Speaking Engagements & Workshops
Bring meaningful, engaging conversations to your organization through relatable storytelling, professional insight, and practical strategies your audience can carry beyond the event.
Areas of Expertise
Topics That Meet Your Audience Where They Are
Connection Is Where Meaningful Learning Begins.
Each speaking engagement and workshop combines professional expertise, relatable instruction, and real-world application to create space for learning, reflection, and meaningful action.
Cultural Competence
Supporting greater awareness, understanding, and culturally responsive engagement across professional and community settings.
Racial Trauma
Creating informed conversations around race-based traumatic stress, healing, identity, and emotional safety.
Trauma-Informed Care
Helping professionals understand trauma and apply responsive, person-centered practices in their everyday work.
Mental Health & Wellness
Encouraging practical conversations about mental health, emotional well-being, support, and community care.
Burnout & Rest
Exploring the impact of burnout while helping participants develop healthier approaches to rest, boundaries, and sustainability.
Professional Growth
Strengthening communication, reflective practice, leadership, and professional development across teams and organizations.
Previous Trainings
Past Trainings & Workshops
Explore the range of topics Rachael has presented for professionals, organizations, and community audiences. Select a category below to view related trainings and workshops.
- Improving Cultural Competence for Behavioral Health Professionals
- A Trauma-Informed Approach to Racial Trauma and Race-Based Traumatic Stress
- Racial/Cultural Concerns as a Mental Health Student/Professional
- Intersecting Identities: Inclusive Solutions Advancing Equity in Human Services
- Decolonizing Ethics: Reclaiming Cultural Wisdom in Clinical Work
- Healing the Mind and Spirit: Trauma-Informed Approaches for Racialized and Gendered Violence
- Healing at the Intersections: Trauma-Informed Care Across Lifespan and Identity
- A Trauma-Informed Approach to Diagnostic Assessment & Compassion in Diagnosis
- Justice and Healing: An Introduction to Trauma-Informed Care for Justice-Involved Populations
- Trauma-Informed Forensic Evaluation: Bridging the Gap Between Justice and Compassion
- Crisis to Care: Implementing Trauma-Informed Approaches in Emergency Settings
- Compassion in Complexity: Trauma-Informed Care for Dual Diagnoses in Behavioral Health
- From Fairytales to Facelifts: Learning to Love the Image in the Mirror Inside and Out
- You Deserve! Women’s Wellness Workshop
- Kindness Within: Nurturing Self-Compassion for a Balanced Life
- Transformative Healing: Trauma-Informed Holistic Wellness for Mind, Body, and Spirit
- From Strength to Serenity: Nurturing Self-Compassion and Resilience in Black Motherhood
- Counselor, Heal Thyself: The Power of Self-Compassion in Preventing Burnout
- Mourning to Mission: Empowering the Journey from Loss to Purpose
- Beyond Sobriety: Empowering Lives Through Trauma-Informed Recovery
- Chronicles of Grief: Understanding Loss Across Time
- Stress Management and Coping Strategies for Youth
- Shining Through: Building Capacity and Wellness in the Light of Leadership
- Supporting Resilience: Trauma-Informed Strategies for Supervisors
- Brilliance Under Pressure: Lessons in Authentic Leadership
- Brave Space Supervision: Creating Emotionally Safe and Reflective Learning Environments
Previous Appearances
Past Speaking Engagements & Panels
Rachael has shared her expertise through conferences, panels, retreats, professional gatherings, and community conversations across the country.
