Since 1992, The Lionheart Foundation has created high-impact, evidence-informed programs that empower incarcerated adults, systems-involved youth, adolescent parents, and direct care staff serving trauma-impacted youth.
Trauma, adversity, and systemic oppression can erode a person’s sense of self. Our programming helps individuals rediscover their inherent value, build self-regulation skills, and develop the tools needed to live peaceful, productive lives.
Lionheart develops and scales social-emotional learning (SEL) programs tailored to meet the unique needs of:
We have a commitment to moving our programs forward along the scientific continuum. To ensure our programs are in alignment with best practices and emerging knowledge, we partner with leading research institutions and state agencies.
We honor the inherent worth of every person and support participants in reconnecting with this inalienable quality.
We recognize the impact of systemic racism and oppression and support the emotional health of those most affected.
We blend proven approaches and practices with emerging technologies to create resources that transform lives.
We work to ensure broad access to our programs and advocate for fair redistribution of resources.
We equip individuals with social and emotional skills, self-awareness, and knowledge to heal and thrive.
Lionheart’s journey began in Massachusetts prisons, where our founder, Robin Casarjian, saw a critical gap in rehabilitative programming. After seven years facilitating numerous programs inside, Robin authored Houses of Healing: A Prisoner’s Guide to Inner Power and Freedom, a groundbreaking resource to help incarcerated adults address trauma, break cycles of violence, and build emotional awareness and self-regulation in order to lead productive and dignified lives.
Since 1995, the Houses of Healing: Transforming Lives Behind Bars book has since been translated into five languages and has reshaped rehabilitative programming across the country.
It has grown into a comprehensive, multi-modal program accessible to all incarcerated populations, including as a self-study course designed for those in highly restricted housing.
Houses of Healing: Transforming Lives Behind Bars was included in the First Step Act (FSA) Approved Programs Guide of 2018 published by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
In 2003, Lionheart created Power Source to meet the complex social and emotional needs of trauma-impacted, systems-involved youth. In 2007, we partnered with our research colleagues at NYU to complete a 5-year, NIH-funded study on the adolescent units of Rikers Island. As a result, Power Source is now a nationally recognized, evidence-based intervention.
In 2018, Power Source was included in the U.S. Department
of Justice’s What Works in Juvenile Justice and the
OJJDP Repository of Evidence-Based Programs.
In 2008, Lionheart developed Power Source Parenting to support adolescent parents in reducing risk-taking behaviors, interrupting intergenerational cycles of abuse and neglect and equipping them with the self-regulation and caregiving skills to raise healthy children. A three-year study, funded by SAMHSA and conducted with NYU and MIT, was conducted in the Young Parent Living Programs run under the auspices of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families. Power Source Parenting is now a core curriculum in many teen parenting programs across the country.
Decades of research shows that what is hurt through relationship must be healed through relationship. In 2019, Lionheart launched EQ2, a unique program specifically designed to support direct care staff serving trauma-impacted youth, while strengthening their self-regulation and relational skills to create trauma-informed environments where all members can heal.
In 2025, EQ2 was added to the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC).
