Using Lived Experience to Empower Youth and Families in Crisis

And we used our past to build our future. We used our lived experience to direct our future. And so that is what we are all about, our experiences. And we have no shame and guilt, like, expressing it, being honest, being vulnerable, because there is a lot of individuals in the community, it is hard for them to express that. Absolutely. But that is the foundation of our organization. which is credible messengers, individuals with lived experience, our same shared lived experience, the cultural proficiency, the being able to connect, de-escalating violence, being able to connect with parents because we have similar backgrounds as the parents that we're serving. So now we're serving youth individuals and families that have been impacted through the justice system through a lived experience lens. That's our core. That's what we concentrate. And so we work with the juvenile justice population, kids in juvenile hall. We have mentors that go in there and facilitate healing circles.