Community Engagements
Ladies Night: Black Women and Mental Health
Black Mental Wellness Virtual Conference, "Overcoming: The State of Black Healing" — Cincinnati, Ohio
You Are Enough! Women and Mental Health
All Women Rock: A Celebration — Cincinnati, Ohio
Youth and Mental Health
Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio Urban Champions "I Am More Than What You See" Back 2 School Bash — Cincinnati, Ohio
Fight the Stigma: Youth and Mental Health
Urban League Youth Summit and Guiding Light Mentoring I AM ME Youth Summit — Cincinnati, Ohio
Mental Health Q&A for BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month
Cincinnati, Ohio
Trauma and Anger Management
Project E.P.I.C. and Guiding Light Mentoring — Cincinnati, Ohio
Brunch with a Therapist
HUES Women's Health Advocacy Institute — Cincinnati, Ohio
Two-Day Youth Mental Health Retreat
Xcellence Ignited — Cincinnati, Ohio
Alexa, Find My Therapist
She Selfish, LLC — Dayton, Ohio
BIPOC Mental and Behavioral Health Provider Director Panel
Community Engagement Collective — Cincinnati, Ohio
Ohio Deflection Association 3rd Annual Ohio Quick Response Team, Deflection, and Outreach Summit
Cincinnati, Ohio
Newark Board of Education 3rd Annual Women's Leadership Conference
Newark, New Jersey
Hamilton County Public Defender's Office
Cincinnati, Ohio
2021–2023 Engagements
How to Heal: Sexual Assault Awareness 2021
ION Center and Black Women Cultivating Change
Youth and Mental Health 2023
Dreamchasers Academy and Xcellence Ignited — Cincinnati, Ohio
Power of You Women's Empowerment Brunch 2023
Dr. Corinn, LLC and The Empowerment Foundation — Cincinnati, Ohio
Self-Care Women's Wellness Workshop 2023
She Is Me, LLC — Cincinnati, Ohio
Multiethnic Advocates for Cultural Competence 2023 Annual Conference: From Advocacy to Activism
Columbus, Ohio
2023 Black Girl Magic Expo
Natural Woman Magazine — Cincinnati, Ohio
Healing for the Holidays: Community Mental Health Mixer
Community Engagement Collective — Cincinnati, Ohio
2024 Engagements
NANP HEALCon 2024
San Diego, California
Multiethnic Advocates for Cultural Competence 2024 Annual Conference: Transforming Care, Transforming Lives
Columbus, Ohio
Legal Aid Society of Columbus 2024
Virtual
Grow and Glow Teen Talk 2024
New Life Missionary Baptist Church — Cincinnati, Ohio
Shades of Blue Project 2024 Black Maternal Mental Health Summit
Houston, Texas
Cannabis and Youth Panel 2024
Cincinnati, Ohio
Bold & Fearless Women's 2024 Conference
Cincinnati, Ohio
Beginning Again Retreat 2024
Virtual
2024 National Organization for Human Services Conference
New Orleans, Louisiana
2024 Drexel University BHE 32nd Virtual Forensic Rights and Treatment Conference
Virtual
15th Annual National Update on Behavioral Emergencies Conference
Phoenix, Arizona
University of Cincinnati 9th Annual Black Feminist Symposium
Cincinnati, Ohio
2025 Engagements
Newark Board of Education 2025 Women's Leadership Conference
Newark, New Jersey
NCCHC 2025 Correctional Mental Health Conference
2025 Black Tech Week Presents: Ctrl + Alt + Reset, Grounded Voices, Guided Healing
2025 All Ohio Counselors Conference
Columbus, Ohio
State of Black Women in America After the Layoffs
2025 National Organization for Human Services Conference
Charlotte, North Carolina
16th Annual National Update on Behavioral Emergencies Conference
New Orleans, Louisiana
2026 Engagements
2026 American Counseling Association Virtual Ethics Summit
2026 Black Mental Health Conference
Raleigh, North Carolina
What Audiences Can Expect
Relatable Storytelling
Real-life experiences that create connection, deepen understanding, and make complex topics feel approachable.
Engaging Conversation
Interactive sessions that encourage participation, thoughtful reflection, and meaningful discussion.
Practical Takeaways
Actionable tools and strategies participants can apply beyond the workshop, panel, or presentation.
Speaking in Action
A look at Rachael creating meaningful conversations and engaging learning experiences with audiences and organizations.
Participant Experiences
What Participants Are Saying
Hear directly from people who have attended Be the Light trainings, workshops, and speaking engagements.