About Us
1 in 2 people will experience at least one traumatic event in their lifetime.
The effects of trauma can extend far beyond an experience itself, shaping a person’s life, relationships, and sense of well-being for years to come. For survivors of childhood trauma, these experiences can be particularly profound, as they occur during critical stages of development and shape the way they come to understand themselves and the world around them.
Starts With Youth is a Canadian grassroots community organization dedicated to making diverse resources and support more accessible to survivors of childhood trauma and those who support them. Through our post-secondary Chapters Program, we also empower young adults to raise awareness about childhood trauma and help foster kinder, safer, and more trauma-informed campus communities.
Our Mission
At Starts With Youth, we recognize that navigating the road to healing can often be difficult and daunting. We embrace the philosophy that the most important step in a trauma survivor’s healing journey is starting somewhere, and we strive to encourage and support this first step through resource access, educational initiatives and community building.
Our mission at Starts With Youth is to:
Improve resource accessibility, so that survivors and their supports can more easily access resources that are responsive to their unique needs. We particularly work to include resources that cater to a variety of different identities, as well as resources of a variety of different forms, ranging from counselling services to survivor memoirs.
Foster a more trauma-informed community that is aware and sensitive to the realities of trauma. Through general educational initiatives, as well as our Chapters awareness-building mandate, we aim to increase conversations about the effects of childhood trauma.
Encourage and support earlier intervention amongst trauma survivors who are young adults, with the goal of reducing incidences of re-victimization and intergenerational cycles of violence
Our Values
Awareness
Talking about childhood trauma is the first step towards change
Education
When we know more, we are better able to support ourselves and others
Empathy
Trauma is an intimate issue and affects us all differently
Community
No trauma behind closed doors! Together, we can foster safer communities
Diversity
Our intersectional identities uniquely shape our experiences
A Note from Our Founder
A testament to the power of community, Starts With Youth was born from the vision of a small group of friends, committed to cultivating a safer and more inclusive trauma-informed community. Throughout our journey since 2020, I am continuously in awe of our team’s tireless efforts to nurture conversations about the effects of adverse childhood experiences and the way we, as a collective, can mobilize to support survivors.
The transition to adulthood is daunting for anyone and for someone whose development was coloured by trauma, this stage is all the more challenging. As traumatized teenagers turn into impressionable young adults, they face a newfound agency that is often overwhelming as much as welcome. Through our resource bank, educational initiatives, and Chapters Program, we strive to encourage and support survivors as they navigate forging a way forward.
It is said that we experience trauma twice: Once when it happens and again when we must assess the damage. As a survivor myself, I am all too familiar with the enduring impact of adversity early in life. Trauma during childhood distorts the foundation with which one goes through the world, and although not every survivor grapples with revictimization, the unfortunate truth is that many do. At Starts With Youth, we aspire to reduce incidences of revictimization and intergenerational cycles of violence through supporting adults as they rediscover the world.
Thank you for taking the time to visit our site today. I hope that our work gives you some tools to address trauma in your community, and if you are survivor, I hope this is a reminder that you are not alone. You are seen and child, you’re oh so strong.
With love,
Prishni
