Founder, Board Member, & Facilitator

Mikele Rauch, MA, LMFT (she/her)

Since 1983, Mikele has worked with survivors of sexual trauma of all genders, specializing in the areas of physical, sexual, religious, and ritual abuse and violence, utilizing art, music, bodywork and mindfulness practices to the work of recovery. She was co-creator of MaleSurvivor Weekends of Recovery in 2001 and is Founder of Taking Back Ourselves. She is the author of Healing the Soul after Religious Abuse: The Dark Heaven of Recovery, Praeger Publications.

Mikele has worked both in Los Angeles and Boston, with men and women survivors of trauma, physical, incest, sexual assault and rape, religious and ritual violence, utilizing art, music, EMDR, bodywork and mindfulness practices to the work of recovery since 1983. She currently facilitates mixed gender groups for survivors of military, familial, religious and sexual trauma who struggle with addiction. In 2001, she co-founded and is currently on the clinical staff of the International MaleSurvivor Weekend of Recovery Team for male survivors of sexual abuse (www.malesurvivor.org.) She is the Chair and founder of Taking Back Ourselves, a Weekend of Recovery program for survivors of sexual abuse. She has written for Paradigm, Cross Currents, National Catholic Reporter magazines, Sober World, and Big Voice Productions, author ofHealing the Soul after Religious Abuse: the Dark Heaven of Recovery, Praeger Publications, “Words on the Ground” for Trauma and Countertrauma, Resilience and Counterresilience: Insights from Psychoanalysts and Trauma Experts, edited by Dr. Richard Gartner.

Co-Executive Director, Board Member, & Facilitator

Abbe Straw, MSW, LISW-S, LICDC-CS (she/her)

Abbe is a licensed independent social worker in Columbus, Ohio. She has worked in the social services field and at various social service agencies, specifically in the area of mental health for over 15 years. Abbe is a therapist at City Counseling: A Home for Growth, a private practice where she specializes in working with children, adolescents and adults who have experienced trauma, as well as LGBT support. Abbe has experience working with diverse client populations in the community, including various outreach services with children and families, facilitating therapeutic groups with adolescent females who have a history of sexual abuse and trauma, and their parents/guardians, as well as intensive family therapy for families in the community dealing with a variety of psychological and environmental challenges. Abbe is trained in EMDR, which she utilizes in trauma work, as well as mindfulness and yoga. Abbe is a certified yoga instructor and has seen the powerful role the aspects of yoga, mindful movement and breath work can have in the healing process alongside other therapeutic techniques. Abbe hopes to offer a safe and supportive environment and space, as well as empowerment throughout the healing process.

Co-Executive Director, Board Member, & Facilitator

Chad Corbley, Ph.D. (he/him, they/them)

Chad is a licensed psychologist working in private practice in Columbus, OH. He is owner of City Counseling: A Home for Growth, a practice focused on serving the needs of marginalized populations, particularly LGBT folks. Chad's areas of speciality include GLB and Trans concerns, HIV/AIDS, and survivors of trauma. Chad is grateful to be part of both Taking Back Ourselves and MenHealing, an organization dedicated to male survivors of sexual trauma.

Co-Executive Director, Board Member, & Facilitator

Elika Anne Nerette, MPA, LCSW (she/her)

Elika’s clinical training consists of working with individuals who experienced sexual assault and intimate partner violence. She also has extensive knowledge and experience working with immigrant populations. She has led support groups for individuals seeking asylum and has been instrumental in helping her clients navigate the immigration process through a trauma informed lens, as well as providing support to immigration lawyers impacted by secondary trauma. Presently, Elika works for one of the largest grassroots HIV care organizations in the nation as Director of Psychotherapy Initiatives. This role allows her to provide strategic leadership and oversight to multiple behavioral health programs and guide practitioners in creating and applying innovative interventions to assist individuals on their healing journey.

Facilitator

Denise Ballnik, MA, ADTR, MFT (she/her)

Denise has been a practicing dance/movement therapist and psychotherapist in the Los Angeles area for 30 years. For the past two decades, she has worked with trauma, especially male and female sexual abuse. She has facilitated groups for women survivors of sexual abuse and currently is facilitating a group for male survivors. She brings authentic movement, guided imagery, commitment and the creative process to her work with her clients to facilitate healing.

Facilitator

Sandi Forti, Ph.D. (she/her)

Sandi is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in Columbus, Ohio. She has a thriving practice in central Ohio with years of experience dealing with a wide range of emotional and psychological difficulties. She has more than two decades of AIDS work in California and Ohio, building on previous work in the areas of pain management and physical disabilities. Her dual interests in archetypal psychology and body awareness have added breadth and depth to her work with individuals who are seeking to heal from past traumas and who desire new ground for a relationship with the present. She sees herself as providing context within which trauma can be understood as part of the landscape of soul, and healing can lay the foundation for the development and expression of the authentic self. She has worked for many years with victims and perpetrators of sexual abuse, as well as working with the families who struggle to love and heal both the victim and the offender. She is also versed in working with the patterns of thinking and behavior that grow out of the effort to cope with abuse, such as depression, dissociation, use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs, etc.

