For Christopher Williams, Heart, Body & Soul is more than a response to personal crisis; it’s a roadmap to collective change. It’s a future where Black men don’t have to wait for a heart attack, a cancer diagnosis, or a breakdown to start healing. A future where care is proactive, community-led, and deeply human.
“We’ve got to stop treating healthcare like it’s only something you seek when something’s wrong,” Chris says. “What if our culture of care started before the crisis?”
That shift: from reaction to prevention, from isolation to connection, is at the center of Heart, Body & Soul’s next chapter.
In the coming months, Chris and his team are launching a Diabetes Prevention Program, a Walk and Talk Fitness and Healing Series, and expanding Hooping for Healing, a community basketball initiative where conversations about mental health happen courtside. These aren’t your standard wellness campaigns—they’re culturally rooted, joy-filled spaces that meet Black men where they are and invite them to take the next step in their health journey, together.
And the vision is growing. Plans are underway to bring Heart, Body & Soul to Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC, Detroit, and Atlanta, cities with large Black populations and deeply entrenched health disparities. Chris knows that real change requires more than programs. It takes partnerships, policy shifts, and persistent outreach. But it also takes people, people who care enough to show up.
That’s why he’s inviting everyone: healthcare professionals, community leaders, volunteers, and donors to join the mission.
“Even if you don’t have all the answers, your presence matters,” he says. “We need people who are willing to stand in the gap and help create something better for our brothers.”
Chris also emphasizes that changing the future of Black men’s health isn’t just about disease prevention; it’s about redefining what it means to be well. It’s being strong and vulnerable. It’s trusting your doctor and your intuition. It’s raising your sons to see check-ups not as fear-filled moments, but as acts of self-respect.
What You Can Do Starting Today
This kind of shift begins with action. Chris encourages community members to take small but consistent steps toward better health, starting with something as simple as scheduling an annual check-up. Even when you feel fine, routine physicals offer a chance to catch issues early, from high blood pressure to diabetes and certain cancers. Annual bloodwork can reveal silent warning signs, like high cholesterol, elevated glucose, or vitamin deficiencies that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Understanding your family history is also key. Sharing this information with your doctor can help determine whether you need earlier or more frequent screenings, especially for conditions like colon or prostate cancer, which tend to affect Black men more aggressively and at younger ages.
And just as important as the screenings themselves is who you’re seeing. Chris urges Black men to seek out providers who treat them with dignity, listen without bias, and explain without judgment. A strong doctor-patient relationship isn’t just good practice, it can be the foundation for long-term, life-saving care.
These aren’t just health tips. They’re cultural shifts. They’re about reclaiming the right to know your body, advocate for yourself, and prioritize your well-being, not only for your own life, but for the generations coming behind you.
When asked what he’d say to a Black man afraid to go to the doctor, Chris pauses.
“I’d say your life matters. You don’t have to carry it all alone. Find a provider who sees you, who respects your experience, and start there. Do it for yourself, and for the people who love you.”
That’s the future Chris Williams is building, one where healing isn’t delayed, dignity isn’t negotiable, and no Black man has to choose between strength and survival.
It’s not just possible. It’s already in motion.
