Angelica's Story
“In 2000, I was an uninsured graduate student going through a major health issue which left me with limited choices.
I ultimately went into medical debt while accruing student debt for my specialized education.
I thought I needed to “invest” in myself and my community as a first generation, multi racial, multilingual child of working class immigrants.
I chose to work in the non-profit industrial complex because I internalized the harmful narratives of public service and the “helping professions”.
I had the privilege of moving to my father’s ancestral land, which he had taught me was still an occupied island with its own languages and cultural practices.
Through my paternal lineage I was able to access citizenship and their socialized health care system, living there for 10 years.
This experience radicalized me, teaching me that healthcare is a basic human right, should not be tied to employment and providers can be compensated fairly.
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I continue to recommit myself to radical solutions with immediate impacts through our interrelated harm reduction endeavors supporting people and communities living with complex trauma.
Cervitude co-imagines how we “cerv” individuals and communities with our intentional choices to support, repair and practice mutual aid in multiple ways.
Service is my meditation, medication and education. This is my attempt to co-imagine and compassionately practice wellbeing while confronting suffering in the world.
We are capable of expansive living through the “both/and” in order to emancipate each other from the systems that oppress and occupy our lives on all levels. ”
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Education
2011
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D)
European Graduate School
Arts, Health & Society Division Interdisciplinary Education, Therapy and Consulting
Cum Laude
2009
Masters in Social Work (MSW)
Fordham University,
Graduate School of Social Work
Dual Major: Administration and Clinical Practice
Cum Laude
2003
Master of Arts in Drama Therapy (MA)
New York University, Steinhardt School of Education
Cum Laude
CERTIFICATES
2020
Harvard Medical School, Department of Continuing Education
Global Mental Health: Trauma and Recovery
2006
European Graduate School
Advanced Graduate Study (CAGS)
Angelica's Social