Lifting Inspirations

To inspire youth confidence, character, leadership, and community-building through weightlifting, wellness, and mentorship.

Lifting Inspirations envisions a nation of strong, healthy, confident, and courageous youth, resilient to adversity and equipped for leadership.

• Integrity: We hold ourselves to standards of excellence that involve personal and company honesty, transparency, and accountability.
• Safe and Progressive: Building strength through weight lifting is a process. We start the youth with lighter weights and make progress over time. Weightlifting is supervised at all times, ensuring personal attention, proper form, and age- and strength-appropriate weights.
• Trauma-Responsive: We view youth behavior through a trauma lens, paying attention to behaviors that reflect exposure to traumatizing experiences. We practice compassion, encourage authentic relationships and youth voice expression to foster healing, and utilize trauma-aware coaching practices for sports as trauma intervention.
• Culture-Affirming: We respect and uplift racial identity, uphold diverse perspectives, experiences, and learning styles, celebrate cultural and personal difference, support individual and group dignity, and, where necessary, encourage critical reflection on stereotypes, personal bias, and other damaging assumptions.
• Respect: We teach and role model honor and respect for elders, respect for self and peers, teachers, family, and members of the community, and respect for rules, laws, and property.
• Belief and Perseverance: We steadfastly believe in the excellence of each young male. We use strengths-based approaches to support and encourage, and we maintain an unwavering commitment to helping each youth overcome adversity.

Dr. Laurie Garo (Founder and Executive Director) has a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction (Urban Education) with research on child trauma and trauma-responsive interventions. She received the Best Dissertation Award in the Counseling Division of the American Education Research Association (AERA). Through her work with the Department of Justice's Project Safe Neighborhoods, she has over 20 years of experience in gun violence research and youth violence intervention. Laurie is certified in Ultimate Body Building through the International Association of Fitness Sciences and in Neurosequential Model in Sport (NM-Sport; the study of trauma therapeutics and healing principles through sports). She has been competing in bodybuilding for over 12 years. Her combination of education, research skills, and experience makes her uniquely positioned to lead the work of Lifting Inspirations, LLC.

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