WHO WE ARE

  • "I do this because it deepens my own practice in choosing responses to conflict that lead to healing and not harm. I'm still growing and I get to witness the abundant shapes and models of other people's journeys."

    Founder

    Curriculum Developer

    Facilitator

    Rosa (she/her) is a queer single mama from Harlem, born to Dominican working-class parents. She has published personal essays and fiction writing on motherhood, daughterhood, sexuality, Black feminism, and love. She has taught English in New York City and Oakland high schools for a total of 5 years, and currently resides in Oakland, California.

    Her previous work as a rape crisis counselor for SF WAR and her own personal experiences in surviving domestic violence, sexual violence, and intimate partner violence while attempting to love informs her work. She holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction Writing from Mills College, MS in English Education from University of Rochester as an Urban Teaching Leadership Fellow, and a BA in Black and Latino Urban Studies from San Francisco State University. She taught English at California community colleges before founding Reclaiming Our Own Transcendence in 2018 to explore abolitionist and transformative healing methods to address and end violence.

  • “I do this because this work is my oxygen. It’s not just about healing the painful cycles of harm in my lineages. It’s also what keeps my heart beating. I don’t know another way to live and breathe and love and be in this world than to immerse myself in the practice of healing in community.”


    Curriculum Developer

    Facilitator

    Amy (she/her) is mental health advocate, speaker, writer, facilitator, and co-founder and CEO of Healing Together, a global nonprofit working to end cycles of individual, collective, and generational trauma and harm and democratize access to healing resources for communities disproportionately affected by trauma and systemic violence. To date, Healing Together has trained over 8,000 community healing advocates across four continents who support over 100,000 survivors around the world. A Korean adoptee, Amy is a survivor of orphan trafficking, sexual abuse, and generational trauma, and approaches healing through somatic, expressive, and cultural arts practices.

    Amy holds a Master of Science in Nonprofit Management with a concentration in Global Studies from Northeastern University and a certificate in Trauma-Informed Interventions (UC Berkeley). Back in the day, Amy earned her BS in Business/Accounting and is a licensed CPA (inactive) in California.

    Amy is also working on her first book, The Wound Myth, about her journey as a transracial, transnational adoptee, reuniting with her birth parents, and learning to embrace gratitude as a powerful catalyst for change.

  • Curriculum Developer

    Facilitator

    Tony (he/him) is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, he received a BFA in fine art painting from UC Berkeley, and completed post graduate studies with curricular emphasis on the performing arts of theatre and music at CSU East Bay. He has enjoyed a 42 year career of teaching visual and performing arts, primarily at Saint Mary’s College High School in Berkeley, California, and being the Artistic Director for 60+ theatrical productions. In addition, he has developed and directed multiple performance programs for many schools and community organizations throughout the East Bay with the Theatrical Directors for the City of Oakland Dramatic Arts program, through the Oakland Parks and Recreation Department for a total of 10 years since 1980.

    As a performer he is a recipient of a Bay Area Theatre Critic’s Circle Award for acting, and a National College Theatre Award winner as Performer, Musical Director, and Composer of Original Music for a production of “OEDIPUS REX,”performed at the Kennedy Center for the Arts in Washington D.C.

  • “My personal healing journey started and has been supported continuously because of community and the love of people who were also on their own personal healing journeys. Because I couldn't have done this alone, I've committed myself to being someone who can support others on their journeys to replace cycles of harm with cycles of care, love, and connection."

    Programs and Operations Manager

    Lory Rivera (she/her) is a Boricua born and raised in the "Isla del Encanto." She is an artist, a writer, and a proud chicken mom. Lory holds a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and has written and published short stories and essays on womanhood, queerness, and the fight for liberation. As an artist, she has created murals and revolution pieces that showcase the drive and determination of her people and honor her indigenous ancestors. As a queer femme who has experienced the impacts of violence in her personal life, she has dedicated herself to uplifting those who have walked similar paths.

    She began organizing at a young age, working with her community to set up potlucks, health fairs, and food and supply drives to promote mutual support and community care. In her professional life, Lory has dabbled in education management, leading programs for underserved youth in TN geared to empower them through the development of life skills, social-emotional development, and restorative justice practices.

    As a member of the RooT team, Lory is a helping hand, providing tech support, organizational support, and emotional support. She is an open door and always happy to be a resource to anyone who seeks her out.

