Kaitlyn Hunsberger (she/her/hers) is an advocate, empath, activist, and owner of a small business called Studio Euphorbia featuring her handmade beadwork. She is a member of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and her homelands are the areas around and within the Sedona desert. She is a seventh generation Native woman and a first generation college student. She earned her Bachelors of Arts in Cross-Cultural Communications and Political Science from Elmhurst University in 2015 and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Loyola University Chicago right after undergraduate school.
After living in the Midwest for almost a decade, Kaitlyn moved back to the west coast to be closer to Native communities, whom she has been working with ever since. Kaitlyn has worked as a Youth Advocate at Native American Youth and Family Center, providing educational, physical, emotional, and spiritual support through trauma-informed care for youth in various school districts. She has learned to collaborate with educators, counselors, child services, and allies to support the specific learning styles of Native peoples. Kaitlyn has also worked for her own Tribe in Arizona, working with Yavapai youth in foster care and the Education Department to facilitate much needed changes in incorporating Tribal-based practices into curriculum and policy.
Kaitlyn plans to continue to work closely with Indigenous peoples in various parts of the world. She continues collaboration with Caring & Living As Neighbours (CLAN), based in Sydney, Australia where she has represented the Native American perspective in United Nations civil society hearings and forums. Kaitlyn is currently working at the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board under the Tribal Community Health Provider Project Team working closely with Native adults interested in pursuing behavioral health in Tribal communities to provide holistic, culturally-specific, and decolonized frameworks into systems of care. Kaitlyn is also on an educational pathway to receive her Doctoral degree in Educational Leadership with a specialization in Postsecondary Education at Portland State University. As a future Indigenous scholar, Kaitlyn hopes to create access to our future generations to implement systemic change in places where people are making decisions about us, without us.
After living in the Midwest for almost a decade, Kaitlyn moved back to the west coast to be closer to Native communities, whom she has been working with ever since. Kaitlyn has worked as a Youth Advocate at Native American Youth and Family Center, providing educational, physical, emotional, and spiritual support through trauma-informed care for youth in various school districts. She has learned to collaborate with educators, counselors, child services, and allies to support the specific learning styles of Native peoples. Kaitlyn has also worked for her own Tribe in Arizona, working with Yavapai youth in foster care and the Education Department to facilitate much needed changes in incorporating Tribal-based practices into curriculum and policy.
Kaitlyn plans to continue to work closely with Indigenous peoples in various parts of the world. She continues collaboration with Caring & Living As Neighbours (CLAN), based in Sydney, Australia where she has represented the Native American perspective in United Nations civil society hearings and forums. Kaitlyn is currently working at the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board under the Tribal Community Health Provider Project Team working closely with Native adults interested in pursuing behavioral health in Tribal communities to provide holistic, culturally-specific, and decolonized frameworks into systems of care. Kaitlyn is also on an educational pathway to receive her Doctoral degree in Educational Leadership with a specialization in Postsecondary Education at Portland State University. As a future Indigenous scholar, Kaitlyn hopes to create access to our future generations to implement systemic change in places where people are making decisions about us, without us.