NEWS HERO OF THE MONTH
Dontrell Corey Fells Shares the Value of Therapy BY ERIN BLOODGOOD
Photo by Erin Bloodgood.
F
or Dontrell Corey Fells, co-founder of Black Space, therapy wasn’t always a pleasant experience. When he was a teenager in late high school, his mother passed away. “After that, there was just a young boy that wanted to be able to find somewhere to live and to figure out life for myself,” says Fells. His family suggested he see a therapist to cope, but the man they found made Fells uncomfortable. As a young Black man, Fells couldn’t relate to his therapist who was an older white man. He
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felt the need to use coded language and give additional context to explain where he grew up and the challenges he faced. It wasn’t working. Soon after, at 18 years old, he enlisted in the military “to find some type of solace, some type of consistency,” Fells explains. But the military left him with a lot of questions and after eight years of service, he found his way back to Milwaukee to begin his life as a civilian—unsure of what to do next.
