RAISE THE BAR is equipping practitioners and coaches to set a higher standard for strength training.

It means modeling embodied leadership, integrating safety, nervous system literacy, and equity into every session, and redefining what it means to build strength, for individuals and communities alike.

This campaign positions coaches as agents of change, raising both the practice and the culture of weightlifting to new levels of care, skill, and impact. Raise the Bar highlights that trauma informed strength training is relevant across multiple domains, including every sport, physical therapy, occupational therapy, fitness, rehabilitation, youth programs, and more.

Photo of notes, weights, and a notebook from the TIWL Residential Youth Facility program in MA.

Our Goals

Expand the Trauma Informed Strength Training Community

Equip a diverse network of coaches and mental health professionals to integrate trauma-informed weightlifting into their practice through accessible education, certification, and interdisciplinary collaboration pathways.

TIWL is leading a global shift in how strength training is taught and reclaiming weightlifting as a pathway to healing where strength becomes medicine.

Understanding Trauma Through Strength and Embodiment

Deliver accessible education on how trauma lives in the body and how strength training supports regulation, agency, and recovery, integrating mental health and movement to train the whole self, mind, body, and nervous system.

TIWL disrupts outdated fitness narratives that prioritize aesthetics over embodiment and positions trauma informed strength training as essential to healing centered practice.

Bring Strength Training to More Communities

Increase access to safer, inclusive strength training spaces and programs for trauma impacted individuals in underserved and historically excluded communities through partnerships across fitness, youth, mental health, and community sectors.

TIWL is expanding who strength spaces serve and who they are designed to support.

Over 800+ TIWL Certified Practitioners & Coahces

Nearly half (45%) of our programming is delivered through scholarships

Currently span across over 22 U.S. states and 13 countries.

Community Spotlight

Taylor Gonzalez is a TIWL scholarship recipient, somatic alchemist, run coach, weightlifting and yoga facilitator.

Community Spotlight

Brandon Chien is a TIWL scholarship recipient, personal trainer and a strength coach in Oakland, California.

Taylor & Brandon are just two of the hundreds of practitioners, coaches, and community leaders trained in Trauma Informed Weight Lifting, each bringing their own lived wisdom, cultural context, and care-forward approach to this healing work.

With your support, TIWL can continue expanding access to meaningful movement, offering education, training, and community partnerships that reach those who need it most.

Last year alone, TIWL-trained leaders reached thousands of participants across shelters, community gyms, youth programs, and recovery centers. And we’re only getting started.

Your contribution helps us continue this mission, so that together, we rise toward a future where healing is accessible, movement is affirming, and strength is a shared resource.