Christian R. Brown: Founder & President

Indigenous Youth Services was founded by Christian R. Brown in response to a painful and ongoing reality: the cycle of separation that has impacted Indigenous families for generations has not ended. It has changed form.

Christian is Haida First Nations from Skidegate, Haida Gwaii. His work is rooted in the historical truth that residential schools were not isolated events of the past, but part of a larger system designed to separate Indigenous children from their families, culture, language, and identity. The intergenerational trauma caused by forced removal, institutional abuse, and cultural erasure continues to shape the lives of Indigenous families today.

While residential schools have closed, the pattern of separation has continued through modern systems. Indigenous children remain vastly overrepresented in child welfare and foster care. Across Canada, Indigenous youth are removed from their homes at rates that far exceed their population. Many experience instability, disconnection from culture, and environments that lack cultural safety. Too often, they are misunderstood, mislabeled, or mistreated within systems that were intended to protect them.

Working on the front lines of care, he saw Indigenous youth removed not because families lacked love, but because systems lacked support. He saw children placed in environments that did not understand their identity. He saw caregivers struggling without access to culturally grounded services. He saw behavior treated as defiance rather than distress, and trauma met with punishment rather than understanding.

What became clear was this: the cycle of separation had evolved, but it had not disappeared.

Indigenous Youth Services was born to disrupt that cycle.

Christian founded the organization with a singular mission: to prevent unnecessary family separation, to bring meaningful support directly into homes, and to ensure Indigenous youth remain connected to their families, communities, and cultural identity whenever safely possible.

He believes that the overrepresentation of Indigenous youth in care is not a reflection of family failure. It is a reflection of systemic gaps. It is a reflection of historical harm that has never been fully repaired. And it is a call to build something different.

Through culturally grounded, relationship-centered in-home supports, Indigenous Youth Services works to address crisis before removal becomes the default response. The organization prioritizes prevention, caregiver empowerment, trauma-informed understanding, and long-term stability rooted in belonging.

At the heart of this work is a refusal to accept separation as normal.

Christian’s leadership is driven by a generational responsibility. A responsibility to interrupt patterns that have persisted since residential schools. A responsibility to create care models that restore dignity rather than replicate institutional harm. And a responsibility to ensure that Indigenous children grow up knowing who they are, where they come from, and that their families are worth strengthening, not replacing.

Indigenous Youth Services exists to defeat a cycle that has plagued Indigenous communities for generations. It exists to replace removal with support, control with understanding, and disconnection with belonging.

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Accomplishments & Contributions

At just 29 years old, Christian R. Brown has already built a body of work rooted in one clear purpose: transforming how Indigenous youth and families are supported by replacing reactive, placement-driven systems with understanding-centered, relationship-based care.

Christian’s accomplishments are not measured only by titles or frameworks, but by the lives impacted, families kept together, and systems challenged to do better.

Drawing from intensive frontline experience and lived cultural responsibility, Christian has developed practical care models, authored best-selling books, and founded Indigenous Youth Services to directly confront the generational cycle of separation that continues to affect Indigenous communities.

His work bridges behavioral science, cultural understanding, and real-world application, creating tools that caregivers and professionals can actually use in homes, communities, and high-acuity care environments.

Creator of the A.I.M. Model

Christian developed the A.I.M. Model (Action, Intention, Motivation) to shift behavioral support away from surface-level control and toward deeper understanding.

The A.I.M. Model teaches practitioners to move beyond asking “What is this child doing?” and instead ask “Why does this behavior exist?” By examining Action, Intention, and Motivation, the model reveals emotional drivers, unmet needs, and environmental stressors that traditional interventions often overlook.

Today, A.I.M. is used as a foundational framework for decoding behavior, strengthening caregiver relationships, supporting emotional regulation, and creating sustainable change rooted in insight rather than punishment.

For Christian, A.I.M. represents a rejection of compliance-based care and a return to curiosity, compassion, and accountability.

Developer of the H.U.M.A.N.S Care Model

In response to the systemic abuse, neglect, and mistreatment Indigenous youth continue to experience in institutional care, Christian created the H.U.M.A.N.S Care Model, a comprehensive framework designed to restore humanity, dignity, and cultural safety to caregiving environments.

H.U.M.A.N.S integrates:

Humanized care
Understanding cultural and personal context
Mapping emotional landscapes
Anatomy of behavior
Nurturing change through structured intervention
Surpassing long-term support needs

This model directly challenges systems that prioritize containment over connection. It demands that environments themselves be examined, not just youth behavior. It provides clear structure for accountability while maintaining relational compassion.

For Christian, H.U.M.A.N.S is both professional innovation and moral responsibility. It exists to ensure youth are never dehumanized in the name of intervention and that care environments actively promote healing rather than retraumatization.

Best-Selling Author and Educator

Christian is also a best-selling author whose books translate complex behavioral concepts into practical, accessible guidance for caregivers, professionals, and families. His writing focuses on understanding trauma, decoding behavior, strengthening caregiver capacity, and building systems that prioritize prevention over placement.

His publications are used in training programs, professional development settings, and care environments to help readers move from reactive intervention toward compassionate understanding and long-term growth.

Through his writing and education work, Christian continues to influence how professionals approach crisis, connection, and care across multiple sectors.

Systems-Level Impact

Beyond models and books, Christian’s most significant accomplishment is building real-world alternatives to institutional care.

Through Indigenous Youth Services, he has helped establish:

Prevention-focused in-home support programs
Family preservation initiatives such as The Stay Home Project
Relationship-centered care models
Training frameworks for caregivers and professionals
Culturally grounded alternatives to placement-based systems

His work directly supports youth and families while contributing to broader conversations around trauma-informed care, behavioral understanding, and systemic reform in child welfare and mental health.

Christian’s leadership is guided by a generational responsibility: to interrupt cycles of separation rooted in residential schools, to challenge modern systems that continue to remove Indigenous children at disproportionate rates, and to build care models that keep families together whenever safely possible.

His accomplishments reflect more than professional success.

They reflect a commitment to dignity, connection, and future generations.

Christian R. Brown: Founder & President

Accomplishments & Contributions

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