"Dr. Valorie Thomas is fully committed to and skilled at building inclusive learning spaces. She is expert at leading participants into deep, multifaceted analysis of various forms of cultural production that encourage the type of self-reflection that leads to meaningful discourse about unlearning oppressive worldviews. She instills her students with a sense of empowerment to impact our world for the better." -- Joyce Lu, PhD, Professor of Theater and Ethnic Studies
"Not only did taking the class, creating and writing, and all the discussions we held help in my own healing that I needed in that moment, but many of our conversations have stuck with me still, influencing how I read (literature and news) and the types of literature I choose to read. I feel like I am still catching up on reading books that you or classmates mentioned that semester that I had never read, and I take so much away from those books (ex. Toni Morrison, Claudia Rankine, etc.)." -- Kara I., former Healing Narratives student and future healthcare/nursing professional
"Her focus on dealing with personal and social vertigo, uncovering healing narratives and sincere desire to move the conversation on race forward provides audiences with an experience that is both rare and often shockingly enlightening. Her relationship to individual clients is always grounded in being a compassionate and caring listener who supports people in finding the words to stand in their actual experience and craft inspiring new routes to self expression." -- Melissa Villanueva, MSW, Counseling and Culture