  • “I do this work because it invites practicality and hope for radical transformation. I'm grateful for the ways it supports us all to be more accountable, compassionate and grounded in creating a more caring world."


    Curriculum Developer

    Facilitator

    Dominique (she, her) is a Black Queer femme and Bay Area native dedicated to transforming trauma and violence into opportunities of freedom. For the past decade, she has been honored to learn & share liberatory tools for healing. Her former work as the Healing Justice Program Director at Community United Against Violence supported low income to no income queer and Trans survivors of intimate partner violence, hate violence and police violence through direct service and organizing. At CUAV, she provided peer counseling, seasonal healing programs, mentorship and community trainings.

    Her relationship to spirit and the natural world guides her work. She is the founder of Black Seeds Project, where she provides private and group sessions outdoors. Through these offerings, she weaves her studies in psychology, ecotherapy, mindfulness and trauma informed yoga to explore deeper intimacy. Each session is tailored to specific needs around emotional and spiritual health. Her heart swells thinking about the courage it takes to accept the invitation of building an authentic relationship with self, community and mama earth. To learn more: brownsugayogini.com/blackseedsproject.


  • Curriculum Developer

    Facilitator

    Sal Tran (they/them) is a queer Vietnamese filmmaker and touring speaker based in the San Francisco Bay Area. They are one of the co-founders of SunKissed Productions - an independent queer Asian film collective. Sal’s work is rooted within the power of storytelling in film, visual and performative art.

    They focus on mental health advocacy work within queer trans Asian Pacific Islander (QTAPI) communities. Their work has been featured in UC Berkeley's Queer & Asian Conference, National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI), Seattle Transgender Film Festival, National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) Conference, NYC Queer Asian Short Films, As[I]Am Magazine, UC Santa Barbara - Queer Trans People of Color Conference and many more.

  • "I am committed to self-accountability, redefining and co-creating a new brand of masculinity through participating in and facilitating HCH circles imploring encouragement of vulnerable, courageous self-expression with the intention of expanding our capacities for compassion, understanding, and the clear identification and communication of needs, desires and boundaries."

    Facilitator

    Curriculum Developer

    Vic Aguirre (they/he) proudly identifies as a Vallejo original, 1st Generation Xicano, Bay Area Native and Queer Trans Latinx Man. Based in the Mission District, they are a self-described lover, warrior, mother/father/life-giver and product of the Hyphy Movement. Their survival in street-life culture coupled with ancestral inheritance, personal experience in gender affirmation transition and the gift of parenthood has given them an in-depth perspective on resisting binaries, generational trauma, institutional oppression and the work it takes to unlearn toxic patterns of learned behaviors. Childbirth laid the path to self-realization and their path in the healing modalities of Massage Therapy and energy work.

    After giving birth to their daughter in 2012, Vic graduated from the National Holistic Institute of Massage Therapy in San Francisco as a Certified Massage Therapist and Health Educator and has since paired their knowledge with information gleaned in Transgender Healthcare courses at City College of San Francisco to cater their bodywork to serving the Transgender/Non-Binary and BIPOC communities. He is currently pursuing their Trauma Prevention and Recovery Certificate and has been working with ROOT facilitating Healing Cycles of Harm cohorts since 2019, starting as a participant. Vic is honored to be a proud member of the Peaceful Warriors Men’s Group of San Francisco, originally based out of Oakland and has also served as a facilitator of the Queer/Trans Latinx Men’s group, PowerX at the LGBTQ+ Center of Oakland.

  • Curriculum Developer

    Facilitator

    Gabby {G} Momah (they/them) is a Black queer nonbinary storyteller, actor, writer, director, and producer raised on the unceded territories of the Tongva and Ohlone peoples on the west coast. G’s writing, directing and performance work is rooted in showcasing black trans voices and experiences from both comedic and dramatic lenses. They have also performed in various Bay Area theater productions including Schoolgirls; Or the African Mean Girls Play at Berkeley Repertory Theater, Top Girls at American Conservatory Theater and numerous shows with the sketch comedy group Killing My Lobster and the National Queer Arts Festival.

    Gabby is a Resident Artist of Crowded Fire Theater in the Bay Area, and has trained at Stanford University, San Francisco Mime Troupe, and The Actors Space. They are currently pursuing their MFA in Acting and Directing at Brown / Trinity Repertory Theater on occupied Narragansett and Wampanoag land. They are also a bomb cook, enjoy expressing their creativity in the kitchen and always down to build community and prism resources through food.

