Sierra Roach Coye

Sierra holds an associate degree in liberal arts from Onondaga Community College and a bachelor's in psychology and Master of Social Work from Syracuse University. As an MSW student, Sierra began clinical experience treating adults with substance use disorders and went on to work with children (ages 18 months to 21 years) old in inpatient and outpatient settings. It was during her work with children that she realized her clinical and research interests in early intervention. In addition to her clinical experience, Sierra has also worked in higher education, specializing in academic advising, curriculum evaluation, seminar instruction, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. She previously consulted on suicide prevention workforce training and extreme risk protection order education for the State of Maryland Office of Suicide Prevention. As a Graduate School of Social Work PhD student, Sierra's current research looks at nature-based and animal-assisted therapeutic interventions for Black youth and families with a historical trauma and structural racism lens. Sierra hopes her work will enable Black youth and families to access green spaces and human-animal interactions to safely and meaningfully mitigate race-based stress and trauma symptoms.

• MSW, Syracuse University