Healing The World One Person At A Time

PHOTO: After graduating from Davis High, Juliette Suarez has helped the lives of many trauma victims through her work at University of San Franciso’s Trauma Recovery Center.

By Saadya Mahmood

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff––

 Juliette Suarez graduated from Davis High in 2011 and was the co-captain of the cheer team and president of the photography club. Throughout her three years at DHS, her future in social work and trauma therapy never crossed her mind.

After graduating from DHS, Suarez attended University of San Francisco for her undergraduate degree where she received her BA in International Peace and Conflicts Studies and also minored in Middle Eastern Studies. 

Suarez continued to work on a macro level of international work and found it to be sad and frustrating to be working at such a broad level. She started working with people individually and found a lot of passion for direct client service. 

Suarez believes that she can make more of an impact by working with individuals. “…I interned with the Human Rights First in Washington DC and really enjoyed the program’s social worker’s direct service,” Suarez said.

 While working at a law firm as a paralegal and case manager after graduating from USF, she decided that she wanted to get the skills needed to make a difference in people’s lives. This was when Suarez made the decision to go back to school.

In 2019, she enrolled in UC Berkeley’s Master’s program. She graduated in 2021 and is now working at UCSF’s Trauma Recovery Center where they treat only San Francisco residents with Medi-Cal or who don’t have any health insurance.

Suarez has been working at this clinic for about two years, working remotely and in person with her clients. She does individual trauma-focused therapy. All her clients are refugees or survivors of violent crimes. “…A lot of folks fleeing horrendous situations throughout Latin America are the clients I normally see because I speak Spanish,” Suarez said. 

Social work programs make sure that social workers are trained well to deal with the number of things they have to absorb on a day-to-day basis, but it can nevertheless be overwhelming. “Going on a walk every day with my dog helps,” she said.

Big clinics are very thoughtful in giving the support needed to the staff. They do this by making sure they have breaks between sessions, that their caseload is not too high and much more. “Working in a team really helps me feel like the responsibility is not all on me, which helps prevent burnout,” Suarez said.