Growing Into Ourselves

Submitted by the Event Organizer

The RILEY Project

Growing Into Ourselves is a signature storytelling and community gathering from The RILEY Project, created to hold space for reflection, connection, and belonging-especially for people whose paths have rarely been linear or easily understood.

At the heart of Growing Into Ourselves is a simple but radical idea: that identity is not something to fix or overcome, but something to grow into over time. Through live storytelling, conversation, and shared presence, this gathering centers the lived experiences of neurodivergent individuals, people with learning differences, educators, parents, and community members who have navigated systems that often value performance over humanity.

Storytelling is the connective tissue of this work. When people tell their stories-honestly, imperfectly, and without apology-new understanding becomes possible. Stories help us see one another not as labels or diagnoses, but as whole people shaped by context, resilience, struggle, humor, and care. In a world that often rushes to categorize and compare, Growing Into Ourselves invites participants to slow down, listen deeply, and recognize themselves in one another.

This is not a lecture or a panel designed to deliver answers. It is a gathering designed to ask better questions:
What does it mean to belong?
Who gets to define success?
How do we create systems-schools, workplaces, communities-that make room for difference rather than treating it as a problem to manage?

Growing Into Ourselves is intentionally welcoming and accessible, grounded in the belief that belonging is built through relationship. Whether you come as a student, parent, educator, advocate, or simply a human trying to make sense of your own story, you are invited to show up as you are.

Presented by The RILEY Project

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.