A Rahway foundation uses long-distance cycling to open conversations about mental health and fatherhood.
This year, Mark “Fame” Gillette and co-founder Kerby Louisville rode 241 miles from New Jersey to Washington, D.C., on mountain bikes, still learning to manage that kind of distance, with overnight stops in Wilmington, Delaware, and Odenton, Maryland. Then they rode 400 more, from Jacksonville to Miami.
The rides belong to Brake The Psychol, a Rahway-based foundation that uses cycling as a way into conversations about mental health and fatherhood. The organization earned its 501(c)(3) designation this year and has taken its Break The Cycle curriculum to high school students through Rutgers Future Scholars.
Gillette, a father, producer and former music director at the nonprofit Between The Lines, answered my questions about why the work is personal, what Black fathers deserve to hear and what $50,000 could make possible.
West Ward Beans first covered Brake The Psychol in August. Read our earlier feature here. Read our earlier feature here.
What problem are you trying to solve?
What started as two guys riding bicycles with a message has grown into something I genuinely believe can change lives. At its core, we exist to show people that any barrier can be broken.
The problem is people suffering in silence, especially in communities where conversations about mental health, fatherhood, and personal struggles aren’t always encouraged. I’ve seen what happens when life starts taking things away from somebody. A job, financial stability, relationships, confidence, their sense of purpose. Sometimes it happens so gradually that by the time anyone notices, that person has been struggling for a long time.
I’ve had to confront some of those feelings myself. That’s why this mission is personal.
What we’re really up against is disconnection. People get disconnected from themselves, their families, their communities, and their belief that things can get better. We’re trying to reconnect those pieces.
Why the bike?
The bicycle was never the entire mission. It’s a tool to get people moving physically, mentally, and emotionally. On the road you learn patience, discipline, and how to keep going when it gets uncomfortable. Those lessons open up honest conversations about mental wellness. Cycling complements professional mental health care. It doesn’t replace it.
Your Good Job Dad series centers Black fathers. Why start there?
There’s a narrative around Black fathers that focuses on who’s absent instead of who’s present. We wanted to celebrate the fathers who show up every day, even when nobody is applauding them. The ones present emotionally as much as financially. The ones learning, sacrificing, making mistakes, correcting them, and doing their best to raise their children.
I want a young father to see those conversations and recognize that his presence matters. I want a child to see fathers who look like theirs. And I want families to understand that nobody parents perfectly. What counts is consistency, accountability, and love.
You’ve spent 2026 proving the concept. What does the organization need now?
Recently, we facilitated a workshop with Rutgers Future Scholars using our Break The Cycle curriculum, and it reinforced something for me: young people need spaces where they can be honest without feeling judged.
A small team wearing a lot of hats has carried everything we’ve done this year. I’m involved in everything from program development and partnerships to content, events, fundraising, and day-to-day operations. I’m proud of that. I also know passion alone isn’t a sustainable operating model.
We need consistent operating funding, qualified mentors and facilitators, stronger systems for grants and impact reporting, and dependable space and equipment, especially bicycles, so young people can take part no matter what their families can afford.
If someone invested $50,000 in Brake The Psychol tomorrow, what would you do with it??
I wouldn’t use it to put on a bigger event. I’d look at it as a chance to build the foundation for something sustainable: a yearlong pilot that combines youth mentorship, mental wellness education, cycling, and family engagement, serving 40 to 60 young people.
The biggest pieces would be workshops and mentorship, bikes and safety gear so cost never keeps a young person off the ride, and the coordination that holds it all together. The rest would grow Good Job Dad, cover space and scholarships, and pay for real measurement: confidence and resilience before and after, who finishes, and follow-ups months later to see whether the lessons held.
For me, $50,000 is about what we could build that keeps creating opportunities long after that money is gone.
Where does this go long term?
A Brake The Psychol community center, ideally in Rahway, though we’re open to anywhere in Union and Essex counties. A place where young people, fathers, and families come for mentorship, education, wellness, and resources, with cycling as one way in.
But we can’t skip steps. First comes consistent programming in schools and community spaces that already exist, so we can build a track record and prove the demand. I want to build something valuable enough that the community genuinely needs it.
We’re still learning and still figuring certain things out. But the mission keeps getting clearer, and I genuinely believe this is the work I’m supposed to be doing.
What’s Next for Brake The Psychol
- Reach Back: On Dec. 17, Brake The Psychol rides from Montego Bay to Negril, Jamaica, with every mile open for sponsorship.
- Youth programming: Building on the Rutgers Future Scholars workshop, the foundation is developing a more immersive cycling and mentorship experience where students take classroom lessons onto the road.
- Good Job Dad: The foundation also plans to continue its fatherhood conversations and expand the initiative.
- Partnerships: The organization is seeking schools and community groups to host programming, mentors and facilitators, bike shops and equipment donors, and program space throughout Union and Essex counties.
How to Support Brake The Psychol
Sponsor a Mile: Reach Back
Individuals, families, and businesses can sponsor a mile of the Dec. 17 ride from Montego Bay to Negril, Jamaica. Supporters can sponsor a mile in someone’s name, in honor of a loved one or on behalf of a business. Sponsor a mile here.
Make a Donation: Help Us Break Cycles
Support the foundation with a one-time or monthly gift. Give what you can. Give once or monthly here.
Become a Partner
Schools, businesses, foundations, and community organizations invested in youth development, mentorship, fatherhood, and wellness can partner with the foundation. Learn more at brakethepsychol.com.
100 Founders is a West Ward Beans series built on a simple idea: for every problem in the world, someone is trying to solve it. The series highlights founders, entrepreneurs, and community builders doing that work, and connects their initiatives with the relationships, resources, and opportunities that help them grow.
