We recently connected with Adela Hittell and have shared our conversation below.
Adela , we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
My resilience comes from survival. I have survived the worst of the worst of a human being and the experience and yet I have also seen and experienced the best of humanity.
I was a prisoner of war at five, refugee and an immigrant by the time I was eleven. I am thirty eight now and everything else in-between has been a lead up to the one thing that has given me the courage and shield of resiliency: GOD.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’m Adela Hittell, founder of Project Human Inc. (PHInc.), a Jacksonville-based nonprofit built on a simple conviction: humans are worth the effort. We exist to bridge the gaps in mental and emotional health so people can learn, connect, and leave with next steps. PHInc is peer-to-peer and dignity-first—we don’t replace professional care; we walk with people until help feels close, clear, and usable.
What we do lives inside three pillars—Advocate, Educate, Inform.
• Advocate: We amplify human stories, reduce stigma, and stand alongside people as they navigate care, benefits, and barriers.
• Educate: We deliver practical skills through workshops, community forums, and school sessions—teaching language for feelings, safety planning, and the everyday tools of resilience.
• Inform: We map local and national resources, create plain-language guides, and make warm referrals so someone’s “I need help” becomes “I have help.”
People sometimes ask how PHInc began. The truth is, it started with my own fight for identity and survival—what I call the “decision,” not the choice. Decisions build foundations. Every day I choose to believe that we can build a culture where asking for help is normal, resources are navigable, and creative expression is respected as part of healing. Jacksonville has taught me that when a community unites—artists, advocates, businesses, neighbors—we can move the needle from stigma to support.
Our core programs are hands-on: Y.E.P. (Youth Empowerment Program) uses art, film, and music to help young people build voice and healthy expression; B.N.O. (Building New Opportunities) is a structured, 6–8 week pathway from crisis to stability for adults; and G.A.P. (Growth & Advancement Program) offers real-world skills, shadowing, and work readiness. The heartbeat of all of it is community—Monthly Community Conversations, quarterly mental-health days, and partnerships with libraries, schools, and local organizations so access is public, practical, and kind.
What’s special about PHInc. is the way we braid creative expression into mental-health education. Creativity is not a side project; it’s a lifeline.
Our Artist Within Podcast celebrates the many forms of art—music, film, photography, fashion, writing—and how they help us process truth and reclaim identity.
Our community-made documentary, Define the Narrative, began with one interview and grew into $200K+ of in-kind support from teams and local businesses. It explores survival, rebirth, and the power of a city to help a person become whole. We premiered a new teaser and launched crowdfunding to bring the story to film festivals in 2025–2026 and, ultimately, to communities that need it most.
We also use fashion as advocacy. The Certified Nuisance Collection reclaims “nuisance” as a badge of principled persistence—commitment, discipline, and the courage to keep showing up for yourself and others. This fall we’re building toward Runway to Resilience, a fundraising fashion event inviting designers, models, and makers to turn the runway into a conversation about hope.
For me, clothing and cameras are tools: they let people see themselves with dignity and possibility.
What’s new right now:
• Relaunching Quarterly Mental Health Days (QMHD)—free, nonpartisan, resource-forward forums hosted with the public library so anyone can walk in and leave with concrete next steps.
• Documentary crowdfunding + teaser release—to underwrite festival submissions, a private summit screening, and community showings.
• Volunteer and partner expansion—we’re inviting educators, clinicians, artists, organizers, and sponsors to help scale Y.E.P., B.N.O., and G.A.P.
• Merch drops that fund access—Certified Nuisance™ releases that make advocacy wearable and help underwrite program seats.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Love this question. Here are the three that changed everything for me—and how to build them overtime, one step, one action at a time.
1) Radical Honesty & Self-Advocacy (the “decision” muscle)
Why it mattered:
PHInc. began when I stopped outsourcing my worth and made a decision—not a wish—to show up for my life. Radical honesty gave me clear boundaries, language for my needs, and the courage to ask for help without apology. That integrity of being is what I teach our community: advocate for yourself first, so you can advocate for others sustainably.
2) Translating Systems into Steps (resource navigation + operations)
Why it mattered:
People don’t need more jargon; they need a map. My job became turning healthcare, benefits, and community services into plain-language checklists, warm referrals, and follow-through. That systems literacy turned compassion into results. Humans like to see presentations and systems can be so overwhelming, we simplify.
3) Creative Courage & Collaborative Storytelling
Why it mattered: Art—fashion, film, photography, language—gave people a mirror and a microphone. It turned survival into narrative and narrative into movement. Define the Narrative and Certified Nuisance worked because we invited community to co-create with ethics, consent, and excellence.
My advice if you’re early in the journey:
1. Pick a practice, not a finish line. Your routine is your resilience.
2. Measure what matters: people reached, referrals completed, return calls made—human metrics.
3. Find your three: one mentor, one peer, one beginner you pour into. Teaching locks in learning.
4. Choose decisions over vibes. Schedule the call. Send the deck. Ship the draft. Repeat.
REMEMBER… SOMETHING IS BETTER THAN NOTHING. One step, one action equals one result!
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
IMPROVE WHAT YOU ARE NOT STRONG IN! Look at what I have accomplished, I was not strong in anything other than survival, and now I create because I looked at my weak points in every aspect of my life and strengthened it. THE TEMPLE, your body and being must be strong in all aspects in order for truth to reside.
My whole life, I have been told one thing or another, believed someone elses narrative without ever conisdering mine. When you consider your own self, the truth maybe you are not what you see or feel you could be or what they say, but ultimatley you must decide you are worth every action of effort to build something you never knew or had. Look at the humans around for examples and mentor and WRITE YOUR OWN STORY!
I am on this journey of Project Human and I am the HUMAN project that has taken eight years to build, and I am still on the foundation. I am thirty eight and have thirty years of debris to clean up and find the good. It takes time. You take time. TRUST THE PROCESS and know you are worth the effort!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.phinc-ing.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phinc_newwaytothink/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projecthumaninc
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/project-human-inc
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ProjectHumanIncPHInc
Image Credits
@PHInc.
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
