Meet the Fam

I love working with people one-on-one, but seeing people connect and bond is so fulfilling! Co-creating a space! Planning activities! I have been facilitating group discussions for over 8 years, beginning my journey as president of French club (lol). While attending Seattle University c/o ‘21, I continued leading conversations as a team leader for my university’s Center for Community Engagement, a group leader for orientation and new student retreat, co-president of our gender justice center, and as president of our QTPOC club. In my final year of my Social Work program, I took a course dedicated to group work while also co-facilitating a creative arts group at a community mental health organization. Whether 3 or 10 or 50—group work has the capacity to form relationships, expand perspectives, and lead to change. I have a pretty adaptive facilitating style being that I’m an earth sun, fire rising + moon, water venus, and air mars; I can keep the conversation grounded, hype the group up, and create space for all the feels. That being said, I tend to lean towards semi-structured and directed group planning, allowing for space to alter the session in real time based on the needs of the group. I practice from the mindset that while I have the title of facilitator, everyone involved in the group helps to create the dynamic. Please ask your fellow group members questions and share your reactions. I acknowledge (and love!) that each group has different goals and energies that impact the dynamic and needs of the time we spend together. I like to bring different activities and ways of reflecting into the group, this could look like participants bringing in a song to share with the group or doing a quick art activity or maybe even doing a show-and-tell. I lead with a pro- fat, Black, and queer lens. I reject white supremacy and its values that have seeped into our society. I believe we as people all have the capacity to cause harm, and we need to be held accountable when those mistakes are made. In groups, it is not uncommon for uncomfortable situations to come up. As a facilitator, I understand that I have a responsibility to re-ground our space. We each have different thresholds and experience the same actions/words differently, so it is necessary for members to let me know when harm they want addressed has occurred. I am currently educating myself on the Transformative Justice process, so I can approach any situations to the best of my ability. In my social work program, I learned that because spaces were client-centered, I could not share about myself and my experiences, BUT with Cosmic Healing Family—we are indeed FAMILY, so for our groups, please know that I will also be processing, healing, and growing with you.