Shaena Lee Spoor, LSWAIC (she/her)

Offering values-driven, collaborative facilitation and politicized wellness support.

about me.

Born and raised on Tongva land (Southern California), I spent my early adult life on Ohlone territory (San Francisco Bay Area) and am a current occupant on Duwamish/Coast Salish land (Seattle, WA). Culturally, I come to this work shaped by my mixed Asian heritage with ancestral roots in Japan, Korea and Europe. I also come to this work influenced by the many roles I’ve had throughout my life as a natural helper, healer, teacher/learner, facilitator, memory-keeper, eldest daughter and sister, obachan-channeler, survivor, builder, ideator and dreamer.

From a “professional” standpoint, I have my associate license in clinical Social Work and more than 10 years of experience working in community-based settings. These experiences include direct service, program management, facilitation, curriculum development, partnership-building, development/fundraising and capacity building.

approach.

My philosophy and approach to this work is strongly influenced by my time supporting survivors of intimate violence. My experiences collaborating with survivors seeking safety & justice placed a glaring spotlight on the all the ways systems often fail and actively harm them and the people they love. Among the harm-doers were/are Social Workers. I mention this because I think it’s important to name that my title implies participation in a system of “care” that is in dire need of new paradigms. Informed by these realities, my guiding passions live where gender justice and reimagining community safety meet. This heart-work greatly contours my practice as a wellness provider, collaborator and educator.

With deep gratitude and respect for the organizers of Kindred Southern Healing Justice Collective, my work is guided by principles of healing justice. As such, my approach is trauma-informed, healing-centered, culturally responsive and politically driven. I strive to move from a place of authenticity, critical self-reflection, accountability, power-sharing and reciprocity.

My hope is that our work together, in whatever capacity is a fit for you at this time, opens up breath-space for discovery, healing and transformative change (with some levity along the way).

  • As a wellness provider, I am grounded in the reality that none of us exist in a vacuum - that we are all influenced by the underpinnings of our upbringings, class, gender, race/ethnicity, ability, sexuality and beyond. I am, accordingly, committed to the work of honoring you and your perspectives within the complexity of those intersections.

    You can expect my approach to be direct, inquisitive & warm. I respect your autonomy and do my best to ground in a practice of curiosity and consent. I make space for the many realities of healing work - recognizing that it can be a messy, imperfect and rigorous process as well as a beautiful, joyous and spiritual one. I see it as this strange and sometimes awkward but ultimately warm and cozy feeling of coming home to yourself. Healing is also a collective venture - no one can or ever should have to do it alone. Our relationships open breathing space for the expanse of healing. They’re ripe for opportunities to experiment while honoring the multiplicity of our lives. In the spirt of holding many truths, I also embrace humor as an essential part of reclaiming wholeness after hardship.

    In my experience, both personally and professionally, I find tapping into imagination and embodiment practices to be powerful tools for self-discovery, self-acceptance and meaningful change. Many of these practices are informed by the teachings of somatics. My approach is, therefore, well suited for folks who enjoy creative and introspective explorations around healing.

    I especially love working with: BIPOC healers, frontline workers, neurodivergent folks, transition aged (18-24) women & gender expansive folks, cerebral types ready to do the work of getting into their bodies

    Not quite specialties, but additional info about me that may be relevant to you as you search for a resonant provider: Being raised by a single mom, much of my identity formation has been nurtured by matriarchs in my family. I am intimately familiar with class struggle and, more recently, the complexities of moving into a mixed-class experience in adulthood. I also see the world through a neurodivergent lens which bears both gifts and complications.

    As someone who falls along the asexuality/aromanticism spectrum, I value expansive relationship structures and ways of loving. I also view our relationships as a site where we practice our politics and am relationally guided by principles of relationship anarchy. I am also a person that believes in the power of joy as a sustainability practice in the work and in life.

offerings

  • 60-Minute Sessions Offered Virtually | To learn more about the differences between therapy & coaching please click here.

    When do you feel the most free? What do you long for? How do your values light the way? In wellness sessions, we’ll take a non-clinical, non-pathologizing approach to explore your wellness gaps and desires, detailing a plan that’s tailored to you. Throughout our work together, we’ll tap into imagination and engage in embodiment practices as tools for cultivate presence, self-discovery, self-acceptance and meaningful change. These sessions are ideal for folks who have already have some experience receiving therapeutic services and are looking for a more future-facing and goal-oriented offering.

