Vanessa has been working on Social Justice for most of her life with national and international projects.
For many years she has been working with foreign-born survivors of human trafficking, migrants, DV
survivors and incarcerated women in the San Francisco Bay Area. Working with these populations has
made her focus on understanding systems of oppression in order to help foster better ways of coalition
building based in trust, mental health and trauma-informed practices (TIPs).
In a national landscape that seems to be lacking resources for mental health support, Vanessa has been
working to promote team and community building focused on developing stronger relationships with
other service providers in the East Bay (Contra Costa County), in particular with grassroots organizations.
Her experience working with many of them have consistently proven the importance of a culturally
appropriate lens,
in order to holistically serve those who need more support in times of crisis.
Her work has been informed by the many post-graduate trainings done addressing modalities to heal
trauma. She has been trained in ACEs aware, restorative practices, and Polyvagal Theory, she also
facilitates mind and body workshops in the Bay Area and internationally, which are informed by trauma
sensitive yoga (TCTSY) Qi Gong, Tai Chi and other somatic modalities while adapting these
methodologies for Latin cohorts.