Our Mission
The Need / Crisis
For anyone who's watched someone you love struggle to achieve sobriety only to have it end in a relapse, or worse, Unshattered is the lifeline that proves it's possible to survive and thrive after addiction.
Our Mission
End the addiction relapse cycle by providing pathways toward economic independence and sustained sobriety.
When going back is not an option, we must pave a way forward.
After studying the journeys of women in recovery, Kelly Lyndgaard realized that a pathway to economic recovery is just as essential as the physical and psychological healing from addiction. Even with the strongest desires to stay sober, individuals who complete recovery programs yet lack job skills and/or sufficient education are highly likely to return to the community where they were previously using and relapse. This fact led her to founding the 501(c)3 nonprofit social enterprise called Unshattered. At Unshattered, we pave the road between recovery and long-term sobriety.
Employment and community are key to ending relapse.
Unshattered does more than just offer jobs. We are a community of like-minded women, who are expressing our value and purpose through work, and are committed to ongoing personal and professional development. We wrap our work week around a curriculum designed to inspire each woman to her highest possible level of success. Employees spend 10% of their paid hours receiving personal and professional education to help them grow and thrive.
Our premium handbags are a tangible representation of our employee’s life stories
Each Unshattered handbag and accessory is unique and each has a story, like the women who make them. Honoring the Japanese art form of Kintsugi, where cracked pottery is repaired with gold lacquer to highlight the breaks, each of our bags has a seam of gold thread. The practical solution of Kintsugi became a beautiful form of art and serves as a metaphor for the women makers of our bags, who are themselves more beautiful for having been broken.
It’s not about the bags
Our work is about creating opportunities for women overcoming addiction and trauma to thrive. It’s about personal development, deep inner work that brings potential to stitch lives back together that have been severed in the turmoil of addiction and trauma. So while it was never about the bags, these bags change the lives of the women who craft them, they deliver hope to those who carry them. Our brand is a message that healing is possible for us all.
Why Unshattered?
When you support Unshattered, you are offering women a combination of community, employment, and personal and professional development. This combination gives them the opportunity to find their purpose and live an addiction-free life. Just like your handbag, these women are being made new again.