A La Porte County Life in the Spotlight: Sunny Akhigbe

sunny-akhigbeSunny Akhigbe is dedicated to his children, his community, his job at Keys Counseling, and his work with the Michigan City chapter of People Against Violence Everywhere (P.A.V.E.).

Completely dedicated to the troubled youth in his community, Akhigbe started off his career working for the La Porte County Juvenile Services and the Indiana Department of Corrections for Juveniles. While working there, Akhigbe was recommended to the operational manager of Keys Counseling, Joe Perez. Akhigbe chose to accept the position offered to him, because he was impressed with how Keys Counseling worked.

"I thought it was important that the company actually works with families and their children, finding lasting solutions to the problems they are all facing, not just a temporary fix," Akhigbe said when talking about his work. "Keys is one of the best agencies in the US that I've worked for. They are real, and they provide real solutions to the problems these children are facing on a day to day basis."

At Keys Counseling, Akhigbe attends to a variety of duties, including anger management therapy, making sure troubled children remain in school, reestablishing troubled youths into society, drug screenings, grief support, and teaching the children social skills that allow them to get along with one another and respect one another in society. At the moment, he is coordinating with Michigan City High School, to start an anger management program to help those troubled children.

Through his work with Keys Counseling, Akhigbe has worked with many troubled youths and, as a result, decided to co-found People Against Violence Everywhere (P.A.V.E) in Michigan City, Indiana with Keys Counseling co-worker Joe Perez, and many others active in the local community. Akhigbe took the idea to a supervisor at Keys Counseling back in June of 2013 when one of his former clients was attacked and passed away. Perez was elected President of P.A.V.E., and together he, Akhigbe, and the other founders and members organize and supervise events they sponsor, always brainstorming new ways to help the community.

When he's not working with Keys Counseling or P.A.V.E., Akhigbe volunteers even more of his time to the community's youth. He offers his time for individual mentoring, volunteers as a sixth grade soccer coach, supervises troubled youths in various locations giving back to their community, and much more.

"It's good to have the youth promote themselves, to show their community that there's a good side to every troubled kid. All they need is the chance to prove that they can be of use in society," Akhigbe said.

In what remains of his spare time, Akhigbe makes sure to keep himself busy with many, many different hobbies and interests. He loves to workout, is a body builder and model, enjoys riding his motorcycle, plays soccer, and loves running.

"I can still run a mile in under five minutes," he said, proudly. "But, if there's one thing I want people to take away, it's this... Just because a child is troubled, that doesn't mean he or she is a bad kid. Give them the chance to prove themselves."