Ashlee Sellars

At the age of 17, Ashlee Sellars began serving over 21 years in prison for harm she caused to another family. Today, since her release, she is dedicated to ensuring that people like her and the family she harmed have more and better options for accountability, justice, and healing.

“When youth can resonate with the person they harmed and feel the impact of their actions,” Ashlee says, “it causes them to go through their lives differently.”

As a Trauma Coach in Raphah Institute’s Accountability and Restoration Conferencing initiative, Ashlee works with people who have caused violent harm and those whom they have harmed. She helps facilitate a process where they explore the harm, its impact, and repair.

Incarcerated as a child, Ashlee knows firsthand how powerful this alternative approach can be. She sees how ARC can be more challenging yet incredibly transformative for people who have caused harm and how powerful it can be in offering justice and healing to those harmed. Over the past seven years, Ashlee has witnessed how this model can break cycles of violence, trauma, and incarceration, changing lives for the better on both sides of the gun.

Many Incarcerated Children’s Advocacy Network (ICAN) members like Ashlee use their lived experiences to prevent youth harm and promote community healing through restorative justice models.