ABOUT
Courageous Girls encourages and equips moms of daughters within the context of small communities.
Our motivation is to see a generation of women who are navigating trusted relationships, are confident in who God says He is and who He made them to be and are resiliently moving through the peaks and valleys of life. A generation of women who are rooted in grace and free from the performance-based treadmill we are enticed with every day.
CG answers this goal by providing clear and trusted Biblical, clinical and relational wisdom for moms. With the long-term goal in mind, lessons are created as building blocks and encouraged to unfold within community.
Not only does a CG community provide the perfect place to practice the art of relationship, but it also allows the moms to share the load which provides a diversity in leadership. All the while nurturing a trusted connection with the first model in a daughter’s life, her mom.
Groups provide a safe place to focus on God’s word rather than the competing influences in the world. Instead of competition, comparison and judgment…groups strive to grow in gratitude, joy and acceptance. CG is an intentional choice to equip ourselves and our daughters to love others well and to live from a place of wholeness and grace.
Who Is a Courageous Girl?
When we know we are loved, we can boldly offer that same love to those around us. We need one another to walk this journey called life.
We loudly proclaim that Courageous Girls come in all shapes and sizes, but the core of who she is being transformed into can be described in a special acronym: COURAGEOUS GIRL
We firmly believe every girl has a unique purpose, and is equipped for that purpose.
The root of this powerful truth is developed as we have relationship with God and with each other, learning ways to lean into God’s grace.
MEET OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM
You can reach out to our Courageous Girls Leadership Team
by sending an email to: info@mycourageousgirls.com
Board of Directors
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Terra Mattson, MA, LMFT, LPC
CO-FOUNDER
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Jeff Mattson, M.A. ORGL
CO-FOUNDER
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Aimee Eckley
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Wendy Higgins
Advisory Board
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Steph West
SHERWOOD, OREGON
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Lorna Borger
BOULDER, COLORADO
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Hollie Perlmutter
SHERWOOD, OREGON
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Sarah Pickell
NEWBERG, OREGON
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Meagan Brown
AUSTIN, TEXAS
Our Story
You are a mom who wants to lead your daughter and create a trusted relationship with her. And like most moms, you might feel alone, ill-equipped and even confused about where to start.
I am Terra Mattson, a mom of two daughters and this is why I started Courageous Girls. I am you. And I wanted something different for my own two girls in a world of confusing messages.
As a professional counselor and licensed marriage and family therapist for close to two decades, as well as serving in pastoral ministries for close to ten of those years, I became keenly attuned to the needs of moms and daughters today. From treating sexual betrayal and addiction, sexual abuse, trafficking, anxiety, depression, suicide, eating disorders, gender dysphoria, primarily with Christian leaders and their families, I have seen an enormous gap between what we all preach and how we are actually living. And yet, sometimes we over complicate things and if God has taught me anything over the years, it's that a safe and trusted relationship can change everything!
I wanted something that allowed every mom and daughter to know the kind of love that allows her to use her unique voice, grow in confidence, build resiliency, and experience grace. Honestly, I also wanted accountability in my own life to walk the talk with my own daughters and I couldn’t find anything that would help me integrate what I understood as a trauma-informed clinician and as a follower of Jesus.
So...I created something and started with my people, never imagining a movement.
Wanting moms and daughters to experience something counter to the performance-based mantras of today, to have relevant conversations our daughters desperately need, and to create a safe and trusted community where all of us can practice living LOVED - the first Courageous Girls group was birthed with a few friends and their daughters outside Portland, Oregon in 2012.
With the help of other passionate mothers who have spent decades in the fields of teaching, counseling, leadership and ministry, Courageous Girls has become something far beyond what Jeff and I could have imagined. And … we are still watching the story unfold!
The Organization
Courageous Girls is a 501(c)3 but was originally born out of the work Jeff & Terra do with Living Wholehearted, a professional counseling and organizational & leadership development firm.
As a social entrepreneurs, Courageous Girls is an extension of helping women, young and old, live and leader with integrity in the home and community, developing female leaders in the church. Led by a team of moms who are passionate about the CG movement, the Board is committed to keeping the Courageous Girls curriculum and group training available to all around the globe. This is why the curriculum is currently free.
There are many behind-the-scenes costs from curriculum development, professional editing, website, videography, marketing, partner relations, CG leader training, staff and more. All tax-deductible donations, including any CG merch and event fees go directly to the mission of Courageous Girls.
If you are interested in partnering with us in this incredible and unique movement, here are ways you can support:
Start your own Courageous Girls group with your daughter.
Lead a Courageous: Being Daughters Rooted in Grace book study with other moms and purchase your books. (The book is sold anywhere you buy books.)
Purchase CG merch & share the message of CG through hats, shirts, stickers, etc.
Make a tax-deductible donation and pay it forward.
Sign up for coaching, or attend an event.
Be a committed prayer partner, praying for moms and daughters around the world who are intentionally pursuing their daughters and helping them grow in courage to trust God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength.
The Branding
The Courageous Girls name and logo symbolizes many things.
The Girls in Courageous Girls is intentionally plural because we don’t navigate this journey alone. As mom and daughter group members, we need each other! Learning how to love and be loved within the context of community is one of the greatest gifts Courageous Girls has to offer.
Color variations throughout the graphic logo represent the different stages of a daughter’s life; we help moms walk with their daughters at every stage of their growing years. The many contrasting and complimentary colors represent the beautiful diversity of women, which provide various role models and mentors for our girls, enhancing our understanding of what it means to be female: from wiring to culture, to body type and skin color, to gifts, talents, experiences, and passions!
The mountain represents the reality that every mom and daughter will experience peaks and valleys in their life. We are less about preparing the road for our girls, and more about preparing our girls for the road that lies ahead. We can help our daughters trust who God says He is and who He says they are, which allows them to face every leg of their journey with courage.
Our tagline, “rooted in grace” comes from the heart stance that living a Christian and human life is not about following rules, performing, or meeting expectations of our culture, churches, and communities. Rather, it is about trusting a process of transformation that is messy and downright hard at times. It’s about knowing and trusting that by God’s grace alone, He is at work in us, our daughters, and within our groups. We do not want to raise performanced-based Christians, but rather young women who know they are loved and know how to love others well, learned through authentic relationships and consistent participation in community.
