Episode 5 is part one of a series dedicated to exploring and holding space for loss & grief. As with all of our series, the first conversation aims to create a baseline understanding of the topic. We look at Loss & Grief in its entirety and dive into its impact outside of the birth room. We talk about coping mechanisms, intergenerational trauma, harm reduction, how to best provide support, and more.
In today’s episode, we are joined by two steller humans- community worker, artist, and marriage family therapist, Shawneshia Hoover as well as artist, dancer, cultural producer, and producer of the Birth Bruja Podcast, Cat Petru.
Follow Shawneisha @lapreebarber and Cat at @weriseproductions <3
Learn a bit more about out guests <3
<3 Shawneshia Hoover <3
Hello my name is Shawneshia and I have worked as a Marriage Family therapist intern for six years. My passion is youth and family support. I offer a person centered approach to the communities that I serve. Although I describe my approach as multidiscipline, my foundation is based in trauma focused cognitive behavior therapy. I currently support my community with skills to unpack the root of their thoughts as well as offer strength based reflections. This interventions aids in a collaborative approach that fosters insight into how root thoughts impacts behaviors. Most importantly I call into attention cultural influences, race, gender and sexuality. I honor that with each individual I serve in addition to the alliance I build with them, comes a plethora of intersectionality. I leave space to process these intersections and explore their impacts on treatment. I encourage agency on behalf of the community I serve and honor them as the leading expert in their healing.
My experiences include but are not limited to; mood disorders, complex trauma, LGBTTQQIAAP, Foster care, TAY youth, reintegration/family dynamics, grief and loss. I am particularly passionate about working with individuals with marginalized identities as well Youth with experiences of displacement.
I have been fortunate to have gained an enormous amount of knowledge through working for Dual diagnosis treatment center, Private/Public schools, and nonprofits. I have shared my expertise with several organizations in different capacities such as facilitator and offering a unique approach based on my identity. These organizations include: The California Institute of Integral Studies, Thunder Road treatment center, Bay area Youth centers, Pinole Valley High school, St Peter Martyr and sunny Hills Services.
It has been an honor to share my gifts and I hope to share them with you, Best Shawneshia Hoover AMFT
<3 Catherine/Cat Petru <3
Catherine (Cat) Duval Petru is a cultural producer dedicated to collective liberation. With a bachelor’s degree in Critical Theory and Social Justice from Occidental College, Catherine was awarded departmental honors and Best Integration of Theory and Practice for her thesis, a collaboration with the Los Angeles Community Action Network critiquing the so-called “Safer Cities Initiative” in Los Angeles, California’s Skid Row community.
Catherine has over a decade of work integrating arts, justice, education, and healing practices in the San Francisco Bay Area (occupied Huichin), as well as Los Angeles, Seattle, and Oberlin, Ohio. This experience includes, but is not limited to: assisting Stanford University professor and foremost Martin Luther King, Jr. scholar Dr. Clayborne Carson with media, film production, and web development; research, writing, and curriculum development for Oakland’s Remember Them: Champions for Humanity; teaching grassroots organizing to students at Oberlin College; empowering youth through dance and performing arts at Berkeley Playhouse; and producing monthly community arts events at The Hillman City Collaboratory in South Seattle.
In 2015, Catherine left a graduate program to become a founding participant in grassroots, adult freedom school Liberation Spring. Shortly thereafter, she was accepted to KPFA Radio’s two-year First Voice Apprenticeship Program, with a strong foundation in community-based audio production. The freedom school’s decolonial pedagogy paired with training and inspiration from First Voice informed Catherine’s co-founding of cultural production collective We Rise.
Enamored with the connective brilliance and survival skill of communication, Catherine has also been studying ASL (American Sign Language) for the last two years.
She knows the power of speaking up and the vital need to nourish our creativity. She is committed to supporting storytellers who are changing the landscape of our imaginations, and therefore our world.