We've lived it.
Skorpion Strength wasn't built from a textbook. It was built by two people who know what it is to struggle, and what it takes to keep going.
Why we built something different
James and Sarah came to this from living inside systems that too often judge people the moment they ask for help, which defeats the whole purpose of asking in the first place.
Both know what it is to mask and suppress who they really are just to move through a world that doesn't understand how they think or work. Smiling on the outside while screaming on the inside. It took a real toll on their mental and physical health long before the two of them ever crossed paths.
When they saw how broken the system was, they didn't try to fix it from the inside. They built something different instead, something they both wish had existed for them, and never did. Too many so-called experts know the theory and have never lived the practice. So they build from lived experience, and from strengths and abilities first, never deficits.
This isn't an agency. This is a movement.
Why “Skorpion”? And why the K?
People ask. Both are on purpose, and here is the story from James.
The scorpion
I’m a Scorpio, and I have always been true to my sign: strong, fiercely independent and intense. I’m calmest on or in the water. A scorpion doesn’t make a lot of noise. It is tough, it is watchful, and it holds its ground. That is the kind of strength we are talking about.
I give everything to the people and the work I care about, especially helping others and learning.
Tough problem? I will find a way. Twenty-five years in IT and cybersecurity taught me to troubleshoot anything and to research until I find the answer.
Trust has to be earned. Once it is, it is for life, and I show up.
I read people and situations quickly and accurately, which is a big part of listening well.
The K is for Karen
The K is for my sister, Karen. We were both adopted. She has been through hell and back more than once, and through all of it she kept working to be the best mother she could be to her seven kids. Against the odds, she fought her way up out of the lowest places and became a better person. The K is for her, and it is a reminder of what a comeback looks like.
And the strength
Everyone faces hard times, and everyone has the strength in them to get through. Sometimes what we need is a chance to talk it out and work it out with someone who gets it. Someone who will listen and won’t give up on us.
I know, because I have needed it. I am autistic, with ADHD and OCD. I live with depression and Marfan syndrome, and I have had to learn to work with a lot of anger. I still struggle. What changed things for me was knowing someone would listen, take me seriously, and see me as a whole person, with real feelings and more stories than I can count. There were times I almost didn’t make it. I stayed, and I want everyone to have that same chance to stay and succeed.
That is what Skorpion Strength is: strength in numbers, and strength in lived experience. We are here to give back.
The strength to carry on.
James Dedrickson, co-founder
If you are in crisis or thinking about hurting yourself, call or text 988 any time. You don’t have to carry it alone.
James Dedrickson
The iron never judged me.
Growing up, James had a hard time focusing in school and didn't like authority. His brain ran, and still runs, a million miles an hour. He felt like an outsider, and after years of therapists, counselors and medications that didn't reach him, he felt like he had nobody to talk to.
Then he picked up a bodybuilding magazine, and soon after, his first weight. He was hooked. He could take everything in his head and channel it into changing himself, instead of hurting anyone or anything. The iron could never be destroyed, and it was always there when he needed it most.
Fitness gave him somewhere to unload. What he didn't have was someone to talk to who understood. That is what he is building now.
Lived experience is the credential
James spent 25+ years in IT, information security and cybersecurity, building systems to protect enterprise networks and find vulnerabilities. Pattern recognition, attention to detail and analytical thinking are wired into him as an AuDHD person. When he turned them toward the support system, he saw what wasn't working, and instead of accepting it, he built something different.
He is also an independent provider who delivers community-based support to people with developmental disabilities, and he has completed the 60-hour Peer Support Specialist training. Peer support isn't about having all the answers. It is about walking beside someone with genuine understanding, showing that growth is possible, and meeting people exactly where they are.
I didn't just study this system. I've lived it. And that experience is my credential.
“During my times of crisis, I didn't have the support I wished I had. I had to struggle and find my own way. I don't want others to have to go down that same path.”
James Dedrickson, co-founder
Sarah Perkins
She built anyway.
Sarah's path to advocacy was forged through real struggle. She is a mother of two, a survivor, and someone who has been failed by systems that should have protected her. Every door that slammed in her face became fuel to build something better.
She didn't just survive. She built anyway. Her background in photography and art taught her to look past the obvious and see the whole person, not just the label, and she brings that to everything Skorpion Strength creates.
What she brings
As Executive Director, Sarah leads the day-to-day work and the direction of Skorpion Strength. She brings a creative eye, deep experience moving through systems as a neurodivergent parent, and calm clarity when the stakes are highest.
For Sarah, peer support is deeply personal. It is the thing she needed, and didn't always have, during the hardest seasons of her life. She believes no one should have to find their way alone, that shared experience is a form of expertise, and that showing up as a whole person is the only way to truly support someone.
I'm here BECAUSE of those failures, not despite them.
What we believe
Lived experience first
We don't just study struggle. We've lived it. That isn't a limitation. It's our greatest credential.
No judgment, ever
You deserve support without having to justify your struggles, prove your diagnosis, or earn our help.
Strengths over deficits
We start with what you bring to the table, not what systems have told you is wrong with you.
Nobody left behind
We move as a community. We walk alongside you, so you know you are not alone.