Staff and Administration
Administration
Naya is the Executive Director to YWCA Greater Austin and serves her community through servant and feminist leadership styles. As a bilingual professional, her background includes 15 + years of experience in nonprofit and HR management services with a strong leaning towards strategic initiatives focused in social justice. Naya is on a continuous journey of impacting communities of color living in the margins and passionate about breaking intergenerational cycles of harm and poverty. Her hope is to create a community that strives for healing justice, individual & communal liberation and a revolution that starts in the heart leading into our legislative halls. Her career has been centered on the operational, strategic and capacity building initiatives that ensure equity and inclusiveness. Naya has served communities in Texas, New Mexico, Mexico, Central America and North Africa with a special focus on BIPOC and low socio-economic serving communities within healthcare, education, immigration, diversity & inclusivity and economic justice affairs.
Naya holds a Bachelors degree in Anthropology and a Bachelors degree in Philosophy. Additionally she has completed her studies in Nonprofit Leadership and Management. Currently she is pursuing a Masters degree in Integrative Medicine with a focus in Mental Health.
Haleigh Campbell, a Texas native and St. Edward's alumna, started at YWCA Greater Austin as a clinical intern the summer of 2017. Since receiving her Master of Social Work in August 2017, she has held the role of Volunteer and Training Institute Coordinator (VTIC) at YWCA. As VTIC, Haleigh works to make professional development more accessible to YWCA Staff/volunteers/interns, community mental health professions, and the general community. In 2018, she launched YWCA's Community Partnership initiative which allows educational and/or non-profit organizations to receive free professional development training.
From 2014-2016 Haleigh worked as a Teaching Assistant at an Austin ISD elementary school, primarily helping students develop reading, writing, and math skills. During this time, she co-established the afterschool volleyball program and served as a Girls on the Run coach for 3rd-5th grade girls. She also served as an afterschool tutor for 2nd-5th grade students working on math and reading skills.
Where there is water, there is Haleigh. A certified Lifeguard Instructor and Water Safety Instructor, Haleigh has been teaching people of all ages how to swim since 2013 and has been guarding lives since 2007. She enjoys canoeing, kayaking, swimming, cliff jumping, etc. When not in the water she can be found board gaming, watching movies, or hanging with family and friends.
Daphne Garza was born and grew up in Corpus Christi before moving to Austin in her early twenties. Having had some experience in retail work, she came to YWCA Greater Austin as a receptionist and later became an executive assistant. Her work included managing the front office, onboarding volunteers, and helping facilitate the different YWCA programs from behind the scenes.
Now, with over 20 years of experience she is doing exactly the same as Director of Operations and. Some of her duties include managing payroll and accounts, acting as the head contact for vendors, and conducting dialogue between staff and partner groups. Within the office she acts as a liaison between staff, volunteers, the board of directors, and program directors to make sure the YWCA runs smoothly on all fronts. When asked why she decided to take on such a crucial role, Daphne would cite her personal and professional growth at the YWCA through attending trainings and adopting the culture of care and transparency the organization continues to uphold day in and day out.
Daphne has always had a passion for volunteering; when she's not captaining the ship at YWCA you might find her offering her time at the Austin Animal Center with her son Nicholas. Back at home they've got two dogs of their own as well as two fosters: Junior and Baba are theirs, while Joni is still looking for a loving home!
Laura Gómez-Horton is a licensed Clinical Social Worker and Board-Approved Supervisor through the Texas State Board of Social Work Examiners. She received a Bachelor and Master of Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin in 1996 and 1997, respectively. She is currently the clinical director at the YWCA Greater Austin whose adopted mission is "eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all."
