“You Deserve to Heal”: Therapist Shay on the Power and Purpose of Free Therapy at ARC
An Interview with ARC Communications Intern, Clarissa Gutierrez
In a small office tucked inside the Anti-Recidivism Coalition’s Hope and Redemption Center, the work of healing is happening every day — quietly, intentionally, and without judgment. For many ARC members, therapy is one of the first chances they’ve had to pause and reflect on their pasts, their pain, and who they want to become.
Shay is one of the full-time therapists helping to create that space. On any given day, you might find her chatting with someone in the kitchen, attending a member-led event, or helping a staff member decompress after a hard week. She’s part of ARC’s community — and that’s by design.
Clarissa, an ARC member and now Communications Intern on staff, recently sat down with Shay for a candid conversation about why therapy matters, what ARC’s clinical department does differently, and what healing looks like when people are finally given the chance to explore it.
A Calling Born in Community
Shay’s decision to become a therapist didn’t begin with textbooks or degrees — it started at home.
“I grew up helping out at different clinics — it was just part of my life,” she said. “My dad worked with folks who were homeless or undocumented. My mom is a therapist. And I was always the person people went to for things. And I thought, maybe I could actually do something with that. Maybe I could turn it into something bigger, something that helps more people beyond just my immediate circle.”
That sense of purpose — helping people access what they need to heal — is what led Shay to ARC. It’s also what keeps her grounded in work that can be emotionally demanding.
“Being part of a place like this, where therapy isn’t just something you offer but something you live out in community — that’s rare,” she said.
What the Clinical Team Does
ARC’s clinical department provides individual therapy, group sessions, and occasionally couples counseling to its members — all at no cost. What makes the program so distinctive isn’t just that it’s free, but that it’s embedded directly into ARC’s daily ecosystem.
“We don’t bill insurance. We don’t require a diagnosis,” Shay said. “It’s just us and our people here. That means we can meet people where they are, without all the barriers that normally stop folks from getting help.”
For members who are already visiting ARC for life coaching, housing support, or leadership development, therapy is just down the hall — not months away behind layers of paperwork.
“We try to remove every excuse someone might have not to go to therapy,” Shay said. “If that means staying late, shifting hours, or catching someone in a moment where they’re finally ready to talk, we do it. And because we’re around, members see us as part of their world — not some outsider brought in to analyze them.”
The model is designed to build trust, something Shay knows is not automatic — especially in a community where many have been let down by systems claiming to help.
“As a white therapist working in a largely Black and brown community, I know I might have to do more to earn that trust,” she said. “And I’m here for that. That’s part of the work.”
Why Therapy Matters Here
The need for mental health care in the reentry community is deep and often unmet. Many ARC members have experienced trauma at multiple points in their lives — childhood, street violence, incarceration — and have never had the opportunity to speak about it, let alone begin healing.
“People have a lot of trauma — from childhood, from the streets, from prison,” Shay said. “And a lot of folks come through who have never had the opportunity to speak about certain things they’ve experienced. That kind of unprocessed trauma just stays in you, and it shows up in your life whether you realize it or not.”
But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to walk into therapy. In many communities, therapy is still stigmatized or seen as something “not for us.”
“A lot of people cringe at the thought of talking to a stranger about their feelings,” Shay said. “But then maybe they see me around ARC, they realize I’m not judging them, and something opens up.”
She told Clarissa about one such moment. “Sometimes I’ll just be getting a cup of coffee in the kitchen and someone will say, ‘Wait, you’re a therapist? I thought therapists were like… whatever.’ And I’m like, yeah — I’m just a normal person.”
That moment — when a member realizes therapy doesn’t have to be cold, clinical, or intimidating — is often the beginning of a real shift.
The Program Is Growing — and So Is the Impact
ARC’s clinical services have steadily expanded as more members begin to embrace mental health care. The stigma is still there, but it’s cracking open — and Shay sees that as a sign of real progress.
“We have more people in therapy now at ARC than we ever have,” she said. Shay emphasized that therapy at ARC is not about labeling people or forcing a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s about offering a space for members to work through what’s holding them back — on their terms.
“There’s no pressure to show up in a certain way. If therapy isn’t the right fit right now, that’s okay,” she said. “But there’s also peer support, group spaces, just being around people who care. All of that is healing too.”
What Healing Really Looks Like
When asked what success looks like for a therapist in a reentry organization, Shay didn’t talk about diagnoses or treatment plans. She talked about freedom.
“The goal is to get to a point where people are not held back in the lives they want to live and the people they want to be by whatever they might be struggling with in terms of their mental health,” she said. “It’s about helping them find freedom — not just out here, but inside themselves.”
That may look different for every person. For some, it’s managing anxiety or PTSD. For others, it’s learning how to trust again, how to rebuild family relationships, or how to stop reacting out of survival mode.
“Sometimes the work is just helping someone name what they’re feeling,” Shea said. “Other times it’s helping them build a support system so they don’t have to do everything alone.”
Clarissa nodded. “You’ve done that for me,” she said during the interview. “Even when I didn’t realize I needed therapy, you were just there — showing up. That changed a lot for me.”
A Message to Anyone on the Fence
At the end of their conversation, Clarissa asked what Shay would say to someone in the ARC community who’s still unsure about therapy — someone who maybe tried it once and didn’t connect with their therapist, or someone who’s afraid to start.
“Not everyone is for everyone,” Shay said. “Learning what works for you is just as important as learning what doesn’t. If you try therapy and it doesn’t feel right, that doesn’t mean you failed — it just means you’re still figuring out what kind of support works best for you.”
And when it comes to healing, Shay believes the most important thing is simply staying open to the possibility that you deserve it.
“You deserve to heal,” she said. “You deserve to feel okay. And whatever it takes to get there — therapy, community, peer support — we’re here to walk with you through it.”
