Understanding and Managing Vicarious Trauma for Eye Bank Professionals

Dr. Martin is a native of Haiti and spent a significant portion of her life in New York City. She is a Nationally Certified and Licensed Professional Counselor in Missouri with extensive experience working with individuals, couples, and families. She believes that everyone deserves culturally sensitive and trauma-informed mental health services. Dr. Martin's approach to counseling incorporates aspects of Psychodynamic Therapy, Narrative Therapy, Relational Cultural Therapy, and Cognitive Behavior Therapy. 
 
Dr. Martin is a nationally registered and certified Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapist (TF-CBT) and a certified Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapist, two evidence-based psychotherapy models for trauma treatment. Dr. Martin is trained in levels 1 and 2 of Gottman Method to Couples Therapy and employs this method when working with couples. Her overall approach to counseling includes exploring maladaptive behaviors and thought patterns that seem to restrict individuals from living a life free of worries, regrets, shame, guilt, and disappointments. Dr. Martin provides in-person and telemental health counseling; she is board-certified to provide telemental health. 
 
Her professional experience includes extensive clinical and advocacy work with marginalized populations and individuals impacted by trauma. Her specializations include racial trauma recovery, complex trauma, cultural adaptation, multicultural issues, and women empowerment. 
 
Dr. Martin is an assistant professor of Counseling at Webster University, where she enjoys developing counselor candidates to be culturally aware and trauma-informed. Additionally, she engages in various professional services to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion on campus and in the community. Dr. Martin started her private practice, Spring To Life Counseling, LLC, earlier in 2019. She has collaborated with various affiliates in the community, including Community Women Against Hardship, Casa de Salud, the Multicultural Counseling and Research Center, and the Ollie Heart Foundation, to help meet the mental health needs of under-resourced populations. 
 
Dr. Martin received her doctorate degree in Counselor Education and Supervision at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Dr. Martin's research interests center around the effect of racism and other forms of social injustices on the mental health of impacted individuals. Dr. Martin is also interested in researching counselors' competencies around multicultural issues and trauma-informed practices. She has presented nationally and internationally on Black women's experiences in predominantly White spaces. In 2019, she received the Counseling Fellowship in Social Justice Award at UMSL. 

Rhonda Adams is a Licensed Professional Counselor, facilitator, and higher education professional. She has 30+ years working in the helping profession, with over 15 years of experience in the counseling and mental health field. Rhonda serves as an advocate for prioritizing the mental health and well-being of underserved populations through facilitating trauma informed care trainings and practices to organizations and school districts.

Rhonda remains committed to providing counseling and support to those who must overcome challenging life circumstances to achieve their goals. She believes that true healing occurs when one can give oneself permission to explore and face frightening or limiting beliefs that may live underneath the emotions that cause discomfort and pain. She has a passion for those who dare to dream big but lack resources and/or the personal confidence to achieve those dreams without help [support].

Her professional and personal philosophy is summarized by this quote from Joshua J. Marine: “Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.”

Rhonda has a Master’s degree in Professional Counseling from Lindenwood University and a Bachelor of Arts in Advertising from the University of Kansas. She is also a Certified Professional Co-Active Life Coach (Coaches Training Institute) and has an Emotional Intelligence certification (Multi Health Systems Inc.). Rhonda has worked with non-profit institutions as well as four-year and two-year colleges and is a retired faculty member and department chair from St. Louis Community College. Her work in trauma informed care inspired the inception of her own business, Rise Up Counseling Services LLC (RUCS). RUCS provides individual counseling/coaching, organizational training, and consulting on trauma informed care and practices. Most recently she has joined the St. Louis Public Schools team where she serves as Clinical Consultant for the Student Support department