Laura has extensive experience providing bilingual services and working with individuals, children, families, and groups in the areas of domestic violence, sexual assault, depression, anxiety, PTSD, immigration, parenting, cultural identity, prenatal/postnatal mental health, grief and loss, and self-advocacy. Previously, as the Social Services Coordinator at the Texas Civil Rights Project, Laura established the social services program for their statewide offices and developed the Austin Promotora program, a grassroots self-advocacy group comprised of women who had qualified to adjust their legal status in the U.S. as authorized by the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). She also worked at the School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin as part of the clinical faculty and provided therapeutic services through SafePlace (now the Safe Alliance), a local non-profit addressing issues of domestic violence and sexual assault in Austin. In addition, she provided therapeutic bilingual services through independent practice and co-founded Within Your Reach/A Su Alcance, a program providing bilingual personal-development workshops.
Her experiences in the Austin area culminated in developing a focus on providing therapeutic services and advocating for clients who are Spanish-speaking, immigrant, and/or marginalized. Laura has participated in training videos, and various English and Spanish-language radio and television news interviews discussing mental health issues and current events impacting the community. She has provided extensive presentations/workshops and has developed, coordinated and facilitated various therapeutic and support groups. She currently co-facilitates the monthly dialogues on Issues of Racism and Discrimination at the YWCA Greater Austin.
Laura is a Member of National Association for Social Workers (NASW) and sits on the board of Balcones Youth Sports as the registrar. She has previously served on the advisory board for the R.E.A.L. (Social Justice) Committee for NASW-TX, as President and Secretary of the Wells Branch Elementary PTA and as a board member of Lone Star Victims Advocacy Project, Sun Dragon Martial Arts and Self-Defense, Wells Branch Community Library, and Salvage Vanguard Theater.
Forthcoming
Annie holds a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology from St. Thomas University in Houston, TX and a Masters of Science in Leadership and Change from St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX. She is passionate about the intersection of Mental Health and Social Justice and what it could mean for people everywhere if we take care of our people at home. Annie believes in interconnectivity and living authentically as well as in resource management and sharing. She believes in setting big goals and then walking towards them daily. In her time away from work, Annie is an Advisory Board Member of Modern Mindfulness, Trail Steward for the Trail Foundation as well as being an avid member of the Tough Enuff Vintage Truck Meet Up.
Clinical Staff
Maya Amos is a somatic psychotherapist, trainer and board approved supervisor for mental health professionals with over 15 years of clinical experience. She specializes in trauma resolution and nervous system regulation. Maya is a certified Somatic Experiencing® practitioner (SEP). She has been integrating Somatic Experiencing into other cutting edge approaches including Trust-Based Relational Intervention®, Dynamic Attachment Re-patterning experience, Internal Family System, NeuroAffective Relational Model, PACT, Brainspotting as well as more traditional psychotherapy methods.
Maya's clinical expertise includes working with trauma (relational, sexual, medical, intergenerational and complex trauma), emotional dysregulation, depression, anxiety, grief and life transitions. She has vast experience working with attachment and couples struggling with intimacy, power dynamics, infidelity, and parenting styles. Maya also provides clinical supervision and training seminars about somatic principals, Polyvagal Theory and neuroscience concepts.
Maya is passionate about studying and teaching people how to work with the nervous system to transform trauma, heal the mind and body, "get unstuck" and live a creative full life. She sees body-centered awareness as a path for change and healing at the individual, familial and cultural level. Maya has a private practice in addition to her work as the clinical supervisor for the YWCA Greater Austin.
"I am continually humbled and deeply amazed by the wisdom of the body and its transformational power to get individuals 'unstuck'."
Maya enjoys playing pickleball, traveling and spending time with her family.
Caitlin is a lead counselor with the counseling and referral center at YWCA Greater Austin.
She is also an LPC, a therapist, Army veteran, and mother of many animals living in Austin, Texas. Caitlin is from New England originally & spent 10 years as part of the medical corps in the U.S. Army from 2002-2013.
Caitlin received numerous commendations while in military service. She was deployed to combat zones, stationed overseas as well as stateside, and took part in humanitarian aid efforts. In 2005 she earned the Humanitarian Service Medal for her efforts during Hurricane Katrina Relief in New Orleans, Louisiana.
