Vanessa Davis has over 15 years of experience in social services combined with lived experience as a former foster youth, a former licensed foster parent, and someone that has struggled immensely to overcome childhood trauma and abuse. For the past seven years, Vanessa has used her lived experience and creative passion to design services that fill gaps for transition-age foster youth. In her previous role as youth services director at Just in Time for Foster Youth, she identified a clear gap: mental health services that are relevant, transformative, individualized, and realistic for transition-age foster youth. She conducted focus groups and surveys and interviewed and collaborated with clinicians and service providers to develop a curriculum called “Rise to Thrive.”

As a result of her work, Vanessa was the recipient of two prestigious fellowships with the U.S. Department of State where she was given the opportunity to travel to Indonesia and work with nonprofit leaders, students, and women involved in sex trafficking, helping facilitate conversations about trauma, resilience, and abuse against women. Vanessa also spearheaded an effort with multiple nonprofit organizations, as well as the Clinton Health Foundation and the San Diego Foundation to create a Trauma-Informed Code of Conduct. This code of conduct has been adopted by 52 organizations in San Diego and was designed to provide government agencies with a framework on how to support youth in building resilience and becoming healthy and empowered. Vanessa has a bachelor’s degree in organizational management from Point Loma Nazarene University.