Committed to disrupting the paradigms of traditional “Social Work”, Shaena holds the youth-centered mental health programming at Y-WE and stewards pathways to care for participants and alumni.
Prior to her role at Y-WE, she spent 7 years providing community-based support to survivors of intimate harm both in Seattle, WA and in San Francisco, CA. Shaena’s work includes direct service for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking as well as outreach and education in schools, organizations and the broader community. Informed by these experiences, her passions live where gender justice and reimagining community safety meet. This heart-work greatly shapes her practice with young people. As such, her approach is healing-centered, collaborative, trauma-informed, holistic and politically driven. She strives for liberatory praxis and embraces humor as an essential part of reclaiming wholeness after hardship.
Shaena received her Master of Social Work from the University of Washington with a concentration in Community-Centered Integrative Practice, and her Bachelor’s in Psychology from San Francisco State University. In her free time, she enjoys her morning coffee rituals, Netflix binging, dancing, and cooking with friends.