Higher Education Consulting
Higher education operates at a unique intersection of developmental, institutional, and crisis-response demands. My work supports campuses in translating trauma-informed principles into practical, system-level approaches for students, faculty, and staff.
Drawing from experience in community and clinical mental health and higher education counseling, I design frameworks that strengthen responses to stress, crisis, and student mental health needs across domains.
This includes:
Developing and evaluating crisis response protocols and mental health strategies
Designing programming that supports student well-being, safety, and suicide prevention
Training faculty and staff to navigate classroom challenges using trauma-informed and regulation-focused approaches
Consulting on curriculum, policy, and advising practices to better align with student needs
This work also includes system-level initiatives that improve student decision-making and resource alignment.
Internationally, collaboration with faculty in trauma-impacted contexts, including Myanmar, has contributed to published work on trauma-informed teaching.
Partnerships with schools and students, across roles in mobile crisis response and higher education counseling, have consistently highlighted a core challenge. While colleges are spaces of growth and opportunity, they also bring intersecting academic, work, and life demands that can push students toward the edges of their capacity and reactivate prior overwhelm.
In response to these dynamics, institutions are increasingly seeking structured, trauma-informed approaches to support student well-being. One such initiative is the development of a Trauma-Informed Campus Toolkit through the Institute for Trauma, Adversity, and Resilience in Higher Education, in collaboration with the Illinois Campus Cares Technical Assistance Center.
It is an honor to serve as a consultant on this project. My contribution of trauma-informed frameworks and applied tools developed across educational settings adds further perspective to strengthen support for neurodivergent students.
Trauma Informed Toolkit for Colleges and Universities (2026)
Teaching in Times of Emergencies; Building Resilient Practices as Language-Learning Teachers (2022)
Educators are early observers and first responders to students' distress. These experiences call for practical resources to support both themselves and their students. As an educational and clinical counselor working in this overlap, this publication draws on my experience implementing support strategies for students affected by global disruptions and political conflict. In collaboration with educator and co-author Mia Sasaki, I developed strategies for teaching in emergencies.
This piece is “tuned” to international education, but the principles can be adapted to other educational settings and roles. For my clinical colleagues, you will see some polyvagal-informed ideas for establishing safety, adapted for a teaching setting.