Brother Lawrence Hayes
Peer recovery — alcohol, opioids, gambling, porn
I have been in recovery from alcohol for twenty-one years. I now work as a peer-recovery specialist in Newark and I facilitate SMART Recovery groups for men. I do not work as a clinician — what I offer is the lived experience and the structure to use it. If you are early in recovery or thinking about whether to start, I'll meet you where you are.
All sessions are free.
I have been in recovery from alcohol for twenty-one years. I work as a peer-recovery specialist in Newark, where I run weekly recovery groups for Black men through a community-based organization. The specialist credential is a formal one — a certified peer-recovery specialist in the state of New Jersey, which required training and ongoing continuing-education hours. The actual qualifications are the ones I earned by walking the path I now help other brothers walk.
I am not a clinician. I want to be clear about that. What I do is peer support — the work of brothers in recovery showing up for brothers entering recovery, in the long tradition of recovery work that began well before formal credentialing existed. I am also not affiliated with any single recovery program. I have been through Alcoholics Anonymous and I respect the program. I have also worked with brothers in SMART Recovery, in faith-based recovery, in medication-assisted treatment, and in long-term therapy-only recovery. The program is the brother's to choose. My job is to be useful in whichever program he is in.
I work with brothers across the substance and process landscape. Alcohol is my own primary addiction and the area I know best. I have worked extensively with brothers in opioid recovery, including the increasing number of brothers in medication-assisted treatment with buprenorphine or methadone — which I support, as the evidence base for those medications is strong and the outcomes are good. I have worked with brothers in stimulant recovery, gambling recovery, and porn or sex compulsion recovery. The patterns of recovery are more similar across these conditions than the specifics suggest.
My work with brothers in the first ninety days of recovery is the most intensive work I do. We talk frequently — sometimes daily in the first weeks — and the conversations are short and concrete. What is the plan for today. What is the plan for tonight. What is the plan for the meeting. What is the plan for the moment when the craving comes. I do not assume that recovery is a matter of willpower. I treat it as a long, slow rebuilding of the daily structures that will hold the brother through the moments his willpower will inevitably fail.
My work with brothers in the long arc of recovery — five years and out — is different. The intensive early work tapers. What remains is a steady companionship, an honest reflection, and an account across the years that fewer and fewer brothers in your life will have the framework to provide. The long-term brothers I work with check in monthly or quarterly. I am useful in the moments — the death of a parent, a relapse risk after a long sober stretch, the wedding of a child, the anniversary the program warned you would be hard.
I do not charge for this work. The recovery tradition I came up in does not charge for one brother helping another, and I have kept that practice. The peer-recovery role I hold through the community organization is a paid one and is separate from the one-on-one work I do. I keep a limited number of one-on-one relationships at a time — usually six to ten — and I rotate brothers through as the work develops.
If you are considering reaching out, write to me. Tell me where you are in your story. I respond. The work of recovery is real, and the work of staying in recovery is the long work, and we do that work together. I have been there. The room is open.
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How a session works
What to expect when you book Brother Lawrence Hayes.
1. Intro call
The first conversation is short and free. You describe your situation in your own words. Brother Lawrence Hayes listens, asks a few clarifying questions, and decides honestly whether this is the right working relationship for what you are trying to do. Not every brother ends up being the right match for every mentor; the intro call exists so the decision is mutual and clear before any commitment.
2. Working sessions
Most ongoing engagements run on a biweekly or monthly cadence. Each session is roughly an hour. There is usually a piece of homework between sessions — a writing exercise, a conversation you have committed to having, a small decision you are sitting with. The work happens in the space between calls as much as in the calls themselves. The platform commission of 15 percent on paid sessions covers hosting, support, and the editorial vetting that keeps the mentor roster honest.
3. Long-arc relationship
The brothers who have worked with mentors on this platform longest are the brothers who treated the relationship as a long arc rather than a single transaction. The first three months are where the patterns get named. The next nine months are where the patterns start to shift. The years after that are where the relationship becomes something more like the long mentor relationships our elders had, which were rarely about a single career move and almost always about the slow shaping of a life.
Related circles
Brotherhood rooms in Mental Health and African American.
If Brother Lawrence Hayes's scope overlaps with what you are working on, you may also benefit from the brotherhood circles in the same topic area or diaspora region. The circles are free to join with an account; the conversation happens between brothers rather than between a single mentor and a single client. Many of the brothers who eventually book Brother Lawrence Hayes arrive after months of reading and posting in the circles below.
The Inside Work
Therapy, depression, grief — without the macho silence.
The Heavy Days
Anxiety, depression, and the slow climb back.
First-Generation American
Born in America to African parents. Both, always.
Single Dads, Full Hands
Sole custody, primary parent, weekends-only — all of us.
Other mentors in Mental Health
Different price points and approaches.
Mentorship fit is specific. The right mentor for one brother is the wrong mentor for another, even when the topic area is the same. The brothers below all work in Mental Health but bring different backgrounds, regions, price points, and approaches. Read their full pages before you decide. The intro calls are free for a reason.
Dr. Earl Ellis
20 yrs · African American · $180/hr
Psychology for Black men — anxiety, depression, midlife
Tunde Adebayo
12 yrs · Afro-European · $105/hr
Mental health for African men — depression, grief, identity
Tre'Vell Brooks
10 yrs · African American · $115/hr
Grief counseling for Black men — recent and old loss