Espere Community Counseling Center was co-founded by Erika Childs Charles, Keely Brookes, and a committed team of Haitian mental health workers. Erika and Keely both originally came to Haiti with the plan to teach one semester at a local school as visiting Psychology professors. They quickly saw how passionate their students were about mental health, and that there were virtually no opportunities for their students to practice what they were learning. Professors and students both saw that mental health services could have a major positive impact in the communities where they lived and worked. Erika and Keely cancelled their return tickets home, sent out the call, and friends and family from around the world contributed to the initial campaign that gave Espere the start-up funding to open its doors in August 2014.