Katharine Braun

Katharine’s passion for helping and advocating for people in need has covered over 23 years.  She volunteered as a sexual assault advocate helping victims. Katharine quickly learned the importance of being non-judgmental of people’s circumstances, experiences, beliefs or backgrounds.  She wanted to do more to help advocate for victims so she added to her skill set and chose to also work with victims of domestic violence.  Initially, she was a Domestic Violence Advocate/peer counselor and moved up to be a Shelter Intake Supervisor and then Program Director overseeing staff, programs and developing training/facilitating.  After realizing she could offer help on a larger scale, she became a licensed psychotherapist. After earning her Bachelor’s degree and while in her graduate program for her Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology (with an emphasis in Criminal Justice and Chemical Dependency) she began her practicum and internship counseling clients at the non-profit Catholic Charities.  Due to her own disability she elected to take courses in disabilities and aging. Katharine also taught anger management, and parenting classes.  As her experience grew so did her compassion and she went on to work with traumatized children in elementary and middle schools.  Working with underserved populations including the disabled, she gained insight into the unmet needs many people have obtaining available services to lift them out of difficult circumstances so they could move forward into biological, psychological and social health and be independent.  Katharine is excited to bring her knowledge and skills to DRS.