Empowering Teens To Live After Gun Violence

GLAMM Therapy has reached over 8,000 people through awareness campaigns about the leading cause of death among black male teens ages 14–34 and its trauma effects on individuals, peers, and families in US inner-cities.   In 2019, after the pandemic paused in-person activities, we shifted our focus to teens ages 14–17—a critical window where healing, community, identity, and career development must be nurtured.  This bold shift in approach has already gained attention—WFAA Channel 8, the syndicated radio station K104 FM, and features in Voyage, Canvas Rebel, and Siti Girl Tennessee Magazine have all helped amplify our message. And we continue to carry this solution-focused message to audiences nationwide.  

In 2013, Lorraine Kingcannon & Teandre Hamilton, with the support of their mother and siblings, co-founded Hip Hop Glamm d/b/a GLAMM Therapy in memory of Tracy Kingcannon who was unalived by gun violence. Their mission first took root in Dallas' hip hop community, where young adults ages 18-34, J Kruz of 97.9 the Beat, OTC, NARD, and Zimtek Studios embraced the movement.  Through music showcases, Hip Hop Glamm d/b/a GLAMM Therapy created spaces of unity, healing, and consciousness, and in more than 5 years of events, not one act of violence occurred.  

 After taking a hit during COVID-19, we came back stronger. In just over one year, we’ve engaged 400 teens with our community-healing-identity-career development model. Out of those, 31 have powerful success stories—that’s an 8% success rate, nearly double or even triple what many youth violence prevention, mental health, and mentoring programs report (often just 2–5%).    Even more inspiring, over half of these teens have graduated high school between 2023 and 2025 and remain actively involved with GLAMM Therapy today. That means they’re not just surviving—they’re thriving, healing, and building futures worth fighting for by using our pillars of guidance, love, art, music, and movement.