Meet our 2024 Volunteer of the Year, Dr. Ryan Averett

“When I was serving in the military in South America, I saw sex trafficking firsthand. I saw how destructive it is. I was glad to find out there is an organization providing people with some sort of aftercare because too often there’s nothing for them after they make it through.

When I found out about Dahlia’s Hope from a friend, I attended the Gala with my wife and had a great time. Then, I went to the pool party, became a donor, and started volunteering to help survivors in my clinic.

A lot of survivors come out of that with chronic and debilitating pain. At my clinic, we provide pain management and corrective therapies free of charge through regenerative medicine to help them try to move past their injuries. If you have chronic pain every day, it's probably a pretty frequent reminder in your conscious mind of the things you went through, so we can help them get past that. It assists them in working on the emotional and cognitive consequences of trafficking by not having pain at the forefront of their mind every day. If you have chronic, debilitating pain, you will remember exactly how it happened and when and why–but as soon as that pain goes away, our brain tends to forget.

I know they suffered intense, emotional things too, but this is one step to help them move forward with the physical effects. If we can get them out of chronic pain, maybe it won't be at the forefront of their mind every single day as much. It also adds another layer of reason for what we do at our clinic. The patients who support my practice are helping to support a bigger cause.

It feels good to be able to do what we can, to help where we can. The things you might not have thought were possible seem to work out in the way they need to. We give first and trust it will work out.”

Dr. Ryan Averett

American Fork, UT