Hi, I'm Hannah.

 

I became a therapist because I wanted to help people heal.

The deeper I got into the work, the more I saw the cracks — not in the people, but in the system itself. Therapy, as we know it, is often a privilege and a box people are thrown into, where stigmas can become the central theme of identity.

 

I realized that what I learned in grad school, I should have been taught in elementary school.

 

Because the truth is, most people don’t need to be "fixed" — they just need to be heard, accepted, and loved. They need spaces where they can tell their story, be understood, and know they’re not alone.

 

Education and healing should be a right, not a privilege — because education is freedom, and healing doesn’t happen in a box. It happens through connection.

 

But connection requires understanding. And understanding starts with listening.

 

You can have all the statistics in the world that prove how broken our systems are, but stats don’t change people. Stories do. When you truly hear someone’s story, you don’t just understand it — you feel it. And once you feel it, you can’t ignore it. That’s compassion.

 

Then 2 years ago my life was flipped upside down.

 

I was wrongfully arrested and was facing up to 30 years in prison for a crime I didn’t commit — until I was proven innocent. That experience changed everything. It showed me firsthand how deeply flawed and inhumane the American legal system is.

 

Here’s a reality check: 1 in 4 incarcerated people in the world are locked up in the United States, yet the U.S. makes up only 5% of the world’s population.

 

Let that sink in.

The fact that people struggle to comprehend — to truly feel — the weight of that statistic is exactly why this project exists.

 

Because numbers alone don’t create change. Stories do.

 

So I took a camera out and started doing street interviews, connecting with people from all walks of life across the United States. I listened to their stories, their pain, their wisdom. What started as a desperate attempt to reform the therapy and criminal legal system evolved into the Community as Therapy mission:

 

To see through the labels and statistics and into the truth. That behind every statistic is a human being. A story. A life that matters. That we are all one. 

 

To give a voice back to the voiceless. To remind people of our shared humanity. To create spaces where people can tell their stories, listen to each other, heal, and find community.

 

And to remind you:

 

You are not alone.

Your life matters.

Your voice matters.

You are loved.

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