I’ve always loved the human mind. I love how it can be so beautiful, expansive, and powerful, yet I’m captivated by its simultaneously ugly, limited, and fragile nature. But that is where the problem settles like a dense fog over our eyes. As a society, we’ve become so engrossed with everything wrong and broken in the world around us, that we just wallow in our ‘impending doom’ and try to shove anything undesirable in a small box and tuck it away; rather than addressing the issue and solving the problem in a way that allows for learning, progression, and growth. This problem, to me, is most evident in the American policing and justice system. With the assistance of social media, more and more light is being shed on the necessity for an understanding of mental health in law enforcement, with recent cases such as the Sonya Massey case, the Yong Yang case, the case with the Wayne officer shooting and killing a man holding a butterknife, and (unfortunately) too many other cases like these. Such mental health cases disproportionately impact minority communities in America, in both how police confront them and the ‘help’ they receive in and out of prison. To truly tackle this concern two things have to be implemented: (i) training police officers how to identify/address civilians with mental health conditions or experiencing a mental episode, and if those situations escalate how to use resources to diffuse the situation without killing anyone, and (ii) providing inmates, whether they enter with a diagnosis or not, with a space to aid in giving them understanding and control of their minds before being released, and building a system were that support is continued beyond prison walls. I want to help design such a system. I want to help people regain control of their minds and their lives.