UK Social Work partners with ‘Survivors for Change’ to enhance youth hockey safety

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 30, 2025) — The University of Kentucky’s College of Social Work (CoSW) is joining forces with Survivors for Change (S4C) to transform the landscape of youth hockey.

Together, the two groups aim to develop innovative training programs that prioritize athlete safety, foster positive youth development and build stronger, more collaborative relationships among coaches, players and parents.

A Chicago-based nonprofit, S4C was founded in 2020 by Michael Sacks. The former standout hockey player was a teen when he was sexually abused by his hockey coach.

Along with Kelly Gee, executive director and fellow survivor, S4C works to provide peer support for survivors. Through tailored workshops and community partnerships, the organization addresses critical needs in youth sports development and safety.

“When we started Survivors for Change, it was about advocating for survivors and bringing accountability to perpetrators and institutions that enable them,” Gee said. “We were among the first to come forward and share what happened to us. It was this amazing awakening — us looking in the mirror at ourselves, looking back at each other and saying, ‘This was not just us.’”

Building on S4C’s momentum, Matt Moore, Ph.D., associate dean of student and academic affairs in the CoSW, is helping lead the charge in shaping the future of youth sports safety. In collaboration with the nonprofit, he is working to create curriculum designed to support positive youth development, focusing on holistic approaches within sports settings.

“For the college, the opportunity to work on curriculum and evaluation components for efforts that can change the landscape of youth hockey is priceless,” Moore said. “These efforts bring to light the vulnerabilities that exist within sport settings, and the need for collaborations to address systemic injustices that adversely affect the health and well-being of the hockey community.”

The pilot program, “Navigators,” which began with youth hockey coaches in the fall of 2024, is a hybrid system combining in-person workshops with an online training tool. The first workshop is focused on helping coaches define their coaching philosophy — building trust and communication with athletes, rather than just focusing on technique.

“We’re not coaching X’s and O’s, and we’re not teaching how to go out and do your job as a coach. What we’re teaching is, how to best identify with yourself so that you can communicate safely and effectively with your community,” Gee said. “So that there’s more understanding, more trust and more structure.”

Two notable youth hockey programs are participating in this initial pilot: the Chicago Mission, a AAA program led by Gino Cavallini, and the Chicago Hawks organization, the largest youth hockey club in Illinois, led by Steve Poapst.

Following the “Navigators” coaches’ pilot, the program will expand to parents and players within these organizations.

“That’s one of the things the College of Social Work is helping us fulfill — finalizing the formative research and development aspects of the parents and players curriculum,” Gee said. “We’re going to learn from the coach’s pilot, then pilot the parents and players. We are putting this into the community, but we are not rushing the results until we have heard from them specifically about what it is they need.”

For Sacks and Gee, the partnership has been both a healing process and a way to create lasting impact within the hockey community.

“As the founder, you dream of partnerships like this. I am just excited. I am learning a lot, and I am healing,” Sacks said. “I was out of the hockey community for many years and to be able to return and start to get on board and see the feedback we are getting from coaches; that’s the hockey community fixing itself.”

Now, S4C has the potential to expand its reach beyond Chicago — taking its vision for systemic-level change in youth sports to new communities.

“We now have the people to take this and make it go,” Gee said. “We want to see systemic-level change in youth sports because of this partnership and the opportunity the College of Social Work is presenting us.”

For more information about Survivors for Change and the "Navigators" program, visit the S4C website.