Lean On Me: A caregiver’s guide to safeguarding children and supporting healing from sexual abuse

L. Tomay Douglas is a daughter, mom, sister, grandmother, wife and survivor who overcame the impact of abusive experiences and is committed to transforming trauma and helping persons to honor the power of their voice.

She is a Restorative Justice Equity Educator, Social Worker, a Racial Justice Advocate, Substance Abuse Counselor, Consultant, and Christian Abundant Life Coach. Her work centers on healing, equity, and justice through education. Tomay is a facilitator with Restorative Justice Education (RJ Ed) and is a Restorative Roots Collaborative member facilitating Participatory Action Research.

Tomay is the co-founder of Worth Justice Inc, a nonprofit to affirm worth, and change lives. She is also the founder of Brand Me Beautiful working with professional men and women of faith impacted by trauma and Responding Restoratively, to assist with Critical Conversations to Build Community, Deepen Relationships, Heal Conflict & Return to Love. She is an international speaker and has presented in Haiti, led roundtable discussions with NGOs addressing violence against women, and facilitated restorative circles with adolescents impacted by HIV in Romania. Her commitment to social and transformative justice deepens her practice and restorative lifestyle. Her guiding principles are love, liberation, truth, justice, healing, and being the mom of two college graduates.

Jerome Whitehead is an author, activist, speaker, writer, husband, and survivor of multiple childhood sexual assaults. Jerome has written extensively about the events of his life, including a book titled Groomed.

Titania Jordan is the CMO and Chief Parent Officer of Bark.us, an internet safety solution that helps parents and schools keep children safer across social media, text messaging, and email. As the current host of Tech Connect, and former host of NBC Atlanta affiliate WXIA’s weekly television show Atlanta Tech Edge, Titania has the honor of covering the latest in tech news and talent across both the city and the globe.

In her early career, Titania started her own marketing consulting firm after gaining experience as an account executive with Lincoln Financial Media, working with clients like Whole Foods, Nikon, and Samsung to create campaigns targeting women in the Atlanta market.

Past roles also include serving as the CMO of KidsLink, co-founder and CMO of PRIVET, and Executive Director of Band of Coders Girls Academy.

Titania is the co-author of "Parenting in a Tech World" - offering practical tips, real-world advice from fellow parents, and helpful exercises to walk caregivers through how to nurture a healthy relationship between kids and technology.

Richard Guerry is the founder and Executive Director of the non-profit organization The Institute for Responsible Online and Cell-Phone Communication (IROC2) . Throughout the 1990s, Richard worked as an executive in the information technology field. During his tenure, he encountered the darkest areas of the internet and discovered countless individuals unknowingly being manipulated and their content being stolen and exploited. In 2009, Richard left corporate America, and applied his vast experience and knowledge of digital safety to found IROC2.org.

He now speaks to students, educators, parents, child advocates, and law enforcement personnel across the country on the importance of maintaining a Digital Consciousness™ to prevent and avoid current – and future – digital issues. This program has received multiple School Safety Advocacy Councils awards. Since June, 2009, Richard has spoken to well over 3,000 audiences across the United States, Canada and the West Indies ranging from avid to novice digital users, providing his audiences with an entertaining and eye-opening live event that offers a solution-oriented concept of how to avoid any self-inflicted digital problem, which is critical to anyone that uses a digital device.

Somiari Fubara CCTP, CCATP, CMHIMP is a certified clinical adolescent and trauma professional, a certified integrative medicine provider, and a certified breath, body, and mind teacher. She is also the Regional Director for Mental Health Services for KIPP NYC schools. Her areas of concentration include trauma, mindfulness, holistic medicine, and spirituality. Somiari is a passionate scholar-practitioner in the field of clinical psychology who divides her time between clinical practice, training, workshops and consulting. As a mental health provider, she uses mindfulness cognitive behavioral therapy (MCBT) and other evidence-based practices to help her clients with a wide range of issues.

Somiari has received extensive training in the treatment of addiction, mental illnesses, emotion/affect regulation, and trauma. In her consulting work, she has provided bullying, violence, and trauma training for elementary, middle, and residential schools. In addition to clinical practice, for 7 years she worked as a consultant counseling Chibok girls that escaped Boko Haram. Somiari has been interviewed by 60 Minutes, CNN, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, BBC, and Al Jazeera. As a trauma thriver, her life experiences have fostered her love of, and dedication to the healing of humanity.

Somiari believes she is here to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, and with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. Through her work, she is enriching the world through love, healing, and peace.

A BIPOC, Holistic Trauma Psychotherapist, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Intergenerational Trauma Subject Matter Expert, and International Psychology PhD Student.

In addition to Raven's expertise in intergenerational trauma and clinical social work, Raven centers authenticity, cultural humility, racial equity, social justice and advocacy, trauma-informed, holistic and creative perspectives in her approach to leadership and operational development.

At 13 years of age, Martin Andrews was abducted from the streets of Portsmouth, Virginia, by a serial sexual predator. He spent the next eight days in an underground bunker enduring physical, sexual, and mental abuse before being chained, abandoned and left to die. Following his rescue, Martin spent the next 30 years of his life unable to speak about the experience, facing the demons of his past alone and in silence. In 2002, learning that his assailant was to be mandatorily paroled in 9 months compelled Martin to speak out about his past. He began a one-man campaign to prevent the release of that dangerous predator. The result of his efforts is the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Civil Commitment for Sexually Violent Predators and the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation (VCBR), along with much of Virginia’s current sexual predator legislation.

Martin Andrews remains an activist for civil commitment programs and regularly speaks to victims advocates, law enforcement, and probation and parole personnel about his personal experiences, civil commitment laws, and working with victims and the media. He regularly speaks with victims’ groups, delivering his message of survival, hope, and healing through grace and advocacy.

Dr. Devjani (Juni) Banerjee-Stevens is a licensed psychologist and owner of Deer Park Counseling & Consulting. She is committed to helping individuals, organizations, and communities heal from trauma, one relationship at a time.

Jann began speaking at treatment facilities, followed by university classrooms upon her daughter’s urging. The overwhelming response she received when telling her personal story prompted the idea of writing her memoir, Which Way?. Along with her podcast on the Mental Health News Radio, Jann speaks to parents, clinicians, teachers and first responders across the United States. She is frequently interviewed for articles on the topic of trauma, abuse and how to redefine yourself. Sharing her journey has brought her internal peace and hope for others.

Shari has a 30-year career as a Licenced Clinical Social Worker. She has been the Executive Director of several mental health facilities, is currently an adjunct professor, has a private practice, and is a consultant for treatment providers looking to implement evidence-based practices and trauma ingrained care. She is grateful for the opportunity to share expertise on mental health, epigenetics and trauma alongside her mother.