Partners & Projects

In 2019 I joined Collective Justice as a Healing Justice Facilitator for the staff/membership, as well as with the HEAL Circle Program and DAPs Facilitated Dialogue Program.

Collective Justice is a restorative justice organization brought together by survivors and imprisoned community members in Washington State. Through the collective wisdom and power of our members, we work toward cultural and systemic transformation that centers the dignity and resilience of all people impacted by mass imprisonment and violence. Our purpose is to support communities most impacted by interpersonal and state violence to build movements for safety and justice rooted in racial justice and collective liberation.

In 2024, Ahlay Blakely, Siena Tenisci, and I began collaborating to birth the Grieving White Supremacy project. We facilitate ritual spaces that combine somatic practice from my generative somatics lineage with grief practices from the lineage of communal grieving brought to the West by Sobonfu and Malidoma Somé.

Grieving White Supremacy is for people of European descent who are aching for a space to grieve both the weapon and the wound of white supremacy. As white people, we are both responsible to dismantle the systems that uphold white supremacist policies, laws and institutions and we are worthy of our own ancestral healing. In fact, the two are not separate. As a people marked by cultural disconnection and deracination, white communities are called to confront and heal ancestral traumas, allowing us to show up with greater dignity and become more effective allies in the work for collective liberation.

In 2022 I began working as a facilitator/consultant with staff at REACH, a nonprofit committed to improving the quality of life for adults who are living outside in the Greater Seattle area. Through training, embodied practice, staff circles and retreats, and restorative dialogues, I have supported the practice of restorative approaches with staff, clients, community members, and systems partners. In 2024, I wrote and compiled the REACH Peace & Repair Toolkit to offer an introductory exposure to key restorative justice and conflict transformation tools for use at REACH.

The Peace & Repair Project at REACH seeks to enhance community safety through the application of restorative processes that promote healing and accountability for every community member without reliance on punitive systems and practices. We envision a community, grounded in radical belonging, with the skills and resources to navigate conflict and harm in ways that strengthen relationships, facilitate healing, and end cycles of violence.

I began studying politicized trauma healing with Generative Somatics in 2004 and became a teacher and strategy team member with gs in 2010. We teach courses on embodied leadership and trauma healing for social justice leaders throughout the country.

The mission of gs is to support social and climate justice movements in achieving their visions of a radically transformed society. We do this by bringing somatic transformation to movement leaders, organizations, and alliances. Our programs engage the body (emotions, sensations, physiology), in order to align our actions with values and vision, and heal from the impacts of trauma and oppression. We aim to advance loving and rigorous movements that possess the creativity, resilience, and liberatory power needed to transform society.

In Spring of 2019, I brought together students, staff, and community members for a four month organizing process that culminated in a school-wide, daylong event focused on student empowerment, community building, and creating change. This first-of-it’s-kind event in the District mobilized and engaged the entire student body (1000) and staff (100), and trained 72 student facilitators to lead workshops, assemblies, and a large-scale art project on building a more healing and just school culture.

1. To affirm and elevate the voices of HHS students.
2. To support students to become leaders - and partners with staff - in building a more just and loving culture at HHS.
3. To encourage students and staff to understand root causes of conflict and to build solidarity with one another.
4. To open possibilities for ongoing, collaborative approaches to building community and solving problems within the school community.

In 2017 I adapted my Trauma Informed Youth Work training for use with the Youth Worker Institute. Over the course of 3 years, I provided 10 daylong trainings to youth workers from participating organizations and trained YouthCare’s Training Program Manager to facilitate the trainings on their own.

The Youth Worker Institute (YWI) is an innovative pilot project focused on training and professional development for service providers working with homeless youth and young adults in King County. The YWI is led by YouthCare and includes Friends of Youth, Nexus Youth and Family, the Accelerator YMCA, New Horizons, Street Youth Ministries, ROOTs Young Adult Shelter, TeenFeed, and Peace for the Streets by Kids from the Streets (PSKS).

In 2016 I was asked to lead the Trauma Informed Youth Work training cohort through SYVPI, which brought together managers and direct service workers from 16 youth-serving organizations in Seattle for a 6 month learning cohort. Along with my foundational Trauma Informed Youth Work curriculum, we addressed issues of suicide, dating violence, and commercial sexual exploitation of youth.

Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative was established in 2009 as a comprehensive, city-wide approach to reducing youth violence in Seattle. The project focused on youth 12-17 years old who were most likely to both experience and commit violence. Through partnership with local organizations throughout Central, Southeast, and Southwest Seattle, SYVPI provided both prevention and intervention services.