Founded by a graduate student, our mission is to help support fellow graduate students by helping offset the cost of mental health resources for those students facing financial insecurities, because no student should have to take away their smile for lack of access.

While personally looking for my own therapist, I experienced the quiet reality that many graduate students face. That is knowing I needed mental health support, but being unable to afford it. That experience became the foundation of this nonprofit. Our “why” is simple: to help remove financial barriers to mental health care so graduate students never have to lose their smile due to not being able to afford therapy.

Meet Brookelyn Towe, the founder and director of “Deserves to Smile”. She is from a small town in southeast Indiana. Brookelyn is currently a graduate student at Mount Saint Joesph University for her Doctorate of Physical Therapy. She currently serves as a director for “Iron Core: Adaptive Strength and Conditioning”, the Student Physical Therapy Association Activities Coordinator, MSJ DPT Admission’s Committee Member, Adaptive Sports Class of 2027 Liaison, Mentor Coordinator, and a Pro-Bono Board Member. Prior to graduate school, Brookelyn attended the University of Cincinnati where she obtained her bachelors in Health-Sciences: Pre-Physical Therapy, a minor in Nutrition, and a certificate in Developmental Disabilities and Interprofessional Healthcare Education. After graduate school, she hopes to continue her work serving children with disabilities through her work as a physical therapist.