Bethany Haley

Miss Bethany Haley is proudly Kentucky born and bred. When she is not seeing clients in her private counseling practice in Nashville, you can find her either playing with her nieces and nephew, in the depths of war-torn parts of Africa dancing or drawing with former child soldiers or involved in advocacy work by speaking to groups or politicians. Despite working hard to earn her PhD in counseling psychology and her masters in social work, she does not like to be called “doctor” and she would rather be in the floor playing with children than behind her desk…..or deer hunting. She and Peggy Cox co-founded eXile international in 2008 after Bethany returned from DR Congo. “I had mothers trying to give me their children and child soldiers asking me to be their mothers…. I was never the same, and I knew something had to be done for these people.”

eXile international Inc. currently supports weekly art, dance, drama, music, and expressive trauma rehabilitation and peace-building programs on the ground with local counselors in Gulu, Uganda and Goma, Congo for former child soldiers, war-affected children, and young girls who have been victim of sexual violence. They also take groups 3 -4 times a year to provide art therapy workshops with war-affected children. Focal points of the organization also include trauma trainings for local leaders, advocacy work in Washington DC, and bringing awareness of child soldiering and the needs of war-affected children through an art exhibition of the children’s drawings called The Poza Project.

“Our dream for them is not just to be survivors of war but to be the next leaders of peace in their communities” – Haley says