Juvenile Justice System: Restoring Robbed Childhood with Michael O'Bryan

In this episode, we talk with a youth worker who provides sobering insights on the importance of caring for our youth and having compassion for the ones who go astray.
Michael O’Bryan is an expert practitioner and budding researcher in the fields of community development, organizational culture, and human wellbeing. Mike has spent more than a decade working directly with resilient yet underserved populations —including veterans, adults in recovery, returning citizens, and families experiencing homelessness. He is currently an Innovation Fellow at Drexel University’s Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation and was recently a Corzo Fellow at The Corzo Center for The Creative Economy at The University of the Arts. He is the founder of Humanature, a consultancy working with nonprofits, businesses, local government agencies and their employees to transform how they understand and support human development, interaction, and performance. Clients include NeighborWorks America, ArtistYear, New Jersey Community Capital, and The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. O’Bryan has spoken nationally about his work, including convenings at Cornell University, The Vera List Center for Arts and Politics at The New School, SPECTRUM/SOCAP, and the famed Apollo Theatre in New York.

O’Bryan holds a Bachelor’s degree in music from the University of the Arts and a graduate certificate in Childhood Trauma Studies from Jefferson University. He is a faculty member of the Career Studies Department at The Curtis Institute of Music and serves on The American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Commission on The Arts. He currently serves on the boards of two philanthropic institutions, The Samuel S. Fels Fund and The Philadelphia Cultural Fund, and is every day inspired by exploring the science of our humanity.