Check out the video of this interview here!
“I think that that's one of the overlooked traits that we have as an entire community is that we tend to not listen.
And I think that if we take time, take a minute to sit back and actually listen to what the community is asking for,
then we can better serve them.”
- Frederick Johnson, therapist, barber, founder of DiverisfyU, and today’s guest on Fierce Conversations with Toby.
Some of our fierce topics today:
0:00 Intro
2:13 A switch from illegal activity on the streets to joining the military.
4:18 Serving historically excluded populations as a mental health therapist.
6:11 One word: discipline.
7:38 About DiversifyU.
8:53 Being a barber and a therapist at the same time.
10:40 Frederick’s creation of Fase Barber Initiative (FBI).
12:18 Soothing the anger in our communities by listening.
14:39 Working as a school-based therapist and the changes being made by Frederick’s work.
17:07 Frederick’s upcoming book, More Black People Should Be Eaten by Sharks.
19:34 How to help support DiversifyU and Frederick’s other endeavors.
22:04 Final thoughts and outro.
About Frederick Johnson:
Frederick Johnson is a therapist with 25 years of experience providing services for youth, families, veterans, and the unsheltered. He is also a combat veteran, having served in Operation Iraqi Freedom as a Supply Sergeant with his Army Ranger Unit. Throughout his career, Fred has always been drawn to create innovative methods and programs focused on serving historically excluded and low SES populations. DiverisfyU is a capacity-building firm specializing in program development and culturally sensitive curriculum encouraging out-of-the-box thinking and creative alternatives. It also provides timely and affordable school counseling services to students in need, with the goal of increasing academics, mental health, and the overall well-being of the students. Additionally, Fred currently works as a school-based therapist, providing intensive services and teaching social-emotional learning (SEL) classes.
Born and raised in Chicago, Fred attended high school and college in Iowa. A linebacker for the 1995 RC Cola Bowl National Junior College Championship, he was inducted to the Iowa Lakes Hall of Fame in 2015. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration and a Master of Public Administration (MPA) with an emphasis on nonprofit management from Upper Iowa University. Post military, he moved to Kansas City with his wife Hanna and two children, Darian and Marion, and completed his Master of Arts (MA) in Counseling from Midwestern Baptist Seminary. In his free time, you may find Fred cutting hair in his barbershop, bowling in national tournaments, crafting the perfect jerk salmon in his smoker, and writing his first book, More Black People Should Be Eaten by Sharks.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Frederick Johnson:
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Toby Dorr:
