Staff and alumni in helmets hanging out — WHO WE ARE

THOSE WHO HAVE LIVED IT ARE LEADING IT.

“But a role model in the flesh provides more than inspiration; his or her very existence is confirmation of possibilities one may have every reason to doubt, saying, ‘Yes! Someone like me can do this!’”

— Sonia Sotomayor

Project Avary is dedicated to building leadership from within…

And we do this by surrounding children with a community of belonging where they feel safe enough to begin healing and where they are supported by other children and adult counselors who have a similar life experience as they do.

Within this community, they build strong relationships and share openly about how their experience has impacted their lives. As they grow through the program, we empower the youth with essential life and leadership skills, and then give them opportunities to put these skills into action through our Junior Counselor Program where they earn paid work experience and can one day become Senior Counselors.

We refer to this process as cycles of full-circle healing: youth who have gone through an experience and found healing, pass on that care and healing to the next generation of children. Each year, the circle gets larger and more and more youth step into leadership roles that will create and empower leaders of the next generation.

Learn more about our impact and "full-circle healing" therapeutic model here