During her service Caitlin was promoted to the rank of Sergeant, which is where she found how much interpersonal counseling could make a different for individual soldiers. Caitlin was medically retired from the Army in 2013, and decided to pursue her Bachelors in Psychology and Masters in Counseling. Caitlin began working with the YWCA in January 2017 as a graduate counseling intern. She started volunteering with the YWCA after graduation and was offered the position of lead counselor in March 2018. In July 2018 Caitlin was selected to be full time working for the new veteran initiative providing free services for female veterans & their families. Caitlin is a practitioner of TBRI (Trust-Based Relational Intervention), and works with children, elders, couples, families, with a specialty in veterans and LGBTQ+ folks who have experienced trauma.
Eva started her career as a therapist more than 30 years ago in New York City working with a population challenged by chronic mental illness. She graduated from Columbia University then completed a master's degree in Rational Emotive Therapy at the Albert Ellis Institute, and a master's degree in Humanistic and Existential Psychotherapy at CIEEXH. In 1994, she started a private practice in Mexico City where she gained invaluable experience working with clients who were facing relationship difficulties, depression, anxiety, infertility, infidelity, loneliness, substance abuse, trauma, LGBTQ and parenting issues.
Upon moving to Austin she completed the Professional Counseling Program at Texas State University in order to gain licensure in Texas. Eva is a TBRI® Practitioner and a Circle of Security® Parenting Facilitator. She is fluent in English, Spanish, Hungarian, Italian, and French.
She has been a clinical supervisor at the YWCA of Greater Austin since 2015 and has been instrumental in developing and expanding mental health services for children and families. As a supervisor, she has guided hundreds of student interns and volunteers through the process of becoming effective, compassionate, confident and socially justice minded counselors. Her vision of counseling, from a humanistic perspective, has helped novice counselors question the white male medical model that pathologizes women, minorities and more communal cultures and privileges the survival strategies that clients have developed. She encourages authenticity in her mentees and aims to be a source of information and resourcing through her tireless engagement with current research, publications and innovation in mental health.
She is the mother of a teenager, a partner, a friend and the person to her dog, Gabby. She believes that ears are for earrings and making food for her loved ones is her greatest source of joy.
Marissa Esparza was born and raised in McAllen Texas. She now lives in Katy, Texas and has been working with customer service the past 6 years.
Her expertise with clients makes her perfect working with YWCA. Previously she was a receptionist helping manage a company, then went out and was a hair dresser in the heart of downtown Houston. She then became an office assistant for a diagnostician and learned so much about mental health that brought her to here, YWCA. Her goal is to help facilitate those in need of mental health services, and provide the best resources that best accommodates to help promote a healthy well-being for each individual.
Bri is the Warmline Supervisor at YWCA Greater Austin. The Warmline was created in response to the Covid-19 global pandemic as a resource for anyone struggling with feelings of isolation or pain during the health crisis. Bri also oversees and facilitates several domestic violence psychoeducational support groups at YWCA. She has a passion for serving all of those affected by relationship abuse: survivors, families, and abusive partners.
Bri joined the YWCA family in January 2020 as a clinical student intern. She was hired as the Warmline Supervisor in November 2020, graduated with her MA in Counseling from St. Edwards University in December 2020, and became an LPC-Associate supervised by Eva Escobedo, LPC-S in June 2021. Bri also possesses an MS in Sociology where she focused on sexual health education, and a BA in English. Prior to her clinical work, Bri was a digital advocate with the National Domestic Violence Hotline for 5 years.
Though she has always lived in Texas, Bri moved to Austin in June 2016. She is a Type 1 (insulin dependent) diabetic and spends a lot of her time advocating for all diabetics and fighting medical bias and injustice. Bri practices seido karate, and is currently a yellow belt.
