WELCOME TO THE FREEDOM COLLECTIVE
The story behind the waves.
Freedom Collective Therapy is deeply connected to the life and legacy of John Frank Mclaurin, the grandfather of our founder, Shahem Mclaurin.
John Frank loved the water.
Fishing was one of the places where he seemed most at home. There was something about being near the water, sitting with its movement, its unpredictability, and its calm that reflected so much of who he was. That connection is part of why the ocean became central to the visual identity of Freedom Collective Therapy.
Our waves are more than a logo.
They are a reminder that emotions move much like water. They rise. They settle. They return. Sometimes they arrive gently, and sometimes they overwhelm us. Healing does not require us to stop the waves. It asks us to learn how to understand them, move with them, and trust that no single emotional state lasts forever.
That philosophy is deeply connected to the way John Frank lived. His home was often a gathering place. People came to his porch to talk, seek advice, share what they were carrying, and simply be around other people. What might now be called community care happened there naturally. There were unofficial meetings, conversations that became support sessions, meals shared with people who needed them, and moments when someone left with a resource, a connection, or simply the feeling that somebody cared.
He was a gospel singer. A father. A grandfather. A neighbor. A friend. He was someone who gave. He fed people. He helped connect people to resources. He looked after children in the neighborhood. He opened his home. He made room.
And he was also deeply human. His legacy is meaningful to us not because he was perfect, but because he demonstrated what it can look like to participate in the lives of other people. To notice when someone needs something. To offer what you have. To listen. To gather. To build community not as an abstract idea, but through repeated acts of care.
That spirit sits at the center of Freedom Collective Therapy. We believe healing can happen in the therapy room, but we also believe people heal through relationships, community, access, belonging, and being reminded that they do not have to navigate everything alone.
Our work is rooted in the belief that mental health care should extend beyond helping people survive difficult experiences. It should help people build lives with greater freedom, connection, agency, and possibility.
John Frank understood, long before this practice existed, that sometimes care looks like opening your door.
Sometimes it looks like feeding someone. Sometimes it looks like sitting on the porch and listening. Sometimes it looks like helping someone find what they need. And sometimes it simply looks like making space.
Freedom Collective Therapy is our attempt to continue making that space. The waves in our logo carry that story with us: a reflection of the water John Frank loved, the emotional lives we help people navigate, and the understanding that both people and communities are always moving, changing, and becoming.