    As Gabby started working with a Somatic Behavioral Therapist last spring, they applied and joined the BIPOC Summer 2020 Cohort as facilitator-in-training and participant.


  • Curriculum Developer

    Facilitator

    xóchicoatl bello (they/she/amor) is an indigequeer healing practitioner, cultural worker, educator, earth steward, and elder-in-training. xóchicoatl focuses on cultivating cultures of healing by restoring our connections to the sacredness of self, each other, earth, and ancestor through ceremony, circle practice, indigenous technologies & agricultural traditions. They have been co-creating healing spaces for over a decade in Boston Public Schools, community gardens, in the Hudson Valley with Kite’s Nest and Sweet Freedom Farm, and across Turtle Island through their virtual learning herbal programming explicitly for queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, people of color (QTBIPOC) through La Mala Yerba. Their work invites the community into herbal medicine making, farming, ceremony, and circle practice. xóchicoatl believes that these indigenous technologies have kept our people healing for generations, and how we find our way back from the violences of colonization and; transform the wounds of oppression into more healthy, harmonious, and justice-filled connections with ourselves, community, and the Earth.

  • Curriculum Developer

    Facilitator

    Dr. Patty Ramirez (she/her), DSW, MSW is the Founder and Executive Director of the Healing Justice Transformative Leadership Institute where she is developing the Leading with HEART model, a healing-leadership methodology that proposes a process for healing, transformation, and liberation in social justice organizations and movements. Dr. Patty believes that reimagining how we heal and lead by creating a new ecosystem for healing, social justice, and leadership development will increase the sustainability of social justice leaders, organizations, and social justice movements.

    For nearly a decade, Dr. Patty has dedicated her work to serving immigrant victims of crimes, and justice-impacted folks. Patty’s experience ranges from working with the immigrant and refugee population, violence prevention, criminal justice policy advocacy, program development, and organizational development. She is also a founding member of the Los Angeles County Crime Victims Advisory Board. Dr. Ramirez is committed to the vision of collective healing and breaking down barriers that discredit the voice and thought leadership of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.

    Dr. Ramirez is also the creator of her own micro-enterprise, Wild Luna Botanicals, a self-care and wellness lifestyle brand where healing and brujita magic come together.

  • Curriculum Developer

    Facilitator

    For the past 25 years, Sage Hayes (he/she/they) has offered a unique integrated approach to therapeutic change and transformation. Offering Somatic Experiencing (SE), craniosacral therapy, community education, family and systemic constellations and massage therapy. Sage has practiced, taught and facilitates thoughtful reflection and embodied change.

    Sage has been a lead teaching assistant with the Somatic Experiencing Institute for the past 4 years and has assisted countless somatic experiencing trainings since 2010. Sage has recently been in collaborative projects with the Genesis Institute/Liberation Academy, Reclaim Your Own Transcendence - Healing Cycles of Harm and Lumos Transforms. Sage also co-founded the SE Working Group for Racial Justice.

  • Tech Support

    Natasha (they/them) has been on a journey of learning and unlearning, diving into transformative justice with the curiosity of a perpetual student. Since 2010, they've called Oakland, Ohlone territory, their home. Natasha is a tattoo artist turned community event coordinator, bringing their NYC grit and their double Virgo precision to everything they do. With a Cancer moon guiding their compassionate soul, they pour love into everything. When they are not tending to details, you can find them surrounded by dogs, thrifting or knee-deep in soil, nurturing nostalgia/histories, fur babies and plants alike. They identify with their trusty 1993 pickup truck - the perfect mix of rugged practicality and down-to-earth charm.


  • Facilitator

    Esteban Orozco (he/him) has been a holistic nutrition coach for the last eight years, primarily on Ohlone territory. He’s the son of a Huichol midwife and a Mexica medicine man. He grew up in a home that was at times abusive and overcame those struggles to be a healer and advocate for others. His spirituality is a blend of indigenous and Buddhist practice. Esteban has been training with curandera Veronica Igelsis in Mexica/Anahuak healing since October, 2019. He is a former intern with the Buddhist EBMC (East Bay Meditation Center), based in Oakland CA.

