PILLARS

AKI is a women-led organization that provides intensive case management while creating a safe haven for female-identifying youth and young women ages 13 to 18.

As you might guess, this is not work for the faint of heart. Yet nothing worth doing ever is. And this is why it’s so important we center our work around four pillars that uphold our structural integrity; both as an organization and as humans. Each pillar is entrenched in a trauma-informed, relational model of care and provides the necessary scaffolding for healthy teen development and ultimately, independence.

This is our heart’s work.

PHYSICAL & EMOTIONAL HEALTH

We nurture a greater degree of health and wellness for our teens through:

  • Establishing a baseline of physical, behavioral and reproductive health.

  • Offering healthy food and providing balanced nutrition.

  • Encouraging a wide range of physical activities; from yoga and hiking to weight training and cycling.

  • Prioritizing growth opportunities in our homes and out in the community.

RELATIONAL HEALTH

We sit with our youth and pair them with partners who will help them build strong interpersonal and community relations through:

  • Skill-building to find new coping strategies and untread communication pathways.

  • Facilitating individual and group sessions with respect to each teen’s needs.

  • Linking peer mentors to our youth and their families.

FUTURE ORIENTED DECISION-MAKING

We work side-by-side with our teens to build up independent living readiness through:

  • Providing hands-on education in personal finance, with access to a wealth of financial management resources.

  • Customizing educational ambitions for each youth; from school engagement and completion or GED to post-secondary education.

  • Promoting vocational development via workplace tours, internships, job applications, resumes and interviews.

PERSONAL INTERESTS & RECREATION

We identify ways to seed new interests and cultivate future passions through:

  • Encouraging a wide range of enrichment activities, like outdoor recreation, cooking, arts and even design.

  • Engaging families in these activities to expand definitions of “family fun” and support explorations in family dynamics.

  • Turning to our peers to reinforce and nourish our teens’ personal interests, both in residence and upon transition.