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About the Founder & Lead Trainer

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I am a justice-impacted leader and clinician, a Certified Clinical Trauma Specialist, researcher, and community strategist with a deep commitment to transforming systems and restoring dignity where it has too often been denied.
 

My work sits at the intersection of mental health, public health, reentry, and systems change, shaped by both lived experience and academic rigor. I hold a PhD in Community and Social Services and specialize in trauma-informed frameworks that recognize the long-term psychological, physiological, and social impacts of incarceration and institutional harm.

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Previously, I served as Communications Director for Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (GFADP), where I worked at the nexus of narrative change, advocacy, and public education on issues of state violence, justice, and human dignity. I also served as the Georgia Coordinator for the Multifaith Initiative to End Mass Incarceration, bringing together faith leaders, advocates, and policymakers to advance justice-centered reforms grounded in moral and spiritual accountability.

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I am the founder of Returning Her Home, a transitional housing and healing model for women exiting incarceration. Through this work, I have supported women from all walks of life as they navigate reentry—centering safety, stability, clinical support, and community. The program has contributed to measurable shifts in recidivism outcomes and reentry practices across Georgia, demonstrating what is possible when trauma-informed care is paired with structural support.

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My approach to training and systems consultation is intentionally experiential, ethical, and clinically grounded. I honor lived experience while emphasizing the responsibility that comes with trauma work—particularly the need for evidence-informed practice, supervision, and harm-reduction approaches when working with justice-impacted populations.

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I am also a mother. A Latina. And a survivor of systems that are often designed to break rather than heal. This reality informs every aspect of my work how I teach, how I lead, and how I remain accountable to the people and communities most impacted.

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