Cassie Trahan LCSW, RN

Cassie’s interest in working with youth began in Ms. Retzlaff’s Child Services class at Tualatin High School in Oregon. She later graduated from Oregon State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Family Science with minors in psychology and sociology. Following graduation she had the privilege of working in a residential treatment center for children who had faced abuse and neglect. This work led her to seek additional education in order to better serve youth. Through the University of Denver she received her Masters in Social Work (MSW) with a focus in clinical practice. Cassie practiced as a Child and Family Therapist in an intensive outpatient treatment program during which time she became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in the state of Oregon. It was during this time in community practice she became aware of commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), and the reality that she lives in one of the areas with the highest rate of domestic sex trafficking. Cassie continued her formal education with the achievement of a nursing degree through Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) while continuing her work with survivors. It was the overwhelming realization that there are inadequate resources as well as a lack of education within our community that led Cassie to join Austin in the formation of A Village for One (AV41) in 2012. Mrs. Trahan has served as the Executive Director of A Village for One since February 2017, and sat on the founding Board of Directors prior to this date.

Austin Burres MS, PsyD

Austin is a graduate of Pacific University Oregon with a Masters of Science, and a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. While Austin worked on her Bachelors of Science in Psychology from Portland State University (PSU) she began her work with at-risk youth through the juvenile justice system, teaching girl empowerment to adjudicated youth. Her post graduate work was in psychiatric residential where she first discovered the unidentified youth who circuited the residential system as runway youth, unidentified for their experiences of being sexually exploited. After a couple of years working in the failing system, Austin returned to seek further knowledge and understanding of the mental health of children and adults. Throughout her doctoral program she worked with youth in outpatient, day treatment, and residential treatment. She has sought out specialized trainings in working with commercially sexually exploited youth. She started specifically in crisis response for youth and worked as a community mental health therapist working with the complexities presented by the CSEC population. Ms. Burres stepped down from the Board of Directors in June 2018.