Board Chair

Emily Abrams (she/her)

Emily is principal of Abrams Advising, a firm specializing in helping multigenerational family enterprises develop next generation family leaders, effective business boards, and family governance processes aligned with the values and legacy of the family. Prior to launching her advisory firm, Emily served on the Leadership Team at Narva & Company for more than two decades, fine-tuning her intuitive approach to board recruiting and developing a passion for mentoring next generation leaders in Family Governance. Early in her career, after graduating from Simmons University with a degree in English and Art History, she taught elementary school and later, developed a nationally recognized program to integrate art museum education into her community’s public school curricula. Emily has served on the Taking Back Ourselves Board of Directors since its inception. In addition, she is an active member of The Boston Club, a community of executives and professionals invested in connecting, supporting, and elevating women to leadership positions, where she serves on the Rising Generation Committee and as a new member Ambassador. In 2001, she helped found the Michael C. Rothberg September 11th Scholarship Committee to honor the memory of her nephew, whose extraordinary life was cut short by the 9/11 World Trade Center Tragedy.

Board Member

Tiger Bye (she/her)

Tiger is a Master Instructor for the breath training company, Oxygen Advantage®. She is the co-owner of Better Yoga, a digital platform that teaches people to do yoga better so that they feel better. She has previously co-founded the men's mindfulness company, Manscending, that teaches mindfulness based leadership and emotional literacy to US fraternities. Tiger holds a B.A. in Political Theory from New York University and a M.S. in Health and the Public Interest from Georgetown University. Tiger has experience working for national political campaigns, voter education non-profits, and public radio. Tiger is committed to serving survivors of trauma through her mission to democratize health and wellbeing by building sustainable community.

Alumni Liaison

Fran Dillon, LMSW, CSW (she/her)

Fran is an Alumna of Taking Back Ourselves, and has been a vital part of Taking Back Ourselves since before its inception. She has worked with sexual abuse survivors since 2004 and has supervised students in hospital and mental health settings. She is a member of the Sexual Abuse Study Group at the William Alanson White Institute, where she is also Co-Director of the Artist Study Group and Psychotherapy Service for People in the Arts. Fran currently facilitates a sexual abuse survivor support group for women and in 2019 coordinated A Night of Healing for survivors of all genders at Columbia University in New York City.

Executive Administrative Assistant

Jessica Wierman (she/her)

Jessica holds a BA in International Studies with a minor in Human Resource Management, as well as a Career Diploma in Medical Transcription. Throughout these pursuits and her personal experience as a survivor, she realized her desire to support the overall wellbeing of those who have experienced trauma, and found a home in TBO. She aims to bring her administrative experience and nature of compassion to her role. She has had poetry published by the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and the Spiritual Writers Network.

Advisory Board Member

Peter Bottéas, LMHC

Peter was a founding member of the TBO facilitation team and served for several years as clinical liaison between the team and the Board. He is a multilingual and multicultural therapist, now in retirement, after several years in private practice, specializing in trauma recovery. He was previously a counselor, therapist, and victim advocate in the Violence Recovery Program at Fenway Health in Boston—a program that focuses on recovery from traumatic events such as sexual abuse, sexual assault, domestic violence, and bias crimes in the LGBTQ community. He frequently trained clinicians, students, and community volunteers, has spoken at various conferences in the U.S. and Canada, and has been an adjunct faculty member in the Counseling Psychology program at Lesley University. He is a certified EMDR clinician certified with advanced training in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy.

Advisory Board Member

Purnima Mane, P.h.D.

Dr. Mane is an internationally recognized expert on gender, AIDS, and sexual and reproductive health. Dr. Mane has served as UN Assistant-Secretary-General, United Nations and Deputy Executive Director (Programme) of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). In late summer 2016, Dr. Mane was a Policy Fellow Resident at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center in Italy. She has served in leadership positions in several international organizations such as Pathfinder International, UNAIDS, World Health Organization, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the Population Council. Before launching into an international career, Ms. Mane worked for over a decade and a half in India on public health and gender-related issues, while serving as Associate Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. Dr. Mane holds a doctoral degree from TISS in women's studies. She has co-authored several papers, co- edited 3 books, and is a founding editor of the journal, Culture, Health and Sexuality. She was recipient of the Fulbright-IIE Global Change Maker Award in September 2016. She is a Board member of the International Development Research Center, Bay Area Global Health Alliance, Frontline AIDS and Hesperian Health Guides.

Advisory Board Member

Shari Narva, MSW

Shari is Senior Clinical Advisor at Narva & Company. Shari has worked for over 30 years with families as an advisor, consultant, and psychotherapist. She helps families create a coherent family narrative that incorporates the past and honors the legacy of the family into the future. She specializes in helping families engage in the difficult conversations that prevent progress and success. By interviewing all relevant family members, including spouses, she ascertains the family dynamics, communications patterns, and disruptions to the business family issues may cause. Creating a safe and effective forum for family dialogue, a practice in which Shari has deep experience, can often be a key intervention where family discord or resistance exists. Shari has presented to many university based family business programs, foundations, law firms and other professional firms on these subjects. Her previous professional experience includes private practice in psychotherapy, teaching and clinical supervision. She spent many years working as a social worker in child protective services, developing and managing state and federally funded programs for youth in the juvenile justice system as well as serving as an expert witness in judicial proceedings. Shari received a B.S. from Cornell University in Human Development and Family Studies and earned an MSW at the Smith College School for Social Work. Shari speaks Spanish and volunteers in a number of Boston-based programs for children and families. She is also known as “Sparkle” in her role as a hospital clown.