Speaking, Workshops & Training

Partner with Kissu Taffere, LCSW

I help professionals and organizations navigate cultural complexity to improve workplace dynamics and client care.

The hardest cultural mismatches don't always show up in policies. They often show up in how a client goes quiet, how a case gets misread, or how a team loses trust without knowing why. That's where I work.

As a licensed therapist, former United Nations employee, and first-generation Black immigrant with experience across three continents, I bring clinical depth to the organizational questions that rarely get that kind of attention. I offer case consultations, workshops, talks, and one-time advisory calls.

Whether I'm working with an individual or an institution, the question is always the same: what does it take to actually be seen?

Work With Me

My expertise

My experience spans refugee camps, the headquarters of international organizations, local community-based non-profits, and private practice settings across three continents. I have:

  • conducted numerous U-Visa and asylum evaluations—one of which was cited and quoted in a precedent-setting immigration case;

  • developed workshops on burnout, moral injury, and trauma-informed interviewing for therapists, attorneys, and journalists;

  • published on anti-racist approaches to healing collective trauma; and

  • designed graduate level course curriculum and coursework on culturally informed refugee mental health for a social work program.

Who I work with

  • I have developed graduate-level coursework on refugee mental health and bring that same depth to the trainings, guest lectures, and curriculum work I offer universities and colleges. Whether working with students, faculty, or staff, I create learning experiences rooted in cultural humility — covering forced displacement, anti-blackness, and international social work.

  • Having conducted psychological evaluations cited in immigration court and accompanied clients through asylum interviews and removal proceedings, I understand the weight this work carries. I help attorneys and their teams navigate burnout, moral injury, and vicarious trauma — and train legal professionals in trauma-informed interviewing so clients feel safe, respected, and in control of their stories.

  • Culture shapes everything — identity, family, the stories clients bring into the room. With years of supervising clinical teams and providing therapy to multicultural clients, I help clinicians develop the nuance to hold culture thoughtfully: neither vilifying nor glorifying it. I offer workshops and consultation on the intersection of culture, family dynamics, and immigrant identity — and on how burnout, anti-racism, and who we are as practitioners shape the care we provide.

  • Having trained and supervised clinical teams serving immigrant communities and worked with clients from nearly every continent, I understand what culturally responsive practice actually looks like on the ground. I offer training to help mission-driven organizations build the inclusive, equity-focused structures that support both their staff and the communities they serve.

When Doing Right Feels Impossible

A practitioner's guide to moral injury in immigration law.

Client Testimonials

“The guidance, advice, and perspective Kissu has given me has really allowed me to reach my clients on a whole different level...It has been a truly invaluable experience getting to work with Kissu.”

— Caseworker, International Rescue Committee

“Working with Kissu was one of my professional highlights of 2024. She is an exceptionally skilled communicator and leader, bringing both warmth and clarity to every interaction.”

— Associate Director, Church World Service

“Kissu is one of the most talented therapists I have ever worked with in my 20 plus years of immigration law practice. She possess the type of emotional intelligence, sensitivity and cultural awareness to which we should all aspire...Her calm, generous, and wise support made all the difference.”

— Retired Immigration Attorney, Berkeley, CA

Come Listen

Panels, podcasts, and public conversations.

The most important things are sometimes said in what we choose to speak — and what we don't. These are conversations about voice, silence, culture, and power, for anyone trying to make sense of the world we're living in.

Let’s work together

Tell me a bit more about what you’re looking for and I’ll be in touch shortly!