United Against Sexual Assault of Sonoma County Staff Qualifications 2009
Christine Castillo, Executive Director – November 2007
BA in Psychology, Sonoma State University, with external Masters work in Psychology.Over 30 years experience with Sonoma County non profits, working with diverse populations and cultures, most recently Youth Business Week California (YBW). Committed to eliminating myths and stereotypes around sexual assault and bringing our community together to become more knowledgeable, educated, and able to speak out against sexual assault, Chris will continue to pursue her passion for community-wide collaboration.
Linda Edwards, Associate Director – August 2007
California State Certified as a Rape Crisis Counselor. Linda brings extensive fundraising, marketing and development, media, and public and community relations experience from 25 years in non-profits as diverse as Hospice, American Lung Association, American Heart Association, and Wells Fargo Center for the Arts. Additional Sonoma County experience comes from four years with the Human Services Commission.
Sara Lang, Communications Coordinator / Grant Writer – September 2003
California State Certified as a Rape Crisis Counselor. With a Fundraising/Resource Development Certificate from Santa Rosa JC, Sara’s educational and work experience combines extensive database, human resources, office management, web page development, and computer and people skills with ongoing education to provide comprehensive support to UASA as database manager, newsletter editor, media liaison, and grant writer.
Lanie Abrams, Clinical Supervisor – July 2010
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT), Registered Art Therapist (ATR), Certified in Hypnosis, EMDR and Somatic Experience. Lanie has 35 years experience working in hospital, rehabilitation, and educational settings, and is currently in private practice in Santa Rosa. She has worked extensively with survivors of incest, childhood abuse, and ritual abuse. Her background in counseling, teaching and supervising has been oriented around Trauma Theory and Recovery. Lanie has been associated with UASA since 2005.
INTERVENTION STAFF
Sophia LaRosa, Crisis Intervention Manager – February 2010
Majoring in Psychology at Sonoma State University, Sophia is a California State Certified Rape Crisis Counselor. Sophia brings a wide array of professional experience from her professional background, including human resources, operations management, counseling of the developmentally-disabled population, freelance marketing and development, and, most recently, fundraising for and administration of the Holocaust & Genocide Memorial Grove at Sonoma State University.
COUNSELING STAFF
Robyn Harrington, Counseling Services Manager – January 2003
BA in History, Minors in Women’s Studies & Psychology, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, CA. California State Certified as a Rape Crisis Counselor, May 2002. Robyn has been active since 1994 counseling survivors, organizing rape awareness and prevention education, and highlighting diversity issues. At UASA, Robyn manages the counseling department, facilitates the Healing Allies and Skill Building support groups and supervises the Girls Circle Program. In addition to individual, couple, and family counseling, Robyn also does community trainings.
Michelle Doyel, Domestic Violence /Sexual Assault Victim Advocate,
Petaluma Police Department – February 2005
BA in Psychology with a minor in Women and Gender Studies, Sonoma State University. California State Certified as a Rape Crisis Counselor and Domestic Violence Counselor, 2005. Michelle came to UASA as a volunteer in 2004 and was hired in 2005 as a Prevention Educator for the TAPP, CAPP, and LGBT programs. She now works out of the Petaluma Police Department as full time Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Victim Advocate.
UASA COUNSELING:
Claudia Avalos: BA in Psychology from Sonoma State University. MS in Counseling from San Francisco State University with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy. Claudia is skilled to work with diverse populations. She has an eclectic theoretical orientation with an emphasis on Humanistic, Psychodynamic, Multicultural and Family systems theory. When working with clients she holds a holistic perspective of Mind, Body, and Soul. She has experience working with children, adolescent, adult, and couples work. As a bilingual and bicultural counselor she is committed to providing and expanding mental health services in the community. She is a trained Girls Circle Facilitator.
Alexis Baker: Alexis graduated in 2007 from Phillips Graduate Institute with a Master’s of Arts in Psychology. As a Marriage and Family Therapist Intern, she draws from an eclectic source of theoretical orientations with the belief that there are different ways of viewing the world, and works with the client to discover the best tools to fit their
needs. Her goal is to collaborate with the client in building their capacity to handle uncomfortable and painful feelings, creating or adding to their resilience and help them define and find confidence in their own strengths and abilities. She provides individual, family, couples and group counseling for UASA.
Cathy Beardsley: Cathy is an MFT Intern Counselor at UASA and will complete her MA degree in Counseling at Sonoma State University in May, 2010. She has BA in Psychology from Sonoma State University, is a State Certified Rape Crisis Counselor, and holds a Human Services Certificate in Drug and Alcohol counseling. Cathy has a background of working in addiction treatment and rape crisis counseling. At UASA, Cathy provides counseling for individuals, couples, and families.
Gaea Coon: BA in American Multicultural Studies, Minor in Psychology; MA in Counseling at Sonoma State University. California State Certified as a Rape Crisis Counselor. Gaea is working on completing her hours as an intern at UASA and is in the process of completing an additional MA in Counseling with an MFT emphasis at Sonoma State University. Gaea has experience working in residential treatment programs for substance abuse, educational settings, mentoring programs and in rape crisis counseling. As a MFT Intern, Gaea works collaboratively with clients and their individual needs to support them and their families in the healing process.
Erin Jackson: Erin has a BA in Psychology from Sonoma State University. She also holds a MA in Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy and Art Therapy from Phillips Graduate Institute. As an MFT intern she works with individuals, couples and families in a collaborative, solution focused and post modern approach. She works with clients to help find and build their strengths to help overcome the difficulties that they face in their lives. She believes that each person has strengths within themselves and works with clients on finding tools that complement these strengths. As an Art Therapist she brings a wide range of art materials into sessions with clients to help facilitate further exploration and discussion on topics brought into therapy.
PREVENTION STAFF
Alex Kelner- Prevention Education Manager – September 2009
With a BA in human sexuality and extensive experience in prevention education, Alex is continuing her education with a master’s program in Sexuality and Social Justice at Hayward State University. Alex is experienced in working with youth in both classrooms and support group arenas. As Prevention Education Manager, Alexis oversees CAPP, TAPP, selfdefense, MOST, Healthy Relationships Workshops, and various community presentations about sexual assault and harassment.
Daniela Bravo-Simon – Bilingual Educator – 2007
BA in Sociology and Anthropology from Sonoma State. Daniela started out as a volunteer for UASA at the beginning of 2007. She is now the bilingual educator for the Prevention Education department. Her work includes reaching-out to the Latino community in recruiting bilingual volunteers, translating education materials and offering prevention education in Spanish across Sonoma County. Bilingual and Bicultural.
707-545-7270 835-D Piner Road, Santa Rosa, CA 95403-2063 www.uasa.org