Rising Stars: Meet Myriah Mhoon of Goodyear

Today we’d like to introduce you to Myriah Mhoon.

Hi Myriah, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I started my advocacy journey in Prescott, Arizona. Towards the end of school, I had an independent study project where I helped launch and run Prescott’s first shelter for homeless women and their children. From the moment I started, I was a changed person. I was immediately humbled by the women’s strength and knew I wanted to help people. After school, I moved to the Valley, where I worked as a social worker, mainly helping women and children. I loved work, but I was a single mom and knew that my days of working on call, 24/7, were numbered. I needed to have a consistent schedule for myself and my small child. From then on, I moved to macro-level social work, where I found great joy. I knew and understood how large-scale systemic responses impact direct services! Once I started working in the Arizona Governor’s Office, I learned about and administered grants while also working on policies at the state level. By 2018, I had experienced how a community responds to violence against women, men, and children. I wanted to bring my understanding and expertise into a leadership role. To this day, it gives me great pride that I have worked in most of the positions at New Life Center because it has given me a detailed understanding of what it’s like being on the front line.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Ha, not! I have fallen and failed more times than I’d like to remember. But, I don’t think that success comes from roads that are made easy. I have built my career by taking roads less traveled, listening to my gut, and not allowing others’ opinions about what they think I’m capable of to affect me. I’m gritty, stubborn, and willing to try new things, traits that have almost always paid off. I keep trying and working with strong integrity.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
New Life Center is the largest domestic violence shelter in Arizona, and one of the largest in the country, serving more than 1,000 children and adults annually through an emergency shelter and outreach support program, where more than 70 percent of the shelter population is children. NLC is committed to increasing community awareness about intimate partner abuse, human trafficking, and sexual violence and creating the most effective, trauma-informed practices for helping survivors heal. In 2017, New Life Center served more children and supplied more bed nights than any other facility providing emergency shelter to domestic violence survivors in Arizona. In May of 2022, NLC opened one of Arizona’s first sexual assault crisis centers for victims of rape, sexual violence, and human trafficking, The New Life Center Sunshine Healing Services Center.

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check?
I love the podcast; We Can Do Hard Things, hosted by Glennon Doyle and Abby Wambach. It’s a modern take on girl power! Life is hard and hearing the vulnerability and resiliency of women on this show is one of my favorite things to listen to Sunday mornings while I’m doing housework. The Body Keeps Score, by Bessell Van Der Kolk, M.D., is a book I believe should be required reading in college. Everyone has experienced a form of trauma, so understanding what trauma does to the body, mind, spirit, and society is crucial for people to heal. Also, I highly recommend any daily affirmation books that speak directly to your needs. Our minds need affirming ideas to hold onto every day because we live in a swift past world and are overloaded with information. My daily affirmation practice has helped me find peace, even in some of the hardest moments.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://newlifectr.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newlifectr/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewLifeCtr
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/newlifecenter1

Image Credits
New Life Center