She is passionate. She is articulate. She is humble. She is Elise Knicely. As the founder of the non-profit organization She is ABLE, Knicely arranges outdoor experiences for women recovering from sex trafficking, addiction, abuse, exploitation, and trauma.
For many women, these trips are their first true contact with nature. Each expedition gives them an opportunity to learn to use their bodies for something healthy—helping them overcome the negative narratives and self-esteem they have been taught in the process.
ABLE is an acronym for Adventurous and Brave, Leaders and Encouragers, which are more than just words to Knicely. They are positive affirmations the women speak over each other, believing that this reinforcement can empower a woman along her journey.
A passion is born
Shortly after graduating from college, Knicely spent several months backpacking throughout the world. More than a sight-seeing expedition, she spent time learning from leaders of different non-profit organizations, most memorably one non-profit in India. There, on the streets of Mumbai, as Knicely looked into the eyes of women trapped in sex slavery, she felt a clear sense of purpose for her life.
“I can’t un-see what I’ve seen,” Knicely says, “and I just have to do something about it.” The moment would prove to be life-changing, not only for her, but for countless women who would cross her path in the years to come.
When she returned home to Georgia, Knicely spent her weekdays working at her corporate job and her weekends volunteering with local shelters and rehabilitation centers for women. It seemed natural for her to combine her love of sports and nature with her passion to serve women recovering from trauma, and it didn’t take long for her to realize that time spent outdoors could play an important therapeutic role in recovery.
If it is true that vocation is “the place where our deep gladness meets the world’s great need,” ( a quote from American author and poet Frederick Buechner), then Elise Knicely has found hers.
Knicely began researching organizations focusing on outdoor adventures and nature therapy for trauma survivors and found a number of opportunities aimed at teenagers, but nothing specifically for this population of women. “
I realized no one was doing it and no one really intended to do it,” Knicely says. Seeing the need and the tremendous possibilities, she decided to take action.
Taking the plunge
In September 2016, Elise Knicely left her corporate job to pour herself into the work of launching She is ABLE. At the start, it was just her. No team of founders, board of directors, or budget. At just 25 years old, it was a challenge to get people to take her seriously. With minimal funding and help from friends and family, She is ABLE launched in a testing phase in January 2017. Between January and May 2017, Knicely contacted treatment centers, residential programs, and other groups serving this population of women and offered them free trips in return for feedback.
She was overwhelmed by the willingness of these groups to trust her and some local guides to go into the woods with vulnerable, struggling women. But professionals in the field recognized the value of these experiences and believed in the mission of She is ABLE.
Equipped with data, experience, and testimonials, She is ABLE celebrated its official launch in June 2017—by which time Knicely had recruited a board and raised enough funds to have a solid non-profit foundation.
Things happened fast and She is ABLE grew quickly. About a year after she quit her job, Knicely was able to draw a salary from her work for the organization, and almost exactly a year after their official launch, the board of She is ABLE was able to hire a new executive director to take over the day-to-day operations and bring fresh energy and ideas to the table.
Weathering the storm(s)
The story of She is ABLE and how quickly it has grown might sound like a fairy tale to some. For Knicely, a person of faith, she attributes the rapid rise of her organization to the Lord.
Whatever the source of her success, it has not come without a lot of hard work and road bumps along the way. The last two years have been anything but storybook perfect.
In addition to the work of starting a nonprofit, Knicely made a lot of financial sacrifices in order to get the work off the ground. As a 25-year-old advocating for a marginalized population, she faced a lot of rejection as she invited people to be a part of She is ABLE. She also learned firsthand the reality of vicarious trauma as she entered into the stories of women who had endured so much.
She mourned as women she cared for suffered relapses or major setbacks in their recovery journeys. With help from good counselors and mentors, Knicely now has a more realistic, grounded understanding of her work.
The team at She is ABLE understands that the ecosystem of trauma is complex and the journey of recovery comes with many ups and downs. To avoid developing a “savior complex,” the team reminds themselves that the work they do is just a small piece of a much larger puzzle. They meet women in many different stages of their journey and do their best to meet each woman where she is, caring for her and loving her, without taking responsibility for the choices each woman goes on to make.
The future is bright
Knicely is excited to pass on the baton of day-to-day operations for She is ABLE, and says there are great things on the horizon for the organization. Recently, they received a grant to provide online trauma training for outdoor guides, so that more She is ABLE leaders are prepared to plan trips and understand what’s at stake.
The right expedition experience can be uniquely therapeutic, while the wrong one could potentially cause relapse or regression.
The She is ABLE team is also pursuing a program to provide scholarships for survivors to hone their outdoor skills and become certified guides. With the right training, leadership, and boundaries, a survivor can be an amazing resource on a trip, and Knicely envisions a future where many of their trips are survivor-led, completing what she calls an “empowering circle.”
Shifting the focus
As compelling as her story is, Knicely would much rather shift the focus away from herself and onto the women she works with.
“I really want to bring attention back to the resilience of our women,” she says. “What a lot of people miss is that the women that we work with … there is no one like them. The ability to overcome years and years of abuse and trauma and addiction and to look at their lives and want more for them—they’re the most resilient, incredible women that you’ll ever meet.”
Knicely makes a point to avoid using language that would paint these women as victims, or label them according to their past experiences. She considers it a “privilege and honor to play a role” in their lives. Her humility reflects her heart and her priorities.
“What we do is cool,” Knicely adds, “but the women we work with are way cooler.”
To learn more about She is ABLE or to support the work Knicely and her team are doing, visit sheisable.org or follow along on their journey on Instagram.
