No More Excuses: Why Erie Needs Authentic Wellness & Empowerment

Welcome to Erie — “A Great Lake Place” with even greater potential.

There’s no shortage of information anymore.

You can Google trauma. You can ask Chat GPT for steps to heal. You can find videos, podcasts, TED Talks, and workbooks for just about anything.

Erie doesn’t have a knowledge problem. It has a courage problem.

And I don’t say that as an insult. I say that as someone who loves this city — and sees its potential. But potential means nothing without movement. And for too long, we’ve let fear, shame, and silence keep us from growing.

The Erie-stential Crisis

We all face existential questions: Am I enough? Can I change? Will this always feel like this?

But here in Erie, those questions carry regional weight. The Erie-stential crisis is real.

It’s what happens when individual trauma meets generational disappointment. When personal fear meets cultural hesitation. When we start surviving more than we start living.

It’s not just emotional. It’s environmental. It’s economic. It’s spiritual. And it’s long overdue for change.

What’s Been Holding Us Back?

It’s not a lack of intelligence. Or talent. Or resources.

It’s fear.

Fear of change. Fear of vulnerability. Fear of our own potential.

But if we wait for fear to leave, we’ll wait forever. Healing starts the moment we choose something different — even if we’re scared.

The Cost of Unhealed Pain

At Authentic Wellness & Empowerment (AWE), we work with people facing real-life struggles: grief, shame, burnout, disconnection.

We see:

• Depression masked as sarcasm

• Anxiety misread as apathy

• Families that stopped talking

• Talent quietly drowning

• Leaders too afraid to be honest

  
  

It’s not that people aren’t trying. It’s that trauma rewires survival as success. And after enough time, people stop dreaming.

But what happens in individuals happens in cities, too. When fear becomes familiar, we build systems around it.

We’ve Been Here Before — And Shrunk

Erie has history. But too often, it’s a history of almost.

Rockefeller chose Cleveland. Ford expanded elsewhere. Carnegie built in Conneaut.

Each time, Erie was close — but not quite.

The geography was right. The timing was right. But the belief? The unity? The boldness?

Not enough.

We hesitated. We survived. But we didn’t surge.

A Two-Front Attack for a Brighter Future: Erie Needs Authentic Wellness & Empowerment

It’s time for a dual approach — one bold enough to transform individuals and big enough to reimagine an entire region.

🔹 Front One: Personal Transformation

We must heal the person:

• Through trauma-informed counseling (RISE)

• Group-based empowerment (SHINE)

• Fitness coaching (Recover & Rebuild)

• Financial freedom training (Plan & Prosper)

• Year-round retreats and healing intensives

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This isn’t self-help fluff. This is the kind of work that resets nervous systems, restores purpose, and revives families.

🔹 Front Two: Regional Renewal

We must heal the system:

• Through the creation of the Lake Erie College of Authentic Wellness & Empowerment (LECAWE) — training the next generation of counselors, coaches, and servant leaders

• Through the Empowerment Erie Wellness Center — offering integrated services for the whole person and whole family

• Through partnerships that replace crisis response with clarity response — in schools, churches, businesses, and neighborhoods

  
  

Together, these fronts move Erie from a place of maintenance to a place of momentum.

Breaking the Seasonal Mindset

Erie is a seasonal town — and not just in climate.

In summer, there’s life. In winter, there’s withdrawal.

That rhythm starts to shape our mindset: Now’s not the time. Maybe later. When things feel better.

But healing doesn’t need 75 and sunny. It needs movement.

At AWE, we believe growth can be year-round. Emotional winters don’t have to last forever. You don’t have to wait to get better. Erie Needs Authentic Wellness & Empowerment.

No More Excuses

We’re still here. We’re not dying — we’re just not growing fast enough. And that can change.

So the question isn’t “what happened to us?” It’s:

Do we have the courage to do what we already know we need to do?

It’s time to stop maintaining — and start building. It’s time to stop shrinking our lives to fit pain — and start expanding them to fit our purpose.

Ready to Be Part of the Shift?

Visit EmpowermentErie.org to:

• Start counseling or join a SHINE group

• Partner with AWE or join the movement

• Donate during Erie Gives Day — August 12, 2025

• Help rewrite Erie’s story — starting with your own

  
  

Let’s stop just surviving. Let’s start healing for real. Let’s become who we were meant to be — together.