Hello friends, family, and fellow healers!

I have been invited to co-lead two trauma care workshops in Kenya this December, and cannot be more thrilled for the opportunity. I will be volunteering as a therapist and trauma educator alongside a dear friend and inspirational colleague, Wendy Atkins, who works as an ethnomusicologist and trauma specialist in Central Africa.

The first workshop we will be facilitating is for a group of Sudanese refugees who have come to Nairobi for a year-long program through Daystar University. These students have been impacted in various ways by the ongoing humanitarian crisis in their home country and communities, and have come to Daystar seeking peace and a hopeful future. I am honored by the opportunity to be alongside this group for a week, and excited for the chance to offer trauma care and mental health tools that can assist them in their desires for both individual and collective healing.

The second workshop will be similar in content but offered to caregivers and community leaders working in Kenya and neighboring countries. This group is still forming, and we are excited to see who will be participating as the invitation is extended to organizations in Nairobi and beyond.

The opportunity to participate in these two workshops feels like a full circle moment for me. Trauma care and expressive arts have been especially close to my heart since 2010 when I first witnessed how local art forms, such as music, dance, and singing offered trauma-impacted villages in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) an avenue to express and process their emotional pain with one another, and to find resilient ways towards peace and healing. A deep passion grew from this experience that catalyzed me towards completing a counseling psychology masters in 2021, and establishing me in my current work as a trauma-specialized psychodynamic therapist. Throughout these years of training and practicing, I have held my experiences in DRC very close to my heart. They have continued to be a guide in my vocation as a healer as I seek out ways to support individuals across the globe in their desire for holistic hope and healing.

To make these workshops possible and free to participants, I need your help! I am hoping to raise $4,500 to help cover the costs which include: my roundtrip airfare from Seattle to Nairobi & ground transportation ($1,265), Kenya entry visa ($50), lodging & meals ($485), workshop supplies ($200), and a stipend for 2 weeks of facilitation ($2,500). Thank you so much for considering a donation to join me in this work, and to support these groups in their hope for healing.

As a BIG thank you and a fun way to share more about the trauma-healing tools we'll be offering in Nairobi, I plan to host a free online workshop this November, and I would be delighted for you to join in! Let me know if you're interested and I'll include you on the evite list :)