The Institute Team

Meet our team of experts — social justice advocates, researchers and community leaders — working to transform lives and communities by leading and innovating trauma-informed care.

Meredith Standing, MBA

Interim Vice President

Meredith joined Hanna Center in 2021 as a member of the Hanna Institute and has become a member of Hanna Center’s leadership team. She has over fifteen years of experience creating, implementing, and managing programs and events within complex, multi-tiered, multi-faceted organizations. Meredith comes to us from the Child Parent Institute, where she began her work supporting the health of children and families in Sonoma County. Born in California, raised in the Bay Area, and trained in San Francisco and Sonoma counties, Meredith loves exploring Sonoma County’s beautiful regional parks in her free time with her son.

Marissa La Brecque

Director

As a longtime marketing strategist and leader in the sustainability space, Marissa is passionate about building systems that are strong enough to thrive through change . Marissa is co-founder of the Butcher’s Guild, a national trade organization, author of three cookbooks, and the former president of a processing plant.

Rayna Friendly, Ph.D.

Training & Consulting Manager

Dr. Rayna Friendly has over 15 years of experience designing, implementing and evaluating professional teaching-&-learning programs, specializing in psychology, child development, and adult learning. Prior to joining Hanna in 2022, she taught developmental and cognitive psychology courses at San José State University, in the Child and Adolescent Development Department, where she promoted Students-As-Partners and professional development initiatives amongst her colleagues.

While completing her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology (McMaster University), Rayna conducted multiple research studies examining the influence of people and culture on the development of brain and behavior across childhood. She then completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Teaching & Professional Development (McMaster University), managing the creation and evaluation of inter-institutional virtual and in-person adult learning certificate programs. Rayna develops innovative training initiatives that utilize active learning strategies and teaching technologies to enhance the experience of learners from diverse backgrounds. Her focus is on promoting trauma-informed diversity, equity and inclusion practices, while building community and enhancing culture within and across organizations.

Ty Moore

Digital Learning Manager

Ty Moore serves as Hanna Institute’s Digital Learning Manager, responsible for managing all aspects of Hanna Institute’s virtual training and asynchronous learning library. Ty is your point of contact for any questions relating to virtual event registration, attendance, or certification. Ty is passionate about learning & design, collaborating, and helping others reach their goals. Ty attended San Francisco State University and majored in Communication with a minor in Africana Studies.

Jila Malek-Salehi, Ed.D

Training Specialist

Dr. Jila Malek-Salehi joins Hanna Institute with over 15 years of teaching and curriculum design experience. Her career in education began teaching K-8 and coaching volleyball at the middle, high school, and college levels. She holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership and Management and has been working with adult learners teaching Child and Adolescent Development at De Anza College and San Jose State University (SJSU). Jila’s work at SJSU involves teaching in their 100% online bachelor’s degree completion program in Interdisciplinary Studies. She also teaches in the Multiple and Single Subject Teacher Credential Program and the Master of Arts in Teaching.

Jila specializes in the art of teaching. She believes in preparing teachers for the field of education through evidence-based approaches to learning. She utilizes Universal Design for Learning and active learning strategies to enhance anything she can teach and share with others. Beyond the classroom, Jila has a strong passion for experiential learning, focusing on equity, diversity, and social justice.

Institute Partners

The Hanna Institute partners with community members, advocates and organizations to design programs that address the root causes of trauma and mitigate its impacts and effects. Our approach is expansive: we bring together evidence-based frameworks with place-based community practices to create innovative and equity-centered interventions to build healing, shift power, and break cycles of trauma and oppression.

Dr. Daniela Domínguez

Dr. Daniela Domínguez is an Assistant Professor at the University of San Francisco and the Chief Executive Officer at On the Margins, LLC. She is a licensed psychologist and professional clinical counselor with a special interest in liberation psychology, anti-racism, migrant justice, and gender and sexuality matters. She works with Hanna Institute as a consultant.

Her program of research has focused on understanding how Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) cope with stress and use specific strategies to draw upon resiliencies to achieve positive health. In 2020, the Society of Counseling Psychologists honored her with the “Early Career Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Counseling Psychology.” In 2021, the Society of Counseling Psychologists honored her with the “Social Justice Award” for her demonstrated evidence of achieving community change that supports disenfranchised or oppressed groups.

Nick Dalton

Nick Dalton helped launch the Hanna Institute in 2016 as the Assistant Director, and became Co-Director in 2018 and is now currently one of our trainers. Mostly recognized as the face of DirecTV bills in the mid 2000s, Nick was a part of the Broadway community for 15 years while teaching and training human serving humans around the globe. They are a talented interdisciplinary artist, teacher, and facilitator with a background in SEL through Arts Integration, Restorative Practices, and Community Development. Their specialty is collaborating with English Language Learners as well as Immigrant and Refugee communities.

With two young children, Nick is passionate about Early Childhood Education, Parental Mental Health, how to decolonize public health and education, and dissecting why adult clothes just aren’t as fun as those for littles.

Dr. Robert Macy

Dr. Robert Macy is trained as a theatre artist, Taoist martial artist, dance movement therapist, developmental traumatologist, and disaster behavioral health manager. He has developed body-based psychological trauma interventions, and has launched the design, development, dissemination and implementation of trauma-informed care assessment and intervention service delivery systems in the United States and overseas focusing on schools, residential treatment centers, inpatient units, communities of color with high priority populations, emergency services and large-scale community engagement. Dr. Macy is the Founder and President of the International Trauma Center-Boston, and Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Boston Children’s Foundation, also in Boston.

Dr. Macy is a founding member of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), where he is a primary content provider and National Master Trainer for the development of Psychological First Aid, and primary content provider and National Master Trainer for Skills for Psychological Recovery. He has co-chaired the NCTSN Terrorism and Disaster Network Committee and continues as a senior consultant to the NCTSN Terrorism and Disaster Center and has led numerous response and behavioral health recovery teams during national and international disasters. Dr. Macy is a senior response member for the Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Disaster Technical Assistance Center (DTAC). He is activated by DTAC for major terrorist attacks and natural disasters in the US providing Crisis Counseling Programs (CCP) and continuum of care trauma focused interventions for youth, family and community.

Davin Anthony Thomas

Davin Anthony Thompson, also known as Do D.A.T, is an arts educator and emcee hailing from Oakland, California. Davin has spent the majority of his life as a creative writer, performing artist and engaging facilitator in the nonprofit sector. Davin blends the art of emceeing into his facilitation style to captivate audiences of all ages and backgrounds through thought provoking socially conscious music and interactive workshops. With over 20 years of experience working with nonprofit organizations, Davin has gained perspective and knowledge of trauma-informed care, clinical frameworks and theories, social-emotional wellness, creative expression, mindfulness, and music education. He has supported over a dozen organizations as a lead artist, workshop facilitator, event creator, artist development mentor, and a variety of other roles. As an emcee, Davin has had several musical album releases as a solo artist and other collaborative partnerships. He has performed on world renown stages such as the San Francisco Fillmore, Oakland Fox Theater, and the Historical Apollo theater in Harlem New City. With his passion for creative expression, Davin loves to write poems, short stories, and songs in the form of Hip Hop music.