The Community Voices Magazine is a collaborative effort between the International Storytelling Center and East Tennessee State University’s Office of Equity and Inclusion. Our shared mission is to create a platform for cultural change and promote productive dialogue around the challenges we face in our pursuit of social justice.
Through this publication, the ETSU Office of Equity and Inclusion aims to foster compassion and understanding by sharing the stories of individuals from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. With the tagline, “Helping People Hear Each Other One Story at a Time,” Community Voices hopes to inspire connection and empathy among its readers.
Begin by Believing! - Summer, 2023
Contributing Writers:
Dr. Debi Thibeault
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WORK