    He's been an active member of two men of color groups, including Peaceful Warrior Men's Circle based in Oakland. In the Spring of 2020, Esteban was trained in trauma healing by Healing Cycles of Harm. In the Spring of 2021, Esteban was trained in Trauma-Informed Ethics, Boundaries and Communication by the Trauma Healing Project, based in Eugene OR. All of these various trainings and experiences has helped him to co-facilitate regular online BIPOC talking circles. Esteban is currently on the steering committee for the Healing Clinic Collective Two Spirit Clinic.

  • “I do this work because I believe that healing is everybody’s birthright. I carry a wish that we all will reclaim what we deserve - supportive community.”


    Facilitator

    Jasmin (they/them/theirs) is a mad, queer, gender non-conforming, West-Asian person, based in Brooklyn and from all over. They labor as a healer, trainer, and organizer and especially feel called to facilitate group healing spaces and peer support trainings.

    In addition to their counselor education, Jasmin is trained in various somatic modalities. They believe systemic oppression is a distribution of trauma and that healing is necessary for our individual and collective liberation.

    Jasmin is always thinking about / feeling out / practicing-to-embody what it means to live with integrity, build community, and cultivate relational culture to skill-up movement builders with the hope of another world.

  • Tech Support

    Facilitator

    Madaly Love (they/them) is currently based out of unceded Lisjan Ohlone Territory. They are a curanderx, addiction recovery coach, entheogenic guide, quantum energy healer, community leader, environmental justice advocate, and all around chingonx (bad-ass)! They are committed to trauma-informed facilitation and believe that you are your own best healer. Madaly's ancestors come from Mexico -- with roots in Zacatecas and Michoacán. They feel connected to their Chichimec, Nahua-Otomi, & Purepecha roots, and hold space for the Spanish roots too.Madaly shares their work through the form of 1:1 and group cacao ceremonies, 1:1 coaching, healing energy work with reiki and sound alchemy, transformational hikes in nature, sober dance events, and mindful meditations. Madaly has been in a deep study with cacao for 6 years. Cacao found Madaly when they first got sober

    Madaly is a reiki master teacher and has been practicing for 4 years. They are a trained addiction recovery coach and entheogenic integration coach, and have been practicing for 3 years. They also have a potent background in bay area non-profit work by: connecting local CA farmer to food swamps areas, teaching trauma-informed mindfulness to young people ages 4 - 17, operationalizing and implementing systems/resources to support abolition movement organizers.

  • Tech Support

    Facilitator

    Trina Marie (she/her) is a second generation San Francisco, Mission born descendant of Náhuatl and Boriken heritage. She believes in and promotes the following practices to sustain energetic balance: the power of the breath; time spent convening with nature; creative expression; knowledge of self; and visualization and affirmation writing as methods to manifest the desired experience in one’s life. She is guided by her Ancestral lineage which includes seers, intuits, healers, empaths, and artists.

    She is a nature photographer, dancer, drummer, and Astrology enthusiast. She earned her degree in La Raza Studies from the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University and has a professional background in youth development and non-profit administration. She reminds us that we are more than the labels assigned to us, we are sentient beings on a comprehensive journey of self-discovery, self-actualization, and fulfillment of one’s purpose.

  • Research Consultant

    Jennelle Ramdeen (she/they) is a Black queer nonbinary person from Jerseeyyyy, unceded Lenape land, and born of Trinidadian parents. With deep reverence for the collective Black spirit, Jennelle’s work centers the healing of communities and their individuals as a pathway to liberation.

    They currently lead the Youth Action Institute, a youth policy research and advocacy program of the Center for Court Innovation. Their approach to co-creating spaces to reimagine non-oppressive ways of being while practicing joy. Jennelle's approach empowers the work their young lead to resonate throughout youth and activist communities, effecting NYC policy change. Jennelle has also organized with the New York City chapter of Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100) as a member and the healing and safety committee co-chair. Over the years, they have studied and created spaces for politicized healing combining their reiki practice and shamanic energy work to transform our relationship to accountability and harm.

    Jennelle’s joy practices include learning, storytelling, and creating videos from their personal archives, as well as exploring creatively through zines and collaging. Jennelle joined the QTBIPOC Fall 2021 Cohort of Healing Cycle of Harm as facilitator-in-training and participant, and is continuing to support RooT as an impact reporting consultant and researcher.