    Frequency: Every other week (can be more or less depending on goals)

  • ***Coming Soon***

    10 weeks of politicized & trauma-informed coaching centered on the cultivation of liberated boundaries with self and others. The 10-week arc will be shaped by your goals & explored with a somatic lens.

  • More information about our workshop & facilitation offerings as well as a way to request services can be found here.

    Beyond our core offerings, here is some information specific to me:

    Facilitation Experience : 9+ years

    Types of Facilitation Engagements: Workshops, Lectures & Presentations, Support Groups/Healing Circles, Cohort-based Workshop Series, Retreats, Training, Strategic Planning

    Topic Areas:

    • Liberated Relationship Skills (Boundaries, Accountability, Consent, Self-Tending, Restorative Practices)

    • Intimate Violence (Domestic Violence 101, Supporting Survivors, Transformative Justice, Teen Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, Intersections of Violence)

    ***Consulting details coming soon***

training & education

  • Licensed Social Worker Associate Independent Clinical, Washington state | Credential #: SC61261888

    2021 Master of Social Work, University of Washington Concentration:Community Centered Integrative Practice

    2014 Bachelor of the Arts, Psychology, San Francisco State University

  • Certification

    • 2024 120-hour Mind Body (Somatics) Coaching Certificate, Embody Lab (in progress)

    Training

    • 2023 10-hour Creative Facilitation Training, Partners for Youth Empowerment (PYE)

    • 2023 22-hour Transformative Mental Health Core Curriculum Training, Institute for the Development of Human Arts (IDHA)

    • 2021 Natural Helpers Training, API Chaya

    • 2017 60-Hour Sexual Assault Counselor Training, San Francisco Women Against Rape (SFWAR)

    • 2014 40-hour Domestic Violence Advocacy Training, Women Organized to Make Abuse Nonexistent

    Professional Development

    • 2024 Abolitionist Social Worker/Social Service Practice & Support Circle, Justice Practice Collaborative, National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network and Creative Interventions.

    • 2023 Eating Disorder Harm Reduction, Nalgona Positivity Pride

    • 2022 Facing Race: A National Conference, Race Forward | Phoenix, AZ,

    • 2022 The Bridge Conference, Schools Out Washington | Tacoma, WA

    • 2021 The Freedom Network Conference, Freedom Network USA | Online

    • 2020 Social Work, White Supremacy, & Racial Justice Symposium, University of Houston School of Social Work | Online

    • 2019 On Purpose, Annual Conference, Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WSCADV) | Online

    • 2018 Facing Race: A National Conference, Race Forward and Center for Social Inclusion | Detroit, MI

    • 2018 How to Navigate Amidst Overwhelming Times, Trauma Stewardship Institute | Berkeley, CA

  • Texts:

    • What it Takes to Heal - Prentis Hemphill

    • Pleasure Activism - adrienne maree brown

    • The Revolution Starts at Home - Ching In Chen, Jai Dulani, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

    • Beyond Survival - Ejeris Dixon & Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

    • Creative Interventions - STOP, Mimi Kim

    • The Politics of Trauma - Staci Haines

    • Emergent Strategy - adrienne maree brown

    • Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer

experience

  • Right now, I’m humbled and delighted to recently join Deconstructing the Mental Health System (DMHS) as Clinical Director of their Free Therapy & Wellness Program, supporting DMHS’ efforts to expand access to community-driven and BIPOC-centered mental health care. I will also be working to strengthen partnerships, support organizational sustainability and launch their first internship program. On a part-time basis, I am also an instructor at the UW School of Social Work.

  • From November 2021 to January 2025, I worked at a mentorship-based organization focused on supporting BIPOC young women and gender expansive teens (Young Women Empowered). My scope of work included program development, offering one-on-one wellness support, mentorship training, grant writing support, curriculum development, and the founding of a QTBIPOC youth-centered free therapy and wellness program.

    For the seven years prior to that, my work focused on providing community-based support to survivors of intimate harm both in Seattle, WA (API Chaya) and in San Francisco, CA (WOMAN, Inc, SF Women Against Rape). Experiences included direct service for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking as well as outreach and education in schools, organizations and the broader community. 

    Direct service experience includes:

    • Case management & advocacy for young women, gender expansive teens and survivors of DV and human trafficking

    • Youth-centered Wellness Meetings: emotional support, goal-setting, somatic coaching

    • Domestic Violence & Rape Crisis Hotline Counseling

    • Medical Advocacy: Hospital accompaniment & connection to resources for survivors of sexual assault

    • Restraining Order Intake: Connecting survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking to free legal services

    • Support Groups for survivors of domestic violence

    • Short-term Peer Counseling for survivors of domestic violence