearnes told his program cohort about his feelings after his aunts died and rapped lyrics he wrote to share his story. He said it helped him finally talk about his grief.
'It was a scary feeling to talk to people about the loss,' he said. 'The Cope Dealer program was a bonding experience and was like a group hug.'
Cash said he sees himself in the children with whom he works. He remembers thinking therapy wasn't for Black people because he never saw representation. He wants to make his students comfortable so they don't feel alienated by the concept of therapy.
'Them being able to open up to us gave us more of a safe space,' Johnson-Stearnes said, referring to the program facilitators. 'They can help us and be a positive influence to get us on the right track.'
Music therapy has proven to be effective, especially in reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety. As hip-hop was born from the struggles and aspirations of Black and Latino youth, hip-hop therapy becomes more of an accessible delivery system.
J.C. Hall is a clinical social worker who runs the Hip-Hop Therapy Studio program at Mott Haven Community High School in the Bronx borough of New York City. He studied under Edgar H. Tyson, who is credited with originating the practice of hip-hop therapy.
'Hip-hop, being like therapy, is what literally saved my life. It kept me going for a long time,' Hall said. 'I have no doubt this is gonna help a lot of people.'
Kryst Jackson, 17, said he tried traditional therapy but never got to the point where he felt comfortable talking about his upbringing because he did not think his therapist could understand his life. Once he joined Mott Haven's studio program, he found a space in which he could open up and produce his music, including a song called 'Free The Streets,' which touches on the struggles of poverty and violence he faced growing up in the Bronx.
'This is really just being able to express yourself in a fun way,' he said. 'What I learned about music is more than just lyrics on the beat. It's what it could bring out of you.'
George James, a licensed family therapist and psychologist, said he's seen how mental health professionals need to approach Black youth and their mental health uniquely. He believes hip-hop therapy is a way to meet Black teens where they're at.
A 2022 study on the mental health burden among Black adolescents showed they are less likely than their white peers to seek and find mental health care. According to the study, reasons include negative perceptions of services and a lack of access. While Kryst and Tre'Von both said they tried traditional talk therapy, they said it did not work for them. James said many Black youth often feel a stigma within the Black community and a historical distrust of the medical industry, when it comes to seeking out therapy.
'There's something about culturally relevant therapy and modalities that can help people to say, 'I could understand that, or that makes sense to me, or that allows me to really go there and share my thoughts and emotions,'' James said.
Angel Pinet, another Mott Haven student, said his three months in the studio program have changed his life for the better. He values the supportive community at the studio program, particularly from Hall, who encourages his students to dig into deeper and darker issues.
Pinet, 17, grew up with a single mother who has often had to make $100 stretch across all of their expenses for one week. He said he didn't always make things easy for his mom with his behavior in school and his grades, but it wasn't until he made a song dedicated to her that helped him reflect on why he would behave in that way and how he could change his ways.
'When you go through a situation, you kind of forget what's really going on because there's so much to take in at once,' he said. 'With music, I feel like I can pull my situations part by part and really understand what it is.'