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About Us

We are narrative systems designers who believe in healing futures now.

At HBAM, we turn story into structure—designing the frameworks, tools, and training that help communities, institutions, and economies heal, grow, and thrive.

We don’t just tell stories. We build new systems co-created by those most impacted by the current ones, with one goal: moving toward a healing-centered economy.

Our Process

At the heart of Narrative Systems Design is a four-phase process that turns lived experience into systems transformation. Grounded in story and built to evolve, this methodology helps us move from naming harm to building futures that heal.

Each phase of the framework—Inquire, Imagine, Activate, Recalibrate—guides institutions, coalitions, and communities through a transformative cycle of deep listening, bold visioning, strategic implementation, and ongoing care.

Phase 1

what we can name, we can change.

INQUIRE

Transformation begins with naming. In this phase, we create space for people and communities to tell the truth about what’s been hidden, denied, or normalized. Through story, we uncover the patterns and systems that uphold harm—and begin the process of making them visible. This work lays the foundation for any lasting change by turning memory into insight, and lived experience into evidence.

Phase 2

WHAT WE CAN MEASURE, WE CAN MANAGE.

IMAGINE

Once harm is named, we ask what could be. This phase invites bold imagination rooted in justice—not just survival. We begin to envision new ways of being, designing the tools, structures, and systems that could hold those futures. It’s where creative strategy meets implementation planning, and where story begins to shape what’s possible.

Phase 3

WHAT WE CAN FEEL, WE CAN HEAL.

ACTIVATE

This is where design meets reality. We test what we’ve imagined, working side by side with communities to bring new strategies to life. As we pilot and implement, we listen closely to what emerges—paying attention not just to metrics, but to emotion, trust, and power. If change is real, people should feel it—and believe in it.

Phase 4

WHAT WE SUSTAIN, SUSTAINS US.

RECALIBRATE

Change isn’t a destination—it’s a discipline. In this final phase, we evaluate what’s working, what needs care, and what new stories are calling us forward. We use narrative not just to reflect but to refine, ensuring the system remains responsive, accountable, and alive. No system will be perfect, but if we keep listening, we can shape how it evolves and guarantee it meets the needs of those who co-created it. 

Our Leadership

At HBAM,  we are guided by a diverse and dedicated team with a wealth of experience, knowledge, and a shared passion of healing the world, one community at a time.

Core Team

4

Keith F. Miller, Jr.

CEO/Founder

Vashti Johnson

Special Assistant to CEO

Asli Shebe-Tindi

Communications Manager

Inés Rodriguez

Project Manager

Daphne C. Watkins, Ph.D.

Co-Chair, Research Advisory Board

Antonio P. Gutierrez de Blume, Ph.D.

Co-Chair, Research Advisory Board

Advisory Board

image 2

Keith F. Miller

CEO/Founder

Madelyn Geidt

Chief Executive

Kaiya Baptista

Chief Executive

Marley Saris

Chief Executive

Marley Saris

Chief Executive

Marley Saris

Chief Executive

A Movement Built to Heal

HBAM isn’t just an organization. It’s a living ecosystem for transformation—where story becomes infrastructure, healing becomes strategy, and people become the blueprint. Whether you’re a researcher, funder, student, policymaker, or community leader, there’s a place for you here. Together, we’re not just imagining better futures. We’re building them.

Join the Movement

Healing By Any Means (HBAM) is the home of Narrative Systems Design—a new field where story becomes infrastructure, healing becomes measurable, and care becomes an engine for economic and systemic transformation.

Through our six initiatives—StoryBank™, LitCanon™, LitIndex™, HEALIT™, the Healing Literary Futures Network (HLFN), and the NSD Impact Studio—we build tools, train leaders, and generate real-time insight to design more just, imaginative, and healing-centered futures.

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The Healing Literacy Framework

In 2019, Keith F. Miller, Jr., observed something remarkable while running creative writing after school programs in Savannah, GA: Students from all backgrounds didn’t just step outside their comfort zones—they learned, led, and thrived with unmistakable joy. Despite this, Keith heard from students and families that school, even for the high-achievers, was a place they survived, not thrived. This led Keith, through his studies in Educational Psychology, to explore why young people felt empowered to learn, lead, and heal in some spaces but not in others.

Through a qualitative research study involving interviews with high schoolers, fellow teaching artists over a year, in addition to examining creative works from youth journals and performances, Keith found that when young people engage in arts-based healing practices with trusted others (peers and adults), they don’t just cope with their struggles—they transform them, becoming vibrant leaders in the process.

Drawing inspiration from the process of rainbow formation—reflection, refraction, and dispersion—and building off of groundbreaking research from scholars like David Kirkland, Gholdy Muhammad, Bettina Love, Bianca Baldridge, and Shawn Ginwright, Keith developed the Healing Literacy Framework, illustrating how arts-based, community programs are vital in supporting young people as they overcome educational trauma, and, in doing so, can result in transformative partnerships in school and beyond that prove healing is possible for everyone.

Enter, HEALIT

In 2019, Keith F. Miller, Jr., observed something remarkable while running creative writing after school programs in Savannah, GA: Students from all backgrounds didn’t just step outside their comfort zones—they learned, led, and thrived with unmistakable joy. Despite this, Keith heard from students and families that school, even for the high-achievers, was a place they survived, not thrived. This led Keith, through his studies in Educational Psychology, to explore why young people felt empowered to learn, lead, and heal in some spaces but not in others.

Through a qualitative research study involving interviews with high schoolers, fellow teaching artists over a year, in addition to examining creative works from youth journals and performances, Keith found that when young people engage in arts-based healing practices with trusted others (peers and adults), they don’t just cope with their struggles—they transform them, becoming vibrant leaders in the process.

Drawing inspiration from the process of rainbow formation—reflection, refraction, and dispersion—and building off of groundbreaking research from scholars like David Kirkland, Gholdy Muhammad, Bettina Love, Bianca Baldridge, and Shawn Ginwright, Keith developed the Healing Literacy Framework, illustrating how arts-based, community programs are vital in supporting young people as they overcome educational trauma, and, in doing so, can result in transformative partnerships in school and beyond that prove healing is possible for everyone.