Catherine Labiran

Catherine Labiran is a New York-based, London-raised, social justice advocate, somatic practitioner, researcher, facilitator and poet. She is particularly interested in the relationship between creative expression, healing and liberation. She enjoys designing healing-centered spaces that center art, decolonization, popular education, disability justice and language justice. Her goal is to compassionately accompany people as they heal and strive to embody justice and liberation. Rather than solely focus on what people think, Catherine cares about how people feel and believes that feeling is an invaluable metric of transformation. Her offerings include, but are not limited to, facilitation, research and evaluation, strategic planning, and somatic coaching

Catherine has worked with a number of social justice organizations including The Praxis Project, The Black Alliance for Just Immigration and The US Human Rights Network. Catherine has also served as a consultant and coach for a variety of organizations including The Center for Third World Organizing, The GRO Fund, me too. International, Black Feminist Future, The Leadership Learning Community and Community Change. In 2019, Catherine was selected as a Fellow for People of African Descent by the UN's Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights. In 2020, she was recognized as one of the most influential people of African descent by MIPAD 100. In 2021, she was invited to give a keynote speech for the 20th Anniversary of the Adoption of Durban Declaration at the UN General Assembly. In 2022, she was selected by the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation as a finalist for their Joy Award for Black mental health professionals. Catherine holds a BA in Psychology from Emory University, an MA in African Studies from Yale, a certification in Data Science from HarvardX and certifications in Somatic Attachment Therapy and Embodied Conflict Resolution from The Embody Lab.