Rebecca Davis, MA, LCSW, LiCSW, SEP
Co-FOUNDER
As a Black and Indigenous woman growing up in the D.C. metro area, though I obviously experienced racism, I was always “safe” in my ability to return to neighborhoods where everyone looked like me. I continued to live in major cities for nearly a decade, working as a classroom teacher and lecturer at colleges and universities in New York City, Washington D.C., Miami, and Chicago. In these places, racism was individual. It was based on cruelty, and hate.
I became a social worker in order to provide myself with opportunities to go deeper with children I knew were suffering. After moving to Portland and working as a trauma therapist with youth in foster care, I began to see systemic racism permeating my life and the lives of my clients. More than hate speech, dirty looks, and micro aggressions, this form of racism taught me that the “value” of a child, based on their identity, was directly proportionate to their access to quality care. This racism was cold, calculating, and completely impersonal.
Currently, I am a trauma therapist working with individuals across the lifespan experiencing the impacts of severe trauma. Most often, clients of color are referred to me not because it would be in the best interest of the client, but because other clinicians “don’t know what to do with them” and find them intimidating, threatening, or foreign. I am building ar-tic to educate white folx in how to create safe places for my BIPOC brothers and sisters, and to dismantle a system that refuses to meet our needs. To learn more about my work, read my CV.
Shea Lowery, MS, LPC
Co-FOUNDER
When I graduated from my undergrad program in 2012, I got a job working as a supervisor in a Therapeutic Foster Care Program. The youths and families that I worked with showed me parts of our world that I was blind to due to my privilege. They inspired me to go back to school and get a masters degree so that I could be more involved and serve in a deeper capacity.
I’ve been a psychotherapist specializing in trauma and attachment, particularly with youth in foster care, since 2015. Our foster care systems are a distilled microcosm of our larger culture. Every youth in foster care suffers, everyone struggles and is treated unfairly. But some children; BIPOC youth, queer youth, disabled youth, they are treated the worst.
It’s not the job of children to fight to be treated well, it’s the job of adults with power. My passion is about changing systems, not in changing the behavior of people who are being most harmed by systems. I’m thrilled to be building ar-tic for the purpose of improving the lives of all. To learn more about my work, read my CV.
