Our Story

In the summer of 2020, after the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Jordan Killebrew of Healing Justice Santa Barbara named what Black Santa Barbara needed most: Black therapists. There were none practicing here at the time. When Carrie Towbes asked Healing Justice what local philanthropy could do, that answer set everything in motion. With founding support from Carrie Towbes and John Lewis, and with Dr. Alison Cerezo as founding director, Healing Space opened at UCSB's Hosford Clinic in January 2021. It first carried the name The Healing Center, in honor of Healing Justice Santa Barbara. Community voices, including Chris Ragland, helped shape it from the start. The first doctoral clinicians were Isabelle Fleury, Jason Fly, Ginette Sims and Jazzmyn Ward. Jason is now Kindred's postdoctoral fellow.

Alianza de Liberación y Medicina Ancestral (ALMA) was founded by Eddie Omar Ramírez. As a doctoral student, he saw the need for a Spanish-language clinic rooted in liberation psychology and ancestral healing, and he organized its first trainee cohort. shola shodiya, then co-director, secured the support that brought it to life in 2025.

Leadership

  • Dr. Alison Cerezo, founding director (2020–2023)
  • shola shodiya, co-director (2024–2025) and director of Healing Space (2025–2026)
  • Nolan T. Krueger, Ph.D., faculty advisor (2023), co-director (2024–2025) and director since July 2026

With gratitude

Many people have carried this work with us. We're grateful to each of them.

Founding voices: Jordan Killebrew, Carrie Towbes, John Lewis, Chris Ragland, and Simone Akila Ruskamp, Krystle Sieghart and Leticia Forney Resch of Healing Justice Santa Barbara

Community partners: Lawanda Lyons-Pruitt of the NAACP Santa Maria-Lompoc Branch; Connie Alexander and Audrey Gamble of Gateway Educational Services; Lelia N. Richardson of SBCC Umoja; Yasmin Dawson of C4 Lompoc; Dr. Hui-Ling Malone; Celeste Pico and Gloria Mantooth of the Lompoc High School healing circles; Dr. Sonia Wilson, ShaKenya Edison and Ismael Paredes Ulloa of Santa Barbara Unified; and Jaret Wilson and Andre Jackson of CorkTree Cellars

Teachers and guest speakers: Dr. Thema Bryant, Dr. Maryam Jernigan-Noesi, Dr. Della Mosley, Dr. Helen Neville, Jasmin Brooks Stephens, Thea Monyeé of The Blacker the Brain, Malinda Lewis, Tamara Cummings and Carmen H. Sandoval

Flourish and Flow: Naomi Hutchinson, Amber Salik, Vivian Storm, Chef Guidance River Moon of Momma's Soul Food Fusion, Oliver Thacher, Evan Hecker and Ashlee Priestley

Hosts: Jack Forinash and the Blue Sky Center team

Funders: Kristen Sullivan of the Towbes Foundation; Jamie Perez, Tatyana Swanson, Jackie Carrera and Tammy Sims Johnson of the Santa Barbara Foundation; Tania Reyes and Patricia Solorio of the Fund for Santa Barbara; and Meghan Chartres of the James S. Bower Foundation

At UCSB: Dr. Jeffrey Milem, Dr. Jill Sharkey and Dr. Steve Smith; Dr. Jon Goodwin of the Hosford Clinic; Dr. Sharon Tettegah of the Center for Black Studies Research; Spencer Lash, John Hammond, Megan Turley and Maria Zate; and Rachel Ren, Ector Flores-Garcia, Brenna Fox, Bethany Guerrero and Calli Price

And every clinician, fellow and community member who has trusted us with their healing.