Consulting · Facilitation · Strategy · Practice

Work rooted in
care, practice,
and the courage
to repair.

I'm Ashley Ellis — restorative justice practitioner, healing justice facilitator, strategist, and community builder. I work alongside organizations, movements, and leaders who are serious about transformation. Not as a performance. As practice.

Let's Connect → Explore the Work
Ashley Ellis, founder of BREATHE Circles
Ashley Ellis Founder, BREATHE Circles  ·  Restorative Justice Practitioner

"This work is a practice — not a product. I show up to it every day, and I hope to show up alongside you too."

— Ashley Ellis
Founder, BREATHE Circles
Creator, Who Keeps the Keeper
Restorative Justice Practitioner
Peacemaking Circle Keeper
An Invitation

You're welcome here, wherever you're starting from.

Whether you're a seasoned practitioner ready to go deeper, an organization navigating something hard, a movement leader running on empty, or someone still figuring out what you need — this page is for you.

I'm in a season of open capacity and actively seeking aligned consulting engagements, facilitation opportunities, strategic partnerships, and leadership conversations. I'm not looking to be busy. I'm looking to be useful — in ways that are sustainable for both of us.

My work lives at the intersections of restorative and healing justice, transformative practice, leadership development, organizational transformation, storytelling, youth work, and community care ecosystem design. I come from Black feminist and womanist traditions, and everything I do is grounded in those commitments.

I don't believe in helping just because it sounds good. I believe in showing up with honesty, rigor, care, and a long view. If that resonates — let's find out what's possible together.

Start the Conversation →
Trusted By

Organizations, institutions, and communities Ashley has had the honor of working alongside.

NYC Department of Education · Access Affinity · NYCDOE Annual Youth Summit · Girls for Gender Equity · Kings Against Violence Initiative · Tacoma Department of Health · NYC Mayor's Office for Gun Violence Prevention · Children's Village · Evergreen College of Tacoma · Community Connections for Youth · Mayor's Office of Violence Prevention · NYC Department of Health · Uptown Youth Opportunity Hubs · S.O.U.L. Sisters Leadership Collective · Rise Magazine · United States Truth and Reconciliation Commission · Trinity Church Wall Street Foundation · The Bronx Defenders · OM in Africa Project · Eagles Nest Foundation · Interdisciplinary Research Leaders — Minnesota · CCFY
Ways We Can Work Together

The shape of this work is wide, and always relational.

These aren't packages. They're entry points. Many engagements weave together more than one area — and all of them begin with a real conversation about what you actually need.

Practice & Training

Restorative Justice Training & Implementation

Foundational and advanced RJ training for schools, nonprofits, community organizations, and government agencies — paired with implementation support that doesn't disappear after the workshop.

Peacemaking Circle Practice

Circle keeper training, practice deepening, and consultation for individuals and teams. Whether you're learning to hold circles or ready to refine your practice — relational, somatic, deeply rooted.

Healing-Centered Facilitation & Retreat Design

Facilitation of gatherings, retreats, and convenings that honor the whole person. Designed with care, held with intention, shaped to meet your community where it actually is.

Strategy & Leadership

Strategic Planning & Organizational Reimagining

Deep listening, honest reflection, and futures-oriented strategy for organizations at a crossroads. This isn't just about plans — it's about alignment, values, and what your organization is actually called to become.

Leadership Accompaniment & Executive Thought Partnership

One-on-one or team-based accompaniment for leaders doing hard, high-stakes, meaning-making work. A space to think, to feel, to strategize — without performance.

Program Design & Curriculum Development

Values-aligned curriculum and program architecture grounded in liberatory pedagogy, healing-centered principles, and the wisdom of the communities you serve.

Healing-Centered Coaching

Individual and small-group coaching for practitioners, leaders, and change-makers who need a grounded, honest space to think, grow, and be held accountable — to themselves and to the work. This isn't performance coaching. It's practice-based, values-aligned, and rooted in care.

Organizational & Cultural Transformation

Culture Transformation, Conflict Navigation & Repair

For organizations navigating internal rupture, harm, or a culture that hasn't caught up with their stated values. Honest, careful, and not for the faint of heart — but possible.

