38 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY July 27-August 2, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com FACE TO FACE Mel Mason was born in Kentucky, and moved to Seaside with his mother when he was 13. That was in 1956, to a very different Seaside. Today, Mason—now 80—has a resume to match that of the well-known civil rights activists of the 1960s. His career in the movement spans over 50 years of lows and highs. He lost his basketball scholarship to Oregon State University for standing against racism. He served in the U.S. Air Force, became a member of the Black Panther Party and earned degrees in social work and more. In May 2008, he and his wife, Regina Mason, founded The Village Project, inspired by the Mental Health Services Act of 2004 that extended behavioral and mental health services in California. For the last 15 years Mason has served as its executive director, growing the organization both in services and capacity. When they first started The Village Project, the Masons had a simple goal of offering therapy to Black Americans and other disenfranchised groups. When they pitched the idea to colleagues, people told them they wouldn’t get any Black patients. Today, The Village Project offers counseling services, programs for children and teens, community outreach and resources for health and wellness. Mason took his leave at the end of June, retiring from another successful chapter of his multifaceted career. Weekly: Were people right about the number of Black patients? Mason: The day that we opened up—May 14, 2008—all the way down two flights of stairs and all the way out into the parking lot there were people, and most of them were Black. They came for therapy. One reason is because my wife and I are trusted people in the community. People knew us and knew our work ethic. That’s a lot of people. I was the only therapist, so I was seeing 30 people a week—or six people every day. We had a wait list, and would have to tell people we couldn’t see them today at first. But we couldn’t hire anyone else. We had to raise money. Word of mouth has helped us build this. We saw a need in the community, and when we couldn’t find someone to solve the problem, the onus was on us. Now we have a contract with Monterey County Behavioral Health. Obviously I love to work, but now we’ve got this place running. What made your version of care different from others? Our therapy was culturally focused. We didn’t use any of these Eurocentric models. We take into account people’s culture and heritage and build their therapy around that. It started off as a space for African Americans, but now we serve people from Latino, Asian, Pacific-Islander and LGBTQ backgrounds. It looks like your work has progressed from civil rights. This is still about civil rights—it’s an extension of it. Mental health is a civil right. All the stuff we do here is based on civil rights. These are all things that people have been denied. There’s a stigma to any kind of health, but especially mental health, produced by a system that isn’t serving these disenfranchised groups. Stigmas are learned and when we eliminate that, then this becomes about systemic changes, because the system is OK with Black people being stigmatized and not getting the services they deserve as human beings. You’re still a prominent community figure, seen at book signings and other city events. Why retire now? When my wife and I first opened this place, we knew we weren’t going to be here forever. From day one we had a succession plan. We just couldn’t see it, but it was coming together. We’ve brought in more young people, trained them, and have been laying the groundwork to help them take over the agency. It was important to us that they were young people, people in their 30s, people we’ve seen grow up in these very programs. They are dedicated to this organization, they know the importance of community engagement. You sound very optimistic about the future of The Village Project, but what’s next for you personally? I’m not going to do anything for a year; my friends recommended that to me and I’m going to try to stick to it. It shouldn’t be too hard—my youngest son is going to be a father, and this will be my first grandchild, so we’ll visit them. I would also like to take a vacation to Grenada for the 40th commemoration of the assassination of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. Rights Stuff Civil rights activist and Seaside community leader Mel Mason retires from The Village Project. By Kyarra Harris In his work advancing access to mental health care for Black people, Mel Mason has also provided education on the history and cultures of Africa. “If we’re going to deal with mental health issues, the power of identity plays a big part of it,” he says. DANIEL DREIFUSS PRESENTED BY WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2023 PORTOLA HOTEL & SPA • 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM $75 MEMBERS • $90 PROSPECTIVE MEMBERS INCLUDES LUNCH Join us for lunch as an impressive panel of federal, state and local elected officials cover topics such as: new projects taking place in their jurisdictions, new business coming to the region and important issues that have impacts on the future viability of our economy. REGISTER NOW AT MONTEREYCHAMBER.COM
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAzNjQ1NQ==