Tomorrow Still Needs Them: Katie Accola Introduces the Youth Empowerment Network

At our recent Sammamish Rotary meeting, Katie Accola, MA, LMFT, introduced us to the Youth Empowerment Network (YEN) and shared a compelling vision for bringing two worlds together: youth development and mental health.

Katie has spent more than three decades working with children and young people—as an educator, outdoor recreation leader, camp professional, pediatric nursing assistant, therapist, and advocate. Her career has included everything from horseback riding, hiking and rock climbing to play therapy, trauma work and supporting neurodivergent youth.

That combination of experience led Katie to an important conclusion: mental health and youth development shouldn’t be treated as two separate things.

YEN—short for Youth Empowerment Network—was created to help bridge that gap.

Building Strong Leaders for Tomorrow

YEN’s mission is straightforward: to grow healthy, strong leaders for tomorrow.

Katie reminded us that young people need more than programs or activities. They need adults who believe in them. They need places where they belong, opportunities to be curious, connections with one another and with nature, and space to discover both who they are and where they fit in the world.

YEN approaches mental health as part of being human. Anxiety, grief, loss, uncertainty and difficult emotions are not experiences that need to be separated from everyday life. Instead, young people can learn the coping skills, emotional awareness, communication skills and resilience that help them navigate those experiences.

At the same time, they need opportunities to lead, create, problem-solve, play, serve others and experience healthy adventure.

As Katie put it, a young person is more than a diagnosis. For youth who are anxious, depressed or neurodivergent—including young people with ADHD, autism or learning differences—the message is especially important:

The world needs their brains and who they are.

Every Activity Has a Purpose

One of the most interesting parts of Katie’s presentation was hearing how YEN looks at familiar camp and recreation activities.

A hike can become an exercise in mindfulness and self-discovery. A cooperative game can teach communication, problem-solving and conflict resolution. A group circle can offer practice in listening, courage, vulnerability and learning to sit with difficult emotions. An art project can provide a way to express something that words cannot.

And a service project teaches a young person something especially powerful: My actions matter.

Katie’s own roots in this work go back to summer camp and outdoor education. She recalled thinking that a week at camp could sometimes feel like “a year’s worth of therapy.” Young people are living together, negotiating relationships, solving problems, trying unfamiliar activities and learning that their actions affect other people.

And then there are horses.

“You can’t bluff a horse,” Katie laughed. A horse will let you know very quickly whether you mean what you say.

Creating a Stronger Web

Katie described YEN’s approach as something like a spider web.

The more connections a young person has—to family, teachers, mentors, therapists, friends, community organizations, nature and their own interests—the stronger that web becomes.

Then, when a young person falls, as all of us do at some point, there is something larger than themselves there to catch them.

YEN brings together mental health professionals, outdoor recreation specialists, special education teachers, social workers, schools, families and community organizations to create that network of support.

The organization currently partners with organizations including Bellevue LifeSpring, Camp Sealth and Olympia Therapy and is working to expand year-round programming. Its programs combine adventure, leadership development, creativity, play and emotional well-being while helping young people build confidence, resilience and life skills.

From Day Camp to Camp Sealth

YEN currently operates its Sense the Adventure day camp through Olympia Therapy, incorporating recreation, social-emotional learning, sensory awareness, character development and STEM activities.

This year brought an exciting milestone: YEN piloted its first overnight Sense the Adventure camp in partnership with Camp Sealth.

Katie and her team intentionally brought additional staff so they could support campers with significant social-emotional needs, including children who had struggled at previous camps because of anxiety, homesickness or behavioral challenges.

The pilot was a success. Camp Sealth has invited YEN back next year and has also asked YEN to help support its young summer counseling staff—another example of the network Katie hopes to build.

YEN is also developing additional programs, including P.L.A.Y. Club — Powerful Leaders Active Youth for elementary-age children and Y-LEAD — Youth Leadership Education Adventure and Discovery for middle school students, along with programming for neurodivergent youth and an Art for the Heart group.

Tomorrow Still Needs Them

Perhaps the most memorable message of Katie’s presentation was also the simplest.

YEN wants young people to know that they can get through hard things. Whatever may be happening today—in school, at home, in their relationships or inside themselves—their story isn’t finished.

“No matter what’s happening today in their world, tomorrow still needs them.”

That seems like a pretty good message for young people.

And, for that matter, for the rest of us too.