Nikkia Young, PhD brings embodied playfulness, and a grounded sense of purpose to  her work as an educator, consultant and licensed clinical psychologist. Her early career experiences as a gymnastics and martial arts instructor turned Kindergarten teacher (Park Day School!) taught her to improvise and listen; move and play; and, keep her heart open during conflict. Currently, Nikkia is the Director of Counseling at The Bay School of San Francisco. In her independent consulting practice, Nikkia brings compassion, containment, and shared purpose to high-stakes, high-charge, and high-conflict challenges within organizations. She’s also chipping away (very slowly, but hopefully, surely) at a book integrating a structural power analysis into the Interpersonal Neurobiology framework. Nikkia brings together science, play, storytelling, and original lo-fi illustrations to address the heart, body, and soul of the work toward healing justice—striving to honor the weight and complexity of our most difficult truths without weighing us down.