SEEK THERAPY WITH SPLASH
COME WITH US AS WE SIT DOWN FOR A CONVERSATION WITH MAURICE EASTWOOD, FOUNDER AND CEO OF THE SEEK THERAPY BRAND
Maurice Eastwood, more widely known as Splash, is a long time community organizer and the founder of the well known socially conscience brand, Seek Therapy. In the beginning, Seek Therapy was a bridge to get people to see therapy through a broader lens. Using merchandise, games, activities and slogans, Splash wanted to show his community that there is no one way to…seek and experience therapy. The brand has now grown tremendously, becoming a social movement curated lovingly for the black community and even more so, for black men. However, Splash’s brand and “stay positive, seek therapy” mindset was not always something he was familiar with.
From supplying thousands of students with school and hygiene necessities, to community meals, to weekly men’s therapy groups, Splash has, for years now, shown up for the city that raised him. Living much of his youth in the north end of Hartford, he experienced immense struggles (as many young people in the area do) simply trying to keep a good head on his shoulders. Yet these same difficult experiences are huge components to the life he now leads. A business owner, community organizer, therapist and now holder of a Master’s Degree in Social Work, Splash is making his mark and making sure that young kids growing up in the same conditions he did, see that there are other options. We sat down with Splash to dive a little deeper into his upbringing, his brand and his upcoming event at The Caf, the Seek Therapy: Master Installation.
BIZZIE: What does Seek Therapy mean to you? Why did you start therapy yourself?
SPLASH: Seek Therapy for me represents a shift. It means being transparent and not putting yourself on a pedestal when it comes to other people. It takes real guts to start therapy, be the bigger person and not being controlled by other peoples’ actions. It’s important, where I’m coming from, to get people to understand that therapy is…there’s not too many better options than therapy. I feel like therapy is like, when you’re a kid and you have free wifi, therapy is better than that. In between your therapy sessions, that’s when you really do the work. There’s no one around to bounce your negative thoughts off of besides yourself and that’s when you’re able to recognize and internally reflect.
BIZZIE: Why did you start the brand Seek Therapy? Also, what made you want to seek therapy for yourself?
SPLASH: Seek Therapy just became what it was because I was just seeing everyone around me doing things that just aren’t good for them. A lot of people don’t know how to properly articulate themselves. In turn, we express ourselves through actions which often lands us in situations we don’t want to be in. But because of our environments and the people around us, we’re only taught one way of showing our emotions. So I asked myself, “How can we shift this?” When I started going to therapy myself I was like, “Yo, this shit cool.” I didn’t know why I was going at first. But everyone I thought that was cool or tough, they all tried to or went to therapy at some point. The reasons why some of them had stopped or why people didn’t try was because they didn’t think they needed someone to tell them what was wrong for them, but sometimes you do. That’s what made me wanna keep going though. If you’re honest with yourself, therapy ain’t shit. But when you’re lying to yourself, it feels like you’re getting hit by a brick. So you just got to be honest.
BIZZIE: How do you feel about mental health in the world today?
SPLASH: I mean, even that term, it’s so oversaturated. We don’t really get the benefits of the mental health resources because it’s like a money grab now. I try to stay away from the two words in the same sentence.
BIZZIE: True. It’s like everyone is a “mental health” expert these days.” How do you usually say it?
SPLASH: Perspective shifting. Ego balancing. Confidence building. Perspective shifting is the biggest one though. How can we enhance your complexes to be superior complexes rather than inferior complexes? How can we get you to see the cup and see that it’s half empty, but operate in the mindset of, “How can I make it more full?” Or even see that the cup is half full but operate as if it’s empty if you need that extra push.
BIZZIE: I love that “perspective shifting” ideology. What was it like for you growing up here in Hartford and in what ways did you have to shift your perspective growing up? Or how was your perspective shifted by your environment.
SPLASH: I mean I was born in Jamaica but raised in the north end of Hartford. But I never really felt too out of place because where I was, almost everyone was either Caribbean or Jamaican to some capacity. But even then, I still feel like I grew up with a different mentality because my parents were immigrants. It instills certain subconsciouses in you because of what your parents and grandparents teach you. From telling me about ya know, Marcus Garvey and Selassie I or Malcolm X to even how they greet you. Like they always greet you with King, Queen, Empress, and so, whatever thing gets buried or got buried during slavery and gets drowned by this like Eurocentric ideology is awakened when you’re raised in this kind of environment where you’re told about your people and your history. Even in all that I still made some bad decisions. A lot of bad decisions landed me here in this good position but I still made a lot of bad decisions. Like I went to four different high schools. I didn’t even get to graduate high school with everybody. But on the flip side now, I run a business, I have a pretty successful brand, I make changes in my neighborhood, feel me? So like you can fall into good positions, but like I fucked up, but it worked out. Growing up the way I grew up, it helped me a lot. It preyed on my subconscious a lot because you know better. That’s what it comes down to though, who wants to do better when not doing better can look so fun? But that’s also a huge reason though, as to why I wanted to get my Master’s degree. I told the person interviewing me for the program at the time, that getting into this program would literally be the deciding factor of where my life went. I felt like I had to beg because they initially weren’t trying to let me into the program because of my undergraduate grades and so I had to really work my connections and plead my case multiple times.
BIZZIE: Well congratulations honestly on making it to where you are now! What are you most excited about or ready for as you enter this new chapter of your life? What does it mean for you to be getting your Master’s?
SPLASH: I’m honestly excited to open doors and provide resources for my community and show them how fun and exciting therapy can be. I’m excited to be able to sit at the tables that turned me away because of my education level and start making changes. I’m now able to take the gems they don’t want us to have and tweak them for my audience and community. I’m looking forward to traveling around the world talking to athletes, inmates, and running my men's groups inside of prisons as well. I’m also excited to be growing my Seek Therapy Now company in cool ways and eventually open a storefront that allows me to utilize the space and do cool programs with my nonprofit AllXity and other entities.
BIZZIE: This is all definitely exciting! So I know you’ll be here this month at The Caf. What will you be doing here? What can we expect to see?
SPLASH: Word. On May 13th and 14th I’ll be doing an interactive installation called, the Seek Therapy: Master Installation. There’ll be a lot of mind stimulation actives to participate in. The goal is to get about two therapists to come in here as well. The Caf is allowing me to bring therapy to people and bring people to therapy. There’ll also be tons of merchandise for people, cool things to see and cool people to meet. Hopefully someone will make a friend that day too and gain some helpful resources.
There was definitely a lot more to this conversation and I know we could’ve dove even deeper given the time. Splash has clear love for Hartford and for his community as a whole and that was felt highly during our discussion.
want to see splash in person and see what seek therapy is about?
POP OUT THIS WEEKEND TO THE SEEK THERAPY: MASTER INSTALLATION TO SEE ALL THAT SEEK THERAPY HAS TO OFFER!
ALL PHOTOS AND FLYER COURTESY OF BIZZIE RUTH
