Chicago’s Sip of Hope – a cafe where it’s OK not to be OK

Prompted by the suicide rate in the United States, a coffee shop in Chicago is trying to reach out to those struggling with mental health issues.

In the American Midwest, there’s a coffee shop unlike any other, with the caffeine comes advice and, for many, hope.

Sip of Hope is the world’s first mental health cafe, where every cent of proceeds from every cup goes to suicide prevention and mental health education and information on mental health centres lines the entryway and is available from the baristas, as well.

It’s run by Hope For The Day, the mental health nonprofit Jonny Boucher founded after a close friend leapt from a fifth-storey balcony. He wants the cafe to be a place for conversations on mental health – conversations that he feels are often neglected in the US.

Al Jazeera’s John Hendren reports from Chicago.