SOAR - Seeing Our Adolescents Rise

Background Statement

Created in 2012, Seeing Our Adolescents Rise (SOAR) is a community-based 501(c)(3) organization in Denver dedicated to empowering youth to rise above adversity and build lives rooted in resilience, connection, and purpose. SOAR’s Founder recognized a critical gap in services for youth returning to their communities, especially those navigating the juvenile justice system. She envisioned a program that created a safe, inclusive space where young people from all backgrounds could speak openly, learn, and grow without judgment. That vision evolved into a supportive community where youth build meaningful connections, pursue goals, and experience opportunities and achievements that their circumstances may not otherwise allow.

SOAR empowers adolescents to invest in their futures and become motivated advocates for their own lives by fostering emotional, mental, and physical well-being through relationship-centered, trauma-informed, and adventure-based programming. Our guiding principles (Strength, Healing, Equity, Growth, and Care) are embedded in every layer of SOAR’s operations, from the intentional connections we foster with youth and families to the program designs.

SOAR’s core population are underserved youth from marginalized communities experiencing high levels of systemic disinvestment, violence exposure, and limited access to behavioral health services. SOAR primarily serves justice-involved, system-impacted, and high-risk youth ages 7–19 who may be experiencing: exposure to violence and trauma; truancy, suspension, academic hardship, or school disengagement; expulsion risk; mental health and/or substance use challenges; or family conflict, trauma, family instability, housing insecurity, or economic hardship. Because we recognize the importance of the family unit on the success of our youth, we also provide support and coaching to parents and family units.

SOAR is known for being a leader in youth development because of our innovative, comprehensive approach to providing service. Our in-depth experience working with the focus population is through two core programs: SOAR Coaching, Outreach, Relationships, and Engagement (CORE) and Resilience, Independence, and Self-Confidence through Experiences (RISE). SOAR has provided wraparound support to over 1,200 youth and families over the past five years by partnering with City & County of Denver, Denver Public Schools, the Department of Human Services, juvenile justice programs, the Caring for Denver Foundation, and several other organizations to reach marginalized communities. By combining nature, community involvement, and both indoor and outdoor experiences, our evidence-based approach promotes physical, social, spiritual, and psychological well-being. Monthly expeditions and recreational activities are central to our programming, helping youth address behavioral and/or mental health concerns, academic challenges, and substance misuse.

Our multidisciplinary team is qualified because our clinicians are masters-level trained and/or licensed with 2+ years experience and skilled in trauma-focused therapy interventions, motivational interviewing, restorative practices, and systems theory. SOAR coaches/mentors are bachelors-level trained with 1-2+ years experience, or masters-level interns, in restorative approaches, strengths-based engagement, motivational interviewing, and cultural responsiveness. Our Parent and Family Support Coach is bachelors-level trained with 5+ years experience in connecting caregivers to housing, employment, and basic needs resources, while supporting healthy connections to youth through psychoeducation. SOAR fosters a continuous learning environment by providing annual experiential/adventure-based training for all team members to support the experiential learning and resilience-based foundation of SOAR’s programs.