Webinar #1: Beyond Burnout: Creating Healing-Centered Workplaces in Uncertain Times
This is the first webinar in a series hosted by the HAVI - “Stronger Together on the Frontline: HAVI Forums for the Field.”
Please join the HAVI for a dynamic conversation on mental health and wellness tailored for both organizational leaders and frontline workers. This session explores how organizations can foster safe spaces for check-ins and debriefings, while equipping teams with creative, proven self-care strategies that resonate across roles. Panelists will share tangible resources—including handouts, funding tips, and real-world examples—to help organizations support wellness initiatives through stipends and fundraising. Discover how to find the right balance between accountability and self-care and walk away with actionable tools to build a healthier, more resilient workplace.
Panelists:
Shamika Gumes, Public Health Professional
Nicky MacCallum: Founder/Lead Trainer and Consultant, Allies 4 Equity, Bay Area CA
Dr. Laura Vega: Clinical Director, CHOP
Johnnie Williams: Executive Director, Denver Youth Program
Moderator: Marquita Whisonant, Associate Director, Communities of Practice
The Health Alliance for Violence Intervention
Panelist Bios:
Shamika Gumes earned a BA degree in Public Health with a concentration in Community Health, from Bridgewater State University and also trained in psychological first aid. Her previous work experience includes the Emergency Dept at one of Boston’s trauma centers for 18 years and also worked on a neighborhood trauma response team in the city for 1 year. Shamika also spent the last 4 years as a Survivor Support Coordinator at Louis D Brown Peace Institute in Boston, MA. Her job was to meet with family members of homicide victims within the first 24-48hrs of the homicide to do an intake and needs assessment while offering practical and emotional support. Shamika assisted with Victims Compensation, referrals, and any advocacy that is needed so that their loved one can be put to rest with dignity and respect without any added stress or burdens to the family.
Nicky MacCallum is the founder of “Allies 4 Equity,” a training and consultation group committed to trauma informed healing centered care in service delivery and provider wellness. She is a member of the Department of Justice Survivor Centered Action Team and is a faculty member for the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention where she also founded and then co-chaired the HAVI (formerly NNHVIP) Mental Health Working Group through its first eleven years. For more than twelve years Nicky served as the Healing Director for “Youth ALIVE!” An organization dedicated to violence prevention, intervention, and healing, based in Oakland, CA. She is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Nationally Certified Counselor, and CAMFT Certified Clinical Supervisor. Nicky has more than thirty years of experience collaborating with victims of crime services, child protective services, family reunification, diversion programs, juvenile justice, community mental health, foster care, residential services, school-based programs, crisis response, and Community Violence Intervention.
Dr. Laura Vega is the Co-Director for CHOP Community Violence and Trauma Support Programs (CVTS), and Clinical Director for the CHOP Violence Intervention Program (VIP). She has over 25 years of experience working with children and adolescents in community and hospital-based settings. She is a licensed Clinical Social Worker and received her Doctorate in Clinical Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice. She provides on-going leadership in establishing the programs’ trauma-informed policies and procedures. She provides supervision, training, and consultation to hospital staff and students. Dr. Vega is a certified trauma therapist and trained in the Sanctuary Model, the Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention (CFTSI) and Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). She is an adjunct Instructor at Thomas Jefferson University’s Community and Trauma Counseling Program and the University of Pennsylvania. As part of her doctoral dissertation, Dr. Vega developed an organizational group model to address secondary traumatic stress, called the Stress-Less Initiative. Her research interests include violence prevention and organizational support to address secondary traumatic stress.
Johnnie Williams is the Executive Director of Denver Youth Program, which orchestrates many programs, including the At-Risk Intervention and Mentoring (AIM) hybrid hospital-based violence intervention program (HVIP), the Gang Rescue and Support Project (GRASP). Johnnie joined GRASP in July of 2008 and has worked with youth for over 25 years, providing constructive alternatives to gangs and other destructive activities that result from and contribute to a cycle of hopelessness among youth. Johnnie facilitates support groups and healing circles, manages a city-wide black and brown unity council, and leads the only hospital-based violence intervention program in the Rocky Mountain West. Johnnie is a subject matter expert in crisis intervention, group facilitation, child abuse prevention, life skills training, and violence prevention, serving as a criminal justice specialist and an addictions counselor. Johnnie leverages positive youth development at the service of what he believes to be the most rewarding outcome of his work: supporting youth as they change their lives for the better, becoming the fullest version of themselves.