Community Care Ecosystem Design

Building the conditions for communities and organizations to sustain themselves — not just survive. Sustainability strategy that centers the people doing the work, not just the work itself.

Storytelling, Documentation & Meaning-Making

Helping organizations and movements tell true stories about what they've built, learned, and survived. Documentation that honors complexity and centers community voice.

Presence & Partnership

Intergenerational Facilitation & Youth-Centered Work

Bridging generations in ways that honor elders and young people alike. Youth-centered transformation work that doesn't tokenize, sideline, or speak over the voices that matter most.

Speaking Engagements & Keynote Facilitation

Talks, keynotes, and panels for conferences, summits, and community events. I bring full presence — not a slide deck performance — and center the room's learning over my own platform.

Leadership Roles & Aligned Employment

Open to conversations about interim leadership, fractional director roles, and aligned full-time opportunities. If your organization needs someone with deep practice and strategic range — let's talk.

Not sure which of these fits? That's what the conversation is for.

Book a Connection Call →
Who This Is For

If you're doing the hard, necessary, and often underestimated work of repair and reimagining — this is for you.

Frontline Practitioners & Organizers

You're holding your community together and need infrastructure, strategy, and accompaniment to do it sustainably — not just survive the season you're in.

Nonprofit Leaders & Executive Directors

Navigating organizational complexity — especially those doing equity work inside institutions that weren't designed for it. You need a thought partner who gets both the vision and the constraints.

Schools, Districts & Youth-Serving Organizations

Serious about restorative justice as a way of being, not just a discipline alternative. Ready to do the culture work, not just the policy work.

Government Agencies & Public Institutions

Working to center community voice, healing, and accountability in ways that are structurally real — not performative. You want someone who can bridge practice and policy without losing either.

Healers, Educators & Community Builders

You carry others. You're ready to invest in the structures and practices that carry you — and that make the work sustainable beyond your own endurance.

Funders & Philanthropic Partners

Wanting to think more carefully about how your resources show up — and willing to be in genuine dialogue about what that actually means. Not a funder-grantee dynamic. A real conversation.

Faith Communities & Spiritual Organizations

Doing the hard work of repair within and beyond your walls. Ready to build practices that match your stated commitments to restoration and accountability.

Movement Organizations & Coalitions

Needing facilitation, strategy, or documentation support — and wanting a partner who understands what's actually at stake in this work and holds it accordingly.

What Happens After You Reach Out

Simple, relational, unhurried.

Booking a Connection Call is not a commitment. It's a conversation. Here's what to expect.

1

You Book

Choose a time on Calendly. Answer a few short questions so I can come prepared and fully present.

"No prep required on your end."
2

We Connect

30 minutes. Real questions, real listening. No pitch deck, no pressure, no agenda but understanding.

"Come as you are."
3

We Discern

After the call I take time to reflect on whether and how I can genuinely serve what you're building. You do the same.

"Fit matters more than fast."
4

We Decide Together

If it's a fit, we talk next steps — scope, timeline, investment, and what care looks like on both sides.

"No surprises."
Reserve Your Connection Call →

I respond within 48 hours. If you have an urgent or time-sensitive opportunity, note it in the booking form.

Making a Referral

Know someone who needs this work?

If you've worked with me before, seen me in action, or simply know someone who would benefit from this kind of partnership — thank you for thinking of me. Referrals are one of the most meaningful ways this work grows, and I don't take that lightly.

You know what you know. Trust it.

✉

Make a Direct Introduction

The simplest path. Copy both of us on an email and let us take it from there: ashley@thebreathecollective.org

→

Send Them This Page

Forward this page to the person or organization. They can read, feel the work, and reach out when they're ready — on their own terms.

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Book a Call to Coordinate

If you're helping broker or facilitate an opportunity on behalf of someone else, book a call so I can understand the full context before connecting.

Book a Referral Call →
Ready When You Are

Something is stirring.
Let's find out what it is.

You don't have to have it all figured out before you reach out. Come with your questions, your context, and your hopes for what this work could make possible. That's enough to begin.

Book a Connection Call → Send an Email Instead

thebreathecollective.org  ·  ashley@thebreathecollective.org