Empowering belonging: Fostering inclusivity through trauma-informed care
Laura Quiros 鈥�96, associate professor of social work and child advocacy at Montclair State University, specializes in trauma-informed care through a social justice lens. Quiros, a licensed master social worker, also runs a New York City-based that collaborates with executives and leadership teams at corporations and nonprofits to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) under the umbrella of belonging.
鈥淚 look at DEI as practice principles 鈥� they are ways in which we create organizational
and cultural belonging,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hen you successfully incorporate these principles
of diversifying, including, and creating equitable spaces, people will feel a sense
of belonging. When they feel that they belong, their performance level increases significantly.鈥�
Most recently, Quiros has been advising a production team filming a documentary on social injustices related to disability and ableist structures entrenched in society. Her book, (Routledge 2020), is an introspective and expansive guide geared toward social work students, unraveling how trauma and difference manifest in communication, leadership, and organizational culture. Quiros is also an affiliate partner at Coston Consulting, a certified Black-owned business advisory firm that provides strategy, business development, marketing, and DEI consulting, with expertise in the legal industry.
鈥淚 got into this work because of my own background of identifying as a Black Latina who is also Jewish,鈥� says Quiros, whose family includes Puerto Rican, Venezuelan, and Eastern European ancestry. 鈥淚 grew up in spaces that weren鈥檛 inclusive 鈥� spaces of racism, antisemitism, and trauma. So, I wanted to create spaces within my home, community, and organizations where people feel that they belong.鈥�
A psychology major recruited by Skidmore for women鈥檚 soccer, Quiros found a sense of belonging with her teammates and was initially drawn to sports psychology. However, an internship at a psychiatric hospital for adolescents and a subsequent one at an alternative incarceration program in the Bronx reshaped her focus.
Quiros, who attained her master鈥檚 degree from Hunter College School of Social Work and a Ph.D. in social welfare from The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York, has since broadened the social justice lens in her work to include people in organizations and businesses impacted by racism, sexism, and other areas of discrimination in company and organizational culture.
