Nicole Steward is a social worker (MSW), homeless/foster youth liaison, and certified yoga instructor with a focus on community engagement, public education, and trauma-informed yoga. With more than two decades of social work practice in non-profits and accountability work in K-12 education, Nicole has noticed the need for a trauma-informed lens in the worlds of social services and education to better help us understand the needs of those we serve. Nicole also believes self-care is a radical tendency we must adopt if we are to discharge the toxic stress we absorb through our work and sustain ourselves as service providers, educators, and human beings. In addition to her day job, Nicole teaches yoga, mindfulness, and offers trauma-informed self-care professional development, workshops and retreats. A quote that drives her forward in her work is by Lilla Watson, “If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”