All CC4C facilitators are mental health professionals. We hope to see you in a future training!
Mandy Doria, Program Director
Mandy Doria, MS, LPC, NCC, RYT-500, TCTSY-F is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga Facilitator (TCTSY-F), and Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado’s Department of Psychiatry. Mandy is the Program Director for Collective Care 4 Communities. In March 2020, she helped launch the Past the Pandemic program and continues to direct curriculum development, implementation, and coordination for this program which supports health care workforce wellbeing. She currently serves as a therapist in the Stress, Trauma, Adversity, Research and Treatment (START) Center at CU and has 14 years of experience providing mental health care to children and adults in a variety of community, school, home, private and college settings. Mandy incorporates mindfulness, trauma sensitive yoga and other somatic approaches into her clinical work and practices from a person-centered, relational, and strengths-based framework. She is passionate about self-advocacy, mitigating burnout, challenging systems of oppression and promoting collective wellbeing. Mandy has extensive experience in developing trainings in mental health education, suicide prevention, grief, mindfulness, burnout, stress management, and trauma-informed care.
Leslie Choi, Trainer
Leslie Choi is a Pediatric and Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner who joined the University of Colorado Department of Psychiatry in March of 2020. Prior to choosing a career in mental health, she spent 18 years pursuing other nursing fields including time as a Navy nurse, an oncology nurse, inpatient and outpatient pediatrics, and as a school resource nurse. The persistent thread of mental health concerns throughout her past work and their interconnectedness with physical health led her to her latest career. She currently provides mental healthcare to individuals across the lifespan as well as working on other projects including the Past the Pandemic ECHO series from 2020-2024 which was developed to support the mental health of our healthcare workforce during the COVID 19 pandemic. She is passionate about helping people to feel seen and heard, to find rest and good sleep to promote physical and mental health, and to create meaningful connection in their lives.
Pari Thibodeau, Trainer & Research Lead
Pari Thibodeau is an integrated healthcare scholar with priorities rooted in both the clinical and research work. Pari studied at Elon University (BA in Human Service Studies), Washington University in St. Louis (MSW), and the University of Denver (PhD). She is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) in Colorado. In her clinical experience, she has worked in a variety of inpatient and outpatient health and mental health settings serving individuals coping with chronic illness, end of life, trauma, depression, anxiety, and more. In her research, she studies the wellbeing of the healthcare workforce, specifically focusing on the experiences of moral injury and mental health faced by healthcare workers. Her research extends across the interdisciplinary healthcare teams, with emphasis on healthcare social work experiences of workforce wellbeing. She approaches research from a systems lens, considering the interaction of each healthcare worker within the context in which they work and live in. Last, she considers herself an educator, and she teaches clinical social work skills and social work in healthcare courses at the graduate level.
Lauren Shaw, Trainer
Dr. Shaw is the GRIT Program Manager with the Lyda Hill Institute for Human Resilience. She received her Bachelor of Science in Human Biology from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs in 2009, and her Psy.D. in Organizational Psychology, with a specialization in Health and Wellness, from the University of the Rockies in 2018. Her professional background includes teaching resilience, mindfulness-based training, and leadership development in military and organizational settings. Additionally, she holds certifications as a health coach and personal trainer from the American Council on Exercise (ACE) and the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM).
Nicole Weis, GRIT manager
Nicole Weis is a 2016 graduate of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Master’s in Clinical Psychology program, with an emphasis in trauma. Nicole is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Addiction Counselor. In her role at the Institute, Nicole provides Peer Support training to several organizations in Colorado, teaches the Trauma Training for Professionals online program, manages the GRIT Coaching Program, and liaisons with the 4th Judicial Veterans Trauma Court. Nicole is skilled in de-escalation and specializes in working with first responders and personal and community crises.