TULSA, Okla — The Soaring Eagles non-profit provides free help to children and their families by helping to target intergenerational trauma and promote healing.
Founder Premadonna Braddick said she wanted to provide these free services to underserved families.
WATCH: 'We all can soar': Tulsa non-profit providing free therapy help for families
She told 2 News she had a tumultuous start to life, too.
"I had a learning disability because of the cocktail of drugs my mother induced when she was pregnant with me, on top of a speech impediment because of the trauma I had gone through, through foster care," said Braddick. “Seeing my family, who unfortunately followed the life of crimes and had addictions, and I just didn't want that for myself."
Braddick said she officially started Soaring Eagles in 2013 after moving to Tulsa from the Bay Area.
J’Naya Thompson is one of the women who went through the Soaring Eagles program after finding out about it through one of her friends.
She said after graduating college and becoming a teacher, she is still using many of the lessons she learned in the program, especially networking.
“I’m just grateful," she said. “There’s so much you can learn from other people, and I just think it was really a blessing.”
Thompson said she grew up being a quieter child and needed some time to grow, but the program helped her gain confidence, while allowing her to discover more of who she was.
"It definitely brought me outside of my house," she said. "I was born and raised in North Tulsa, and so you know I've never really been outside of North Tulsa at that point."
Braddick wants every child she works with to know that there's more to life than "the norm".
She said she wants kids to dream bigger and learn, so they can set higher expectations and goals for themselves.
"Other young people look at their circumstances and feel that they cannot dream," she said. "We all can soar. We all can win.”
Now, she’s advocating for others to help do the same.
It’s why she’s bringing back her 2nd annual “Lift Every Voice” Conference to the Legacy Plaza from September 17th through the 19th.
People in all kinds of professions and careers can hear from representatives from communities like Hispanic, Zomi, Polynesian and more, on how different cultures address issues and trauma.
Last year, representatives from the Hispanic, Black, African American, Zomi/Burmese, Russian, Ukrainian and other communities were present at the conference.
This year, she says she was able to get even more representatives from other cultures, like Afghanistan, to be present at the event.
Braddick wants to thank partners like the Kaiser Foundation, which has given in the past, Transformation Church, and the Schusterman Foundation.
She said without contributions and donations like these, all of the resources and workshops for children and their families couldn't have been free of charge, like they are.
She also said she is extremely grateful to Pastor Tim Newton for opening his doors to the group for free when hosting the Girl's Teen Summit.
For those interested in getting a ticket to this year's conference, more info can be found here.
If you are looking for some assistance in therapy for you and your family, you can find more help here.
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