Our Team

Cultivate Resilience supports individuals, families, schools, nonprofits, businesses, and community partners to meet our most critical mental and behavioral health needs. Using a culturally responsive approach, we provide training, consulting, and coaching about the impact of trauma on brains, bodies, and behaviors alongside trauma-informed, best practices to enhance resilience.

At Cultivate Resilience, we collaborate to empower people and organizations as they infuse trauma-sensitive practices into all that they do. We utilize the best of science, the wisdom of lived experience, and the creativity of innovation to support the well-being of staff, students, families, and clients. Organizations find that practicing trauma-informed principles yields excellent customer service and a wide range of improved outcomes.

Trauma affects all of us, either directly or indirectly, so it is imperative that we work together to build resilience. The good news is that resilience can be both taught and cultivated, and it is profoundly important for sustaining ourselves, our businesses, and our communities at large. For this reason, our mission is to build resilient, trauma-sensitive communities.

Doty Shepard, MA

Executive Director and
Co-Creator


  • Doty (she/they) is the co-creator and executive director of Resilient Colorado | Cultivate Resilience, a non-profit dedicated to increasing the well-being of our communities by educating about the impacts of trauma and ways to enhance personal and community resilience. ⁠Our holistic approach to community wellness extends across multiple sectors and breaks down silos.

    TEDx speaker, in-demand trainer, and workshop leader, Doty earned a Master of Arts degree specializing in support for youth and families and cultural transformation, then spent the next twenty years working in the field. ⁠

    Today, she serves as a consultant and certified trainer for Trauma Informed Care & Compassion Without Fatigue, teaching others about the impact of trauma on brains, bodies, and behaviors. She specializes in helping organizations infuse trauma sensitive practices into all that they do while cultivating the resilience of both staff and clientele.

Roxanne Pendleton, MDiv, CYT200

Co-Creator


  • Roxanne (she/they) is the creator of Live Well Today Café, LLC, and co-creator of Resilient Colorado | Cultivate Resilience. An ordained minister and certified yoga teacher with a Master’s Degree in Pastoral Care and Counseling, Roxanne has spent over 30 years responding to trauma and nurturing resilience in diverse community, education, and healthcare settings. In 2014, Roxanne accepted a position at University Health, an urban-core, safety-net hospital that also serves as a teaching hospital for the University of Missouri at Kansas City. Roxanne currently works at University Health as a Senior Behavioral Health Consultant in the Center for Trauma Informed Innovation where she provides expertise to organizations seeking to build and sustain a more compassionate, resilient culture through the implementation of Trauma Informed Care (TIC).

    Beyond professional expertise, Roxanne has her own experiences of trauma, severe mental illness, compassion fatigue, burnout, moral anguish, Long COVID, and recovery. In 2010, she wrote Laughing Again: A Survivor’s Guide to Healing Depression to share her story of healing from suicidal depression and key lifestyle practices that have kept her well for over two decades. As a response to the pandemic, Roxanne launched the Live Well Today Café YouTube channel offering practical support to help individuals sustain well-being in stressful times. Roxanne is passionate about caring for caregivers, and she regularly creates new, engaging, customized TIC content for a variety of organizations. Roxanne is in demand as a dynamic, motivational speaker, organizational consultant, workshop and retreat facilitator, leadership coach, and spiritual guide.

Stacy Jones, MPH

Community Engagement and Outreach Manager


  • Stacy (they/she) brings a powerful combination of professional expertise and lived experience to their work in mental health advocacy and education. Drawing from their personal journey with mental health challenges, they have transformed those experiences into a deep commitment to supporting others through a trauma-informed lens.

    As a Certified Health Education Specialist with a Master of Public Health degree, Stacy specializes in creating inclusive spaces that promote holistic well-being. They bring over six years of specialized experience in eating disorder treatment and holds professional certifications in both Trauma of Money and Motivational Interviewing.

    A recognized voice in addressing weight stigma, Stacy examines its broader implications for both individual and community health outcomes. Their comprehensive approach integrates public health principles with mental health advocacy, creating programming that acknowledges the complex intersections between personal experience, systemic barriers, and health equity.

Sloan Gingg, MPH

Program Evaluator


  • Sloan has experience working in local public health in both large/urban and small/rural settings. She began her career in marketing at a national nonprofit before completing a Master’s in Public Health at the University of Texas.

