Free Hope Booth brings mental health resources to downtown OKC

A reimagined telephone booth in downtown Oklahoma City offers free mental health support to anyone who steps inside.

The Hope Booth, installed in the Yellow Hall of the Underground near Broadway and Robert S. Kerr Avenue, guides users through breathing exercises, delivers messages of encouragement in English and Spanish, and connects them with local resources within a five-mile radius. The nonprofit behind the booth held a ribbon-cutting on Friday, April 17, to mark the launch.

The booth is drawing renewed attention during Suicide Prevention Month in September.

Gloria Umanah, founder and CEO of the Hope Booth nonprofit, said the kiosk is built to remove barriers. At the April ribbon-cutting, as KOCO reported, Umanah described the goal: "A lot of times when people are struggling, they don't even know the resources that exist, and so our goal is how do we eliminate the mental striving and the mental work of what other resources are in the community."

The experience starts with a sliding scale. Users rate their level of hope from one to five. The booth then offers guided breathing and messages written by a team of social workers and a science board. Directional sound technology keeps the audio private without headphones.

No appointment is needed.

Users can browse 20 categories and subcategories of support, including therapy providers, shelters, food banks, financial services and immigration services.

How it got here

Oklahoma City-based Simple Modern funded the installation as part of the company's commitment to donating at least 10 percent of its annual profits to nonprofits. Mike Beckham, Simple Modern's founder and CEO, said in a VelocityOKC article published Friday, Sept. 18, that the company is proud to partner with an organization making mental health support more visible and accessible in everyday places.

Simple Modern approached Downtown Oklahoma City Partnership about finding a publicly accessible location. The Underground, a pedestrian tunnel system used daily by downtown employees and visitors, was chosen for its foot traffic.

Visiting the booth

The Hope Booth is free and open during the Underground's regular hours: Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Umanah, a first-generation Nigerian American and spoken-word artist, founded the nonprofit in 2021 after her own experience with a mental health crisis. The first prototype was installed at a London art expo that year. Booths have since been placed in Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, South Korea and Uvalde, Texas.

The Atlanta location at Ponce City Market had drawn more than 136,000 users since 2024, according to Atlanta Magazine in May 2026. The booth in the Underground is the first Hope Booth in Oklahoma City.