Education and Professional Experience
I grew up outside of Chicago and have had the privilege of living in various places, enriching my personal and professional experiences. I started college at the University of Illinois at Chicago, but it wasn't the right fit. After two years, I moved to Montana in 2004 where I completed my undergraduate degree in Anthropology at the University of Montana in 2006, followed by a Master of Social Work at Walla Walla University in 2010. After completing my LCSW supervision hours by providing psychotherapy and case management, I relocated to Portland, where I lived downtown for six years and fine-tuned my crisis intervention and psychiatric social work skills before transitioning to medical social work as a Level 1 Trauma ICU social worker.
In 2019 I moved to Hawaii, drawn by the aloha spirit, beaches, and weather. I refined my medical social work skills at a trauma hospital in Honolulu before shifting towards leadership. I was a grassroots member of a committee that completed a needs assessment, resulting in a new hospital department addressing health disparities and staff wellness through examining narratives in healthcare informed by narratives of dominant, Eurocentric culture. In my final role, I supervised a team of 5 navigators working with patients experiencing houselessness while managing complex medical problems and severe substance use disorders. I also undertook a grant program that provided post-discharge support to patients seen for accidental drug overdoses. Additionally, I supervised clinicians authorized to initiate involuntary psychiatric treatment, with consultations requested from law enforcement for individuals in the community at imminent risk of harm to self or others when less restrictive safety planning was not possible. I loved these roles- strongly advocating for severely misunderstood clients often had me saying, "Bring it on, Mary! you can mess with me, but leave my team and our clients alone." Yet, the energy still shifted, ultimately culminating in my solo venture of starting RAWR LLC to continue advocating for misunderstood clients looking to heal and searching for acceptance.
I have lived abroad twice- first as high school foreign exchange student to Venezuela in 2001-2002 and then in Greece during the summer of 2005 for an archaeology field school.