    Sloan worked as a strategist at a behavior-change advertising firm specializing in market analysis and data-driven communications campaigns before launching her nonprofit (communications and program evaluation) consulting practice—Unclouded Communications—in 2015. Sloan is skilled in evaluation design and synthesizing research results into digestible reports and infographics.

    Sloan lives and works in Durango, Colorado where she lives with her husband and two young children.

Deyanira Gonzalez

Language Access⁠ Coordinator


  • Deyanira (Deya) grew up on the Mexico border with Texas. Growing up bilingual and bicultural was the seed that bloomed into a career focused on interpreting and public service. She studied Spanish Language and Literature at Texas A&M University, and later received a graduate degree in Latin American Studies from San Diego State University.

    Her experience in the interpreting field spans over 25 years as a Certified Court Interpreter, as well as, medical, community and conference interpreting. Her time with State Courts of Colorado included staff interpreter within courthouses, Language Access Analyst and ultimately Program Director for the Office of Language Access. This experience provided a deep understanding of state courts as a system and the opportunity to assist interpreter candidates as lead trainer of certification workshops.

    Currently, Deya focuses on conference interpreting and working with individual organizations in bringing language justice to the forefront of their work to expand participation and access to services. She combines her knowledge of government systems and non-profit organization management to assist with all aspects of language services within our communities.

Angela Guiles, M.Ed.

Education Specialist


  • Angela spent the early years of her life in the culturally rich and diverse environment of Washington, D.C., where she became embedded with a mindset for equity and curiosity. She has an enthusiastic love for people and the learning and teaching processes. With this background, she completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology and went on to earn a Masters of Special Education.

    Angela has made her life’s work and career as an Educator, working to build equity, break down barriers, and create educational opportunities for students and their families. She is passionate about mental, physical, and emotional wellness. Her personal lived experiences and those of many of her students have fueled her trauma informed and person centered approach to teaching and learning. She is deliberate in creating innovative and engaging learning experiences that help individuals access the skills needed to reach their full potential. Much of her professional education and experience has led her to value how significant perseverance and resilience are in the learning process, especially for a neurodivergent brain. Angela is dedicated to inclusion, collaboration, and differentiation as avenues that foster access to learning for all.

    As an Education Specialist, she hopes to support a greater depth and accessibility of learning through tiered and systematic approaches, multiple modalities of information, and more universal designs of content delivery.

Sueann Carrasco

Trainer Candidate


  • Sueann proudly serves in the United States Air Force Reserves. With a deep passion for serving the Spanish-speaking community, Sueann's upbringing in Mexico after being born in the USA has shaped her dedication to empowering others. With a background in public health and interpretation, Sueann brings valuable experience to her role as a trainer candidate.

    With over 14 years of experience as a Medical Interpreter, Sueann has dedicated herself to empowering others on their journey. Currently, she serves as the Suicide Prevention Facilitator for the United States Air Force Reserves, providing resilience training to both military and civilian audiences.

    Sueann has an Associate degree in Business Administration from the Air Force Community College and a Bachelor's degree in Business Leadership from the University of Arizona Global Campus (AGC). She is currently pursuing her Master's Degree in Psychology from AGC.

    Sueann's passion for well-being training stems from her own personal experiences. By providing trainings in resilience and well-being, Sueann aims to make a positive impact and instill hope in others.

Julie Hartline

Trainer Candidate


  • Julie (she/her) has been a community advocate, organizer, and educator in the Southwest throughout the past twenty years. She earned her Master of Education in 2004 and began working within the public school system to create and implement curricula rooted in social and emotional learning. During this time, she was introduced to the Nurtured Heart Approach™ which ultimately changed the trajectory of her career and ignited a passion for creating inclusive learning spaces that highlight and celebrate each individual’s gifts and joys.

    Julie is passionate about weaving community connection and belonging by creating safe and brave spaces in which people have the freedom to express. In particular, she loves to offer opportunities for communities to sing together in song circles, move together in yoga and dance, and listen and tell stories; all elements of belonging that she believes live in our collective bones.

    Currently, Julie is a student in the Adams State University Clinical Mental Health program with a focus on expressive arts and play therapy and teaches mindfulness and yoga. Her experience working with children and families in the Four Corners area has led her to pursue a career in counseling in order to better support the mental health needs of the community in which she lives.