Rachael (she/her) is a mom, advocate, activist, educator, public speaker, design researcher, design “coach/therapist,” licensed clinical social worker, systems detangler, and the Founder of Social Workers Who Design. 

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She speaks, educates, and advocates for greater awareness of the value of social work in design, as well as responsible and respectful trauma responsive, healing focused, and care centered design practices and research. These matters are often so closely intertwined with organizational culture and leadership, so she occasionally speaks about and shares articles and reflections on these topics, too. 

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Prior to a busy working and parenting life, she used to play, tour, and record with a number of independent bands on independent labels. Rachael was a young activist on climate justice matters in high school and organized against the death penalty for a number of years before becoming a social worker-designer. 

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Rachael is also a strong advocate for amplifying the value of social work and for ethically and responsibly including social workers—and other care workers—in design. One of the ways she does this is by working closely with design teams worldwide to slowly build up their comfort with discomfort and creating trauma literacies in design and research.