Dissociation 101

I completed my master's in social work from Portland State University, where I was the recipient of the Laurels Scholarship and graduated Magna Cum Laude. Following graduation, I worked as a medical social worker in the emergency department, medical floors and on an inpatient geriatric psychiatry unit. I started my private practice in 2007, which specialized in trauma and dissociative disorders. After five years of serving this population, the need for more holistic approaches to trauma that were safe and accessible to survivors became increasingly clear. In 2012 I started Integrative Trauma Treatment Center (ITTC), an outpatient mental health clinic housed in Portland, OR. ITTC offers continuing education which offers specialized trainings with a mission to include and elevate clinical voices from all over the world. My most recent endeavor was the launch of an online Trauma Coach Certification course that is designed to be globally accessible and culturally adaptable. This project was designed following trainings I facilitated in Rwanda that were an effort to provide a multicultural platform for clinicians to learn about other cultural lenses through which they could approach their work. My contribution in Rwanda extended to the development of mHub Rwanda, which is an outpatient mental health clinic that is run by Rwandans, for Rwandans. I continue to volunteer my services as a trauma consultant within the mHub community.