about us
our mission
We empower women to practice compassionate self-care, support each other in doing so, and inspire future generations with authentic self-love from an early age. We help women navigate toxic cultural messages about health, beauty and sexuality so we can be role models, advocates and encouragers of positive female identity development in our families, communities, workplaces and other spheres of influence.
our story
Alive and Well Women is the vision of our founder and Executive Director Cissy Brady-Rogers, MA, LMFT, IHC. In 2007, Cissy, a nationally recognized eating disorders specialist, began offering retreats, workshops and groups in response to the disempowering, problem-saturated body narratives she heard from women during the course of her counseling. Recognizing the essential role of community support for healing these wounds, she developed wellness programs to meet the emotional, physical and social needs of her clients.
In 2013, in order to take a more proactive approach and reach more women with her techniques, Cissy partnered with Betsy Faber, a recently retired businessperson and long-time friend, to launch Alive and Well Women, as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. A gifted Board of Directors formed in January 2015, and a multi-talented Advisory Council further established a strong foundation to support the effort. Since that time our programs and community partnerships with other nonprofits have touched the lives of hundreds of women.
Building community through experiential education is core to everything we do. Our programs create safe spaces for women to listen for inner wisdom, recover our voices, connect to the sacredness of our bodies and come into rhythm with ourselves and the cycles of nature. We help each woman discover her own way of being alive and well amidst the multiple changes and stages that are part of the natural female lifecycle.
why join us?
We believe that the women of America are wasting too much time, energy and resources worrying about how we look rather than caring for ourselves and others in life-giving ways. While some women need to make changes in our relationships with food and our bodies due to health concerns, predominant models in the medical community, as well as the diet and fitness industries, use fear of illness and body-shaming messages to motivate change. Those approaches have proven ineffective at promoting long-term success with behavioral changes—especially related to weight loss. Emerging research suggests that mindfulness and self-compassion focused methods will prove more effective at supporting sustainable behavioral changes related to diet, fitness and overall health.
Whether you’ve struggled yourself, someone you love has struggled, or you want to create a better world for the girls you love to grow up in, there’s a place for you in our community.
During this time of pause in programs, please join our community on Instagram and Facebook to stay connected.
sponsors
Grants from The Sister Fund and The Presbyterian Church, along with sponsorship by Reason’s Eating Disorder Center supported our start up efforts, including training a diverse group of small group facilitators and launching our first Contemplative Path to Health and Wellbeing program.
