Haskell healthcare architect Kristen Argalas is partnering with United Way of Northeast Florida, The Center of Hope, NAMI Jacksonville and Jacksonville’s 988 Steering Committee to bring a unique mental health resource to public spaces.

The SPOT is a community initiative that places benches with trained listeners and volunteers in public spaces where people can stop, sit and talk. The intention is to create an accessible point of connection for people experiencing loneliness or isolation and provide them with additional support when needed.

The project connects nearly two decades in architecture, including 10 years specializing in healthcare, with a personal experience that changed how Argalas thought about isolation, connection and the role communities can play in supporting well-being.

Argalas began her career working across hospitality, commercial offices and other building sectors. She enjoyed the work but wanted a more direct connection between what she designed and the people it served.

“I wanted to do work that made a difference in people’s lives,” Argalas said. “Healthcare architecture gave me a way to help shape the places where care happens and where design can directly affect people and communities they serve.”

That interest led her to specialize in healthcare architecture and later develop a particular focus on mental and behavioral health design.

Her understanding of connection and care also became personal during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which Argalas lost both her father and her sister. With many of the usual opportunities for community disrupted, she found herself navigating grief without the support network she needed.

“I felt incredibly alone,” she said. “It made me realize that if I was experiencing that kind of isolation, many other people were, too.”

The experience raised a question closely aligned with her work in healthcare design: If connection is part of healing, how can communities make it easier for people to find it before they reach a crisis?

That question became the catalyst for the SPOT.

Argalas began thinking beyond buildings as places of care and considering how existing community spaces could create simple, accessible opportunities for conversation. The idea was to provide places where people could feel heard while connecting with additional support when needed.

The SPOT draws inspiration from Friendship Bench in Zimbabwe, an evidence-based community mental health model developed by psychiatrist Dr. Dixon Chibanda. Friendship Bench trains lay community health workers to provide structured, problem-solving support in accessible community settings.

In Jacksonville, the SPOT adapts that idea through partnerships with local organizations and familiar community spaces. Its first bench is planned for Emmett Reed Community Center in the fall of 2026, followed by a second at Robert F. Kennedy Community Center in the spring of 2027.

Rather than construct a new facility, The SPOT uses existing community spaces to make opportunities for connection more visible and accessible. The approach puts support within places people already know and use.

As The SPOT moves toward its first launch, interest in expanding the concept is already growing. Healthcare organizations have expressed interest in supporting future locations, while community groups and churches are exploring opportunities to extend its reach across Jacksonville.

“It’ll all come down to whether people use them,” Argalas said. “We can’t measure success simply by how many benches we install. The design needs to complement the programming to help people feel heard, connected and supported.”

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