Hi, I'm Ria.(She/They)

Ria (she/they) is a clinical social worker and trauma-sensitive yoga facilitator in the Atlanta metropolitan area. 

 

After several years of teaching yoga, Ria co-created an organization called The Person Next to You to serve marginalized folx healing from trauma through filmmaking and communal gatherings. Ria’s community work led her to observe a need for body-based treatment, combined with therapeutic support, in working with trauma survivors. She is a University of Georgia graduate with a Masters in Social Work  and an academic certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy. Ria is also a 200-Hour Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT200), a Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga facilitator (TCTSY-F), and trained under the teachings of Yoga For All, an accessible yoga school.

 

Her work experience includes providing support to communities impacted by natural and major disasters; therapeutic assistance to children, adolescents, and young adults recovering from eating disorders; offering expressive therapies (i.e. art, forest bathing, journaling, yoga, etc) to adult survivors of childhood sexual trauma; inpatient crisis support to adults with severe and persistent mental illness (i.e. schizophrenia and other mood disorders); and facilitating trauma-sensitive yoga to incarcerated male youth. 

 

Ria believes that although trauma tends to happen in the context of relationships so, too, does healing. While it is impossible to guarantee a completely safe space, she strives to create safer containers for folx to explore trauma recovery and overall healing.

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Ria is currently working at SPRIGS under the clinical direction of Liz Diaz, MA, NCC, LPC and supervision of Beth Palumbo, LCSW, RPT-S and Ruby Blow, MA, LPC, NCC, BCC, CPCS, ACS, BC-TMH.