Rose Hernandez, Licensed Master of Social Work, is the Clinical and Community Services Supervisor with the YWCA Greater Austin. Ms. Hernandez appreciates working with adults, children, teens, and young adults as well as their parents who face challenges in their current lives. Ms. Hernandez's expertise includes helping clients with relational difficulties, career frustrations, emotional repercussions of trauma, areas of attachment, depression, and anxiety. Her approach includes the development of a comfortable, nonjudgmental, and compassionate environment. Ms. Hernandez has experience with relational therapy, mindfulness-based therapy, is trained in Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), and is a certified Trust Based Relational Intervention Practitioner. Her experience serves to assist the client in developing healthy connections with life, others, and self. She is bi-lingual and bi-cultural (Latina and American) and goes by she, her, and hers.
Bri is one of the lead therapists at the YWCA. She is an LPC and has been working with the YWCA since March of 2019. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with both her Bachelors of Science in Psychology and Masters of Arts in Counselor Education.
Before joining the YWCA, Bri was a care coordinator on an ACT team with Integral Care, providing community based services to those experiencing tri-comorbidity of homelessness, chronic medical illness, substance use, and/or serious mental health diagnoses. Bri has also worked in higher education settings, providing career advising & counseling services to college freshmen, as well as in grade school settings, providing school-based services to high school students.
Bri is extremely passionate about working with marginalized populations. Being a daughter of immigrants herself, she is particularly interested in working with immigrants and children of first generation immigrants, especially working through intergenerational and bicultural issues. Bri practices from a relational, client centered orientation and strives to create a safe place for everyone to feel comfortable opening up and sharing their story. She is currently going through training to become EMDR trained and often pulls from interpersonal neurobiology and attachment theory. In her free time, Bri enjoys frolicking in nature, staying active, taking amateur iphone close-ups of flowers and other peoples' pets, and visiting various Asian markets and restaurants in town.
Heather Nicoll is an adaptive and insightful polyglot who holds a master's degree in social services, as well as an LMSW and TEFL certificate. She is the Care Coordination Manager with YWCA of Greater Austin. She is an experienced Post-Secondary Educator and Program Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the non-profit organization management industry and higher education leadership. Some of her areas of expertise include higher education, nonprofit organizations, leadership, research, public speaking, and project management. She is a strong program and project management professional. Having lived in various states throughout this great nation, she chooses to call Texas her home. From international educator to State of Texas employee, her professional ventures are as eclectic and interesting as she is.
She resonates profoundly with endeavors that support and promote individuals in becoming the greatest versions of themselves. Heather's combination of education, professional and life experiences aid in engaging on the YWCA front-line.
GenYW
Cara holds a B.A. in Sociology with a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. She is passionate about making social justice education accessible to people of all backgrounds and abilities. As a GenYW Youth Specialist, Cara hopes to positively impact the lives of young girls and help them navigate the intersection of systemic oppression and mental health.
In their free time, Cara loves playing bass, dancing with their friends, and annoying their cat Lua.
Sonya Sehgal is a cultural worker, educator, and artist located in Austin, Tx. Through their background in feminist pedagogy and youth development, Sonya works to make critical discussions around race, gender, and mental health accessible to marginalized youth. Currently working along the YWCA to provide social and emotional wellness classes to at-risk middle and high school students, Sonya focuses on the importance of constructing spaces for students to practice agency, collaboration, and self reflection. She has former programmatic experience at the University of Texas at Austin, YWCA Greater Austin, Sadie Nash Leadership Institute, and the Equal Asia Foundation.
Sonya holds a BA Women and Gender Studies and Educational Psychology with a Conflict Resolution Certificate.
Cat hold a Bachelors degree in Early Childhood-6th grade education and will be graduating in December 2022 with a Masters in Counseling. She started working with the YWCA in January 2022 as a clinical intern. Prior to pursuing her graduate degree, she worked in education as a classroom teacher for 3 years, an Education Specialist for 2 years, and as the Center Director for a childcare center for 1 year. Cat has always enjoyed working with children and looks forward to building strong relationships with students and help inspire them, girls especially, to develop a passion for science.
In her free time Cat enjoys spending time with her family, crafting, watching movies (especially Sci-Fi), traveling, hugging her cats, and taking her dog anywhere that will allow him!