FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 13, 2020
Florida – Kathryn Thomas, Founder and Executive Director of Yoga 4 Change, has announced her departure from the organization. Thomas’s final day in her current role will be April 30, 2021. Yoga 4 Change (Y4C) offers evidence based, trauma informed programming to veterans, youth, incarcerated individuals, and those living with mental health conditions. Y4C implements three unique, proprietary curriculums to achieve positive outcomes among students and offer mental health resources to these communities. Yoga 4 Change was founded by Thomas in Jacksonville, FL in 2014 and under her leadership, Y4C increased impact from teaching six classes per week solely in Jacksonville to teaching approximately 67 classes per week across the state of Florida with more than 50 yoga teachers.
Thomas’s passion, resilience, and expertise led to a unique partnership established between Yoga 4 Change and Boston University to evaluate program impact. This relationship led to finding Yoga 4 Change programs to have a statistically significant impact on those exposed to the curriculum. Since 2018, when the organization underwent it’s first research evaluation under the guidance of Dr. Danielle Rousseau, Yoga 4 Change has created software to continue internal evaluations for all programs and curriculum. Currently, the organization is undergoing a three-year evaluation of programming specifically created to address the opioid crisis. The relationship between Boston University and Yoga 4 Change will continue and expand as the organization grows.
“When I met Kathryn shortly after the founding of Yoga 4 Change, I knew that the organization was destined to make an amazing change in Florida,” says Board Chair, Warren Buck, “Her success with our difficult-to-reach students was a harbinger of the powerful impact that was to come. Since joining the board, it has been an honor to see Kathryn, and her team, work tremendously hard to build Yoga 4 Change into a source of pride for Jacksonville. The foundation to spread and deepen the impact of Kathryn’s vision across the state is in place and we are all very excited to see where Yoga 4 Change goes and how Kathryn continues to make the world a better place.”
Kathryn Thomas will be moving to the Pacific Northwest with her family in 2021. “I am proud of the work I accomplished while leading Yoga 4 Change. My entire experience as the Executive Director has been on-the-job training. I’ve had to learn how to write and implement curriculum, create and balance a budget, write grants and report on the impact, all while educating the community to create partners and receive donations. From both the data we have gathered through our partnership with Boston University and personal testimonials, I know that Yoga 4 Change’s program is life-changing. I am grateful for all my mentors, colleagues and friends I have had the opportunity to learn from since beginning Yoga 4 Change almost seven years ago. I am excited to witness from a distance the growth and increased impact in the years to come.” Currently, Yoga 4 Change is working with Sterling Search and Consulting to search for a new Executive Director. If you are interested in the potential opportunity, please reach out to the firm directly: http://www.sterlingsearchjax.com/.
