About Aya
We exist so that women in recovery have somewhere to heal that treats them as whole people — not cases to be managed.
Our name
The aya is a fern that grows in hard places. In the Akan Adinkra tradition it stands for endurance and resourcefulness — the strength it takes to keep unfurling toward the light.
We chose it because it tells the truth about recovery. Growth isn't linear, and it isn't quick. It happens frond by frond, in conditions that would stop most things from growing at all. Every woman who comes to Aya is already proof of that endurance. Our work is to give it room.
Our model
Aya draws on a communal understanding of healing — the recognition, found in many traditions and echoed in the work of Malidoma Somé, that a person mends most fully inside a community that keeps showing up for her. A recovery residence can be a place you wait out a requirement. We're building something else: a place you belong to, and are changed by.
What we believe
Leadership
Aya Recovery & Wellness was founded by Valencia Johnson, its Executive Director, out of a conviction that women deserve recovery housing built around their dignity and their whole lives. The organization is guided by a founding board bringing together expertise in clinical care, nonprofit governance, finance and operations, and health and wellness.
We are a Florida nonprofit currently in pre-launch development, preparing to welcome our first residents and building the partnerships that will support them.
Join us early
Whether you refer clients, want to support the mission, or are exploring a place to heal — we'd love to talk.
