Amy ("Ames") Paulson (she/they) is a speaker, facilitator, writer, trauma survivor, mental health advocate, and the co-founder and CEO of Healing Together, an Oakland-based non-profit that works at the intersection of healing and social justice - helping to disrupt generational cycles of trauma and harm, build individual and collective resilience, and democratize access to healing resources in the Bay Area and around the world.
As a survivor of orphan trafficking, sexual violence, and generational trauma, Ames is passionate about healing and transformation for those who have lost their parents and those who most need to reclaim their inner parent. They are working to de-stigmatize and de-pathologize trauma as a mental health issue, and advocate for individuals, communities, and institutions to embrace healing as a universal human right.
Ames has served in the non-profit sector as a volunteer, program manager, finance manager, and board member, working in the U.S, Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Africa, Nepal, and Cambodia.
Before Healing Together, Ames worked for over a decade in corporate finance and accounting, with Deloitte, SAP, eBay International in Switzerland, and the US Embassy in Germany. They hold a Master of Science in Nonprofit Management with a specialization in Global Studies (Northeastern) and are certified in Trauma-Informed Interventions (UC Berkeley) and Global Mental Health & Refugee Trauma (Harvard Medical School). Ames is also a facilitator of the renowned Interpersonal Dynamics course at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.
Ames' #MeToo story was published in The Anatomy of Silence: 26 Stories About All The Shit That Gets In The Way Of Speaking About Sexual Violence. Their memoir, The Wound Myth (working title) will chronicle their journey as a survivor and explore what it means to heal, from the inside out.
Ames' Story | Ames' profile on LinkedIn
As a survivor of orphan trafficking, sexual violence, and generational trauma, Ames is passionate about healing and transformation for those who have lost their parents and those who most need to reclaim their inner parent. They are working to de-stigmatize and de-pathologize trauma as a mental health issue, and advocate for individuals, communities, and institutions to embrace healing as a universal human right.
Ames has served in the non-profit sector as a volunteer, program manager, finance manager, and board member, working in the U.S, Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Africa, Nepal, and Cambodia.
Before Healing Together, Ames worked for over a decade in corporate finance and accounting, with Deloitte, SAP, eBay International in Switzerland, and the US Embassy in Germany. They hold a Master of Science in Nonprofit Management with a specialization in Global Studies (Northeastern) and are certified in Trauma-Informed Interventions (UC Berkeley) and Global Mental Health & Refugee Trauma (Harvard Medical School). Ames is also a facilitator of the renowned Interpersonal Dynamics course at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.
Ames' #MeToo story was published in The Anatomy of Silence: 26 Stories About All The Shit That Gets In The Way Of Speaking About Sexual Violence. Their memoir, The Wound Myth (working title) will chronicle their journey as a survivor and explore what it means to heal, from the inside out.
Ames' Story | Ames' profile on LinkedIn
