ABOUT | SINCE 1993

Echo Springs began with a question: What happens after 18?

In 1993, Doug Kim-Brown founded Echo Springs alongside Rhea Verbanic after watching young people leave highly structured schools and therapeutic programs, often without enough support for college, work, relationships, and independent adult life.

Echo was created as a place where young adults could slow down enough to understand themselves while actively participating in real life. From the beginning, relationships and a belief in their capability shaped the work.

As the baton of ownership has passed from one generation to the next, Echo has continued to grow while remaining independently owned and operated. Today, John Winton, Chris Ankney, and Chelsea Dickinson carry forward that commitment, honoring Echo’s roots while continuing to evolve.

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A woman writing on a whiteboard in a cozy, well-lit room with another woman sitting on a blue couch, smiling, and a large plant nearby.

  • 1993

    ECHO SPRINGS BEGINS IN NORTH IDAHO

  • 2014

    ECHO SPRINGS BEGINS A NEW CHAPTER WITH A TRANSITION IN OWNERSHIP

  • 2018

    ECHO UTAH OPENS IN OGDEN, UTAH

  • 90 Days

     ECHO PORTUGAL IS BORN, INTRODUCING A UNIQUE 90-DAY HYBRID PROGRAM

Three adults sitting together and talking on the front steps of a white house

HOW ECHO GREW

A program that grew by listening.

There was no complete roadmap for young adult transitional care when Echo began. Much of the program developed by paying attention to what participants needed next.

As young adults gained confidence and independence, new needs became visible. More community. More real-world practice. More responsibility. Sometimes more support.

So Echo kept developing.

Over time, that process became a broader continuum of support shaped not only by professional experience but by what participants and families continued to teach us.

GROWTH OVER TIME

Echo kept developing.

When John Winton and Chris Ankney began the transition into ownership in 2014, they wanted to preserve what had always mattered while continuing to strengthen the work.

Clinical support deepened. Family involvement grew. Mentoring became more intentional. Our curriculum evolved as our understanding of trauma, attachment, neurodiversity, and young adult development expanded.

One thing became increasingly clear: young adults can share a developmental stage without sharing the same story. That continues to shape how Echo works today.

A young woman with long brown hair and a tattoo on her arm, smiling while preparing vegetables in a kitchen. She is cutting a lime on a wooden countertop, with tomatoes, onions, and peppers around her. There is a window behind her showing trees and houses outside.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

"You all were so caring and amazing... Echo is a truly special program, with truly special people, and I am so grateful that we ended up here."

JOHN - ECHO SPRINGS ALUMNI

ONE ECHO

Three locations, one shared foundation.

  • Young adults playing chess at a dining table

    Echo Springs Idaho

    COEUR D’ALENE, IDAHO

  • Large group of young adults seated on a lawn under a tree with a dog

    Echo Springs Utah

    OGDEN, UTAH

  • Narrow cobblestone street lined with whitewashed buildings and pink bougainvillea in Portugal

    Echo Portugal

    PORTUGAL

Echo began in North Idaho. Utah grew from within our team. Portugal brought the work into an entirely new setting.

Utah carried Echo’s developmental philosophy and curriculum into Ogden, adapting them to a new community. An opportunity in Portugal allowed us to apply that same foundation to a 90-day experience of travel, culture, therapy, and shared responsibility.

Each location has its own people, environment, and opportunities. They are intentionally different, and unmistakably Echo.

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AT THE HEART OF ECHO

Some things have been here from the beginning.

  • Relationships come first.

  • Community matters.

  • Support and challenge belong together.

  • Young adults deserve dignity, agency, and increasing responsibility for their own lives.

We believe independence does not mean isolation. Young adults deserve to feel known, respected, and genuinely cared about while taking increasing ownership of their lives.

Participants still return or reach out years, sometimes decades, after leaving Echo. Relationships formed here can continue long after formal programming ends. When one person grows, we all grow.

LOOKING AHEAD

More than 30 years later, Echo is still learning.

Echo Springs was founded more than 30 years ago with a clear purpose: to create the kind of support young adults needed as they moved into adulthood.

Today, we’re bringing our curriculum, training, values, and culture together as One Echo while preserving what makes Idaho, Utah, and Portugal unique. We keep asking what young adults need now, what we’ve learned, and what we should reconsider.

That willingness to listen, learn, and evolve has been part of Echo from the beginning. And it continues to shape who we are today.

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