the mission:
Our mission is to create a safe space for people struggling with substance use, mental health, and grief. This is also a place for those who are watching loved ones and friends struggle as well as those who want to get more involved and learn about the community of people fighting these issues.
A Place To Feel Safe provides stories about the everyday people dealing with substance use, mental health, and grief in order to bring light to the taboo issues that are not talked about, shown enough, or given the attention it deserves in the public eye. We also provide resources to those seeking help and information surrounding these issues.
the goal:
Our goal is to create a community and network for people to feel safe and open to sharing their vulnerabilities and to raise awareness surrounding these everyday battles.
my story:
I am a photographer, filmmaker, and journalist exploring social, cultural and political conditions that impact people. It is my mission to bring awareness to the vital issues affecting people. I am driven by the belief that a more diverse community overall means more strength, understanding and knowledge about one another.
In 2015, I lost my father to a drug overdose. He was a doctor, an anesthesiologist who worked for over 30 years in his field and he also struggled on and off with substance use for most of his adult life. While he was still alive I didn’t understand addiction. I thought it was a choice but after his death I started to do my own research. I learned that addiction is not a choice but a disease. Since his death I’ve been doing work surrounding mental health and addiction, educating people about this disease by sharing my family story.
In 2017 I started a documentary photo project entitled The Cost of Being Free which highlights my brother Justin’s story with substance use. In 2020 I decided to share my own journey of understanding addiction as a disease by making a documentary film called, The Silent Disease, which highlights my dad’s story as well as my two brother’s Justin and Alex. In December of 2020, my brother Alex sadly fell victim to this disease and passed away from an overdose. Now, I am continuing to do everything I can to bring awareness to this epidemic by sharing these stories.