Rootswork is built for the way men actually move through a festival. No waiting room. No appointment. No commitment required until you're ready.
Free · Donation-Based · Grove Shade Arbor · Healing Grove · All Central Time
Between sets, Paul steps to the mic — not as a lecturer, but as a Black man with something to say to his brothers. One story. One truth. What strength really costs, and what healing actually looks like. He plants the seed, then invites every man in the crowd down to the Grove.
Paul is present. The space is open. No agenda, no clipboard, no appointment. Just two chairs under shade and a man who has studied, practiced, and shown up. Brothers approach in their own time — before the Main Stage talk, after it, whenever the moment arrives. Some conversations last three minutes. Some last thirty. All of it is the work.
After the Main Stage moment, Paul returns to the Grove. Post-talk is often when the most important conversations begin — the brothers who heard something, sat with it over food, and came back. The door remains open. Ital tea from the Tea Bar is always nearby.
For the brothers who are ready to go deeper. Paul leads a focused facilitated circle — structured like the Reasoning already in the festival's DNA, applied to the interior life. Elders and men speak together. Paul holds the space as a clinician; the elder holds it as community. What is spoken here stays here. This is not therapy at a festival — it is the ancient practice of men sitting in truth with one another, given the name it deserves.
The table carries what men can take home: Finding Balance contact cards, a guide to finding a Black therapist (including Therapy for Black Men and Psychology Today filter), the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, and Paul's personal contact for follow-up. No purchase required. No sign-in. Just take what you need.
Whether you're struggling, curious, skeptical, or just needed a place to sit — all of it is welcome here.
A Black man. A therapist. A brother who studied, practiced, and showed up.
Paul is a Masters-level Licensed Professional Counselor specializing in trauma, PTSD, and the full range of challenges that find Black men carrying weight they were never meant to carry alone. He works with individuals, couples, adolescents, and those adjusting to life after incarceration — bringing a multicultural lens and a practice rooted in human connection.
His tools — CBT, DBT, Motivational Interviewing, Mindfulness, Strength-Based therapy — are translated at Rootswork into plain language and lived truth. No jargon. No distance. No clipboard between you and the conversation.
"Even though people are individuals, everyone is connected through a natural energy. This connection enables everyone to work through their problems — without the fear of being alone."
Whatever brought you here today — carry it forward. Finding Balance is available year-round. Paul is reachable. The work that begins in the Grove doesn't end at the gate.