ABLOOM ADVOCACY

I was born and raised in Birmingham, AL and graduated college at the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a BS. in Psychology. Psychology showed me my passion for helping people going through a crisis. During a year where I had to intern, I began volunteering at Birmingham's Rape Crisis Center I began to meet with victims of sexual assault mere minutes or hours after their incident. I worked alongside Police and Forensic Nurse's to support those victims during evidence collection and interviews. Once I moved to Denver, Colorado I again wanted to volunteer doing something as deeply impactful as I did in Birmingham. I ended up working for Denver's Blue Bench, which spread awareness and helped survivors of sexual assault with therapy and other resources. I then found a volunteer position with a local police department that opened a whole new world and level of passion I didn't know existed. For the next 7 and a half years with two different agencies (Adams County and Lakewood Police Department), I began to co-respond with police to scene's of traumatic incidents. I now reside in Nashville, TN where I continue this work overseeing multiple programs. One program reviews hundreds of  high risk domestic violence cases a year and the others review domestic abuse fatalities and suspicious death cases. 

I have responded and worked thousands of calls alongside hundreds of officers and held countless hands during tragedy from the toddlers to the elderly. I have walked into hundreds of homes where abuse and death had occurred and been there for people during their darkest times. 

I learned that through empathy, empowerment, knowledge, and holding space for people where they are at; we can change lives and instill hope and healing back into our communities. I am passionate that those experiencing trauma and especially grief are given the tools to heal as soon as possible to ensure effective empowerment and support. In most area's on scene advocacy isn't an option and our first responders who have limited budgets, are burnt out, and lacking resources are tasked with taking on this challenge all while also having to investigate a crime or death. 

I thoroughly believe through effective advocacy, knowledge, and training we can create a positive change for our communities. 

 I have 12+ years experience in advocacy ranging from:

• Working alongside patrol and detectives on calls including: 300+ deaths including 40 homicides and 4 mass causality calls, 1700+ domestic violence calls, 200+ child and adult sexual assaults, and countless other crimes from bank robberies, traffic accidents, burglaries, and human trafficking 

• Working alongside entities like the FBI, Colorado State Patrol, numerous Medical Examiner and Coroner's Offices, and additional advocacy non-profits  

• Training patrol, investigations, command staff, as well as other advocates and non-profits during regional academies on best practices 

• Building out programs and teams to ensure effective advocacy and response to abuse within police departments  as well as advocacy programs 

• Supervision and mentorship of over 30+ people in advocacy

• Participating on or overseeing numerous multi-disciplinary teams on issues from Child Fatality, High Risk Domestic Violence cases, Domestic Fatality Review, Suspicious Death Review, and Sexual Assault Response

 With a wide range of knowledge and I have trained across numerous levels on topics of domestic violence, death and grieving, sexual assault, vicarious trauma, and best practices for law enforcement and advocates.