Dr. Jay Barnett Center of Excellence
for Multicultural Men’s Health and Wellness
"Advancing mental, emotional, physical, and relational wellness for men across multicultural communities."
Center Overview
The Dr. Jay Barnett Center of Excellence for Multicultural Men’s Health and Wellness is a community-centered academic and action-based hub dedicated to advancing mental, emotional, physical, and relational wellness for men across multicultural communities. The Center prepares community servant leaders who foster healing, normalize wellness conversations, and organize sustainable support structures in spaces where men already live, work, gather, and lead.
The Center is modeled on Dr. Jay Barnett’s nationally recognized approach to men’s wellness, which emphasizes lived experience, accessible language, safe spaces, public engagement, and culturally grounded healing. Dr. Jay Barnett is a licensed therapist, former professional athlete, author, and nationally recognized mental health expert whose work has shaped national conversations on masculinity, emotional wellness, and healing in multicultural communities.
He is the host of the Just Heal podcast and the founder of the Just Heal, Bro initiative, platforms that reach broad public audiences through media, speaking engagements, and community-based programming. His work translates conversation into action and visibility into measurable community impact.
Featured Insight
Foundational Orientation
Core Pillars
Community Servant Leadership
The Center operates on the principle that healing is relational and leadership is service. Participants are trained to lead from within communities by convening conversations, modeling emotional responsibility, and creating environments where men can engage wellness without stigma.
Afrocentric and Multicultural Grounding
Programming is rooted in Afrocentric frameworks that emphasize interconnectedness, collective responsibility, rites of passage, storytelling, and holistic wellness. These are integrated with broader multicultural approaches, so leaders are equipped to serve men across diverse cultural contexts.
Wellness Education and Peer Engagement
The Center focuses on mental health literacy, emotional awareness, peer support, group facilitation, and referral awareness appropriate for community-based leadership. Emphasis is placed on dialogue, reflection, and accountability rather than instruction or treatment.
Practical AI Skills for Community Leadership
AI is used selectively to support community work such as program planning, educational content development, coordination, and evaluation. AI functions as an operational tool, not a substitute for human leadership or cultural knowledge.
What the Center Does
The Center is an active site of engagement, training, and community presence. Its core activities mirror Dr. Jay Barnett’s work in healing-centered conversation, public education, and initiative building.
- Men’s Healing Circles: The Center convenes structured healing circles for men that address trauma, identity, masculinity, relationships, stress, and emotional regulation. Circles are facilitated using dialogue-based, peer-centered models inspired by Just Heal and Just Heal, Bro, emphasizing storytelling, shared experience, and accountability.
- Community Wellness Education: The Center delivers workshops, forums, and public programs embedded in schools, athletic spaces, nonprofits, civic organizations, and community events. Content is culturally grounded, practical, and designed to meet men where they are.
- Narrative and Media-Based Wellness Work: The Center trains participants to use conversation, storytelling, and digital platforms to reshape narratives around masculinity and wellness. Media is treated as a wellness tool that expands reach, reduces stigma, and normalizes healing.
- Servant Leadership and Mentorship: Mentorship structures emphasize responsibility, emotional maturity, and collective care. Participants are trained to mentor younger men and emerging leaders using Afrocentric models of elder guidance and rites of passage.
- Wellness Initiative Design and Program Building: The Center functions as an incubator for men’s wellness initiatives such as peer-support networks, retreats, mentorship pipelines, and public wellness campaigns. Participants learn how to design, implement, and sustain initiatives rooted in real community needs.
- Community Navigation and Referral Awareness: Participants are trained to responsibly guide individuals toward additional support when needed, preserving trust, boundaries, and community credibility.
Graduate Program
Multicultural Men’s Health and Wellness Ministry
Equips community servant leaders with advanced preparation to facilitate healing-centered dialogue, lead culturally responsive men’s wellness initiatives, and organize sustainable community-based support structures. The program emphasizes emotional literacy, peer engagement, narrative change, mentorship, and wellness education grounded in Afrocentric and multicultural frameworks.
Program Objectives
- Demonstrate culturally grounded understanding of men’s mental, emotional, and relational wellness
- Facilitate healing-centered conversations and peer support spaces for men
- Apply Afrocentric and multicultural frameworks to community wellness leadership
- Design and implement men-centered wellness initiatives responsive to community needs
- Use narrative, conversation, and media to normalize vulnerability and healing
- Model servant leadership, ethical boundaries, and community accountability
- Apply practical AI tools to support planning, outreach, and evaluation of wellness initiatives
Program Curriculum
Core Courses
- Afrocentric Foundations of Men’s Health and Wellness
- Mental Health Literacy for Community Leaders
- Masculinity, Identity, and Emotional Development
- Healing Circles Facilitation
- Community Wellness Education and Public Engagement
- Narrative Change, Storytelling, and Media for Men’s Wellness
- Servant Leadership and Mentorship for Men’s Wellness
- Ethical Boundaries and Community Stewardship
- AI Tools for Community Wellness Leadership
Practicum / Fieldwork
- Community Wellness Practicum
Capstone
- Capstone Project in Men’s Wellness Leadership
Program Total: 30 credit hours
Doctoral Program
Multicultural Men’s Health Leadership Ministry
Equips experienced community leaders with doctoral-level preparation to design, lead, evaluate, and sustain large-scale men’s wellness initiatives across multicultural contexts. The program emphasizes Afrocentric leadership, narrative influence, ethical governance, applied inquiry, mentorship, and systems-level impact.
Program Objectives
- Demonstrate advanced servant leadership grounded in Afrocentric and multicultural frameworks
- Analyze systems, narratives, and structures affecting men’s wellness and access to support
- Design and lead complex community-based men’s wellness initiatives
- Apply ethical leadership practices that ensure trust, accountability, and stewardship
- Mentor and develop emerging community servant leaders
- Conduct applied inquiry focused on real-world men’s wellness challenges
- Evaluate initiatives using impact-driven and community-centered assessment models
- Produce a doctoral-level applied project demonstrating systems-level leadership
Program Curriculum
Doctoral Seminars
- Advanced Afrocentric Leadership and Community Governance
- Applied Inquiry in Multicultural Men’s Health and Wellness
- Trauma, Healing, and Collective Restoration
- Designing and Scaling Men’s Wellness Initiatives
- Narrative Power, Media Influence, and Public Leadership
- Ethics, Accountability, and Stewardship in Community Leadership
- Strategic AI Use for Community Initiative Leadership
- Mentoring and Developing Community Servant Leaders in Men’s Wellness
Practicum / Fieldwork
- Leadership Residency in Men’s Wellness
Capstone
- Doctoral Applied Project in Men’s Health Leadership
Program Total: 30 credit hours
Course Descriptions
MULTICULTURAL MEN’S HEALTH AND WELLNESS MINISTRY MASTER’S COURSES
Afrocentric Foundations of Men’s Health and Wellness
Introduces Afrocentric and diasporic frameworks for understanding men’s wellness, emphasizing interconnectedness, collective responsibility, rites of passage, storytelling, and holistic care as foundations for community servant leadership.
Mental Health Literacy for Community Leaders
Builds practical understanding of stress, trauma, grief, depression, anxiety, and emotional dysregulation using accessible language appropriate for community education, peer engagement, and wellness advocacy.
Masculinity, Identity, and Emotional Development
Examines how culture, socialization, race, class, and public narratives shape men’s emotional lives, identity formation, help-seeking behaviors, and approaches to wellness.
Healing Circles Facilitation
Develops skills for facilitating dialogue-based healing spaces for men, emphasizing trust, accountability, shared experience, and emotional safety using conversation-centered models.
Community Wellness Education and Public Engagement
Focuses on the design and delivery of culturally responsive workshops, forums, and wellness conversations embedded in schools, athletic spaces, nonprofits, civic organizations, and community settings.
Narrative Change, Storytelling, and Media for Men’s Wellness
Explores the use of storytelling, conversation, and digital platforms to reshape narratives around masculinity, vulnerability, healing, and emotional well-being.
Servant Leadership and Mentorship for Men’s Wellness
Prepares leaders to mentor younger men and emerging leaders through service-oriented leadership models grounded in responsibility, emotional maturity, and collective care.
Ethical Boundaries and Community Stewardship
Addresses ethical responsibility, boundary awareness, trust-building, and appropriate referral practices essential to maintaining credibility and accountability in community wellness work.
AI Tools for Community Wellness Leadership
Introduces selective use of AI to support program planning, educational content development, outreach coordination, and basic evaluation while centering ethical use and cultural sensitivity.
Capstone Project in Men’s Wellness Leadership
Guides students in designing, implementing, and documenting a community-based men’s wellness initiative that demonstrates leadership, impact, and sustainability.
MULTICULTURAL MEN’S HEALTH LEADERSHIP MINISTRY DOCTORAL COURSES
Advanced Afrocentric Leadership and Community Governance
Examines African-centered leadership traditions emphasizing stewardship, elder responsibility, collective care, and governance within complex community systems.
Applied Inquiry in Multicultural Men’s Health and Wellness
Focuses on practice-based inquiry methods used to examine, assess, and strengthen real-world men’s wellness initiatives and leadership practices.
Trauma, Healing, and Collective Restoration
Explores trauma and healing as communal processes, emphasizing resilience, restoration, and sustained leadership responses within multicultural communities.
Designing and Scaling Men’s Wellness Initiatives
Addresses strategies for developing, expanding, and sustaining men’s wellness initiatives at organizational, regional, and national levels while maintaining cultural integrity.
Narrative Power, Media Influence, and Public Leadership
Develops advanced capacity to use conversation, storytelling, and public platforms to influence culture, shift narratives, and advance men’s wellness at scale.
Ethics, Accountability, and Stewardship in Community Leadership
Focuses on ethical governance, transparency, trust, and long-term responsibility required of senior leaders guiding large-scale community initiatives.
Strategic AI Use for Community Initiative Leadership
Examines advanced, responsible use of AI to support evaluation, coordination, reporting, and sustainability of complex men’s wellness initiatives.
Mentoring and Developing Community Servant Leaders in Men’s Wellness
Centers the development of leadership pipelines through mentoring, coaching, and intergenerational knowledge transfer grounded in service and accountability.
Leadership Residency in Men’s Wellness
Provides immersive leadership engagement within a community organization or initiative focused on multicultural men’s wellness and systems-level impact.
Doctoral Applied Project in Men’s Health Leadership
Culminating applied project requiring the design, execution, and evaluation of a major men’s wellness initiative demonstrating advanced leadership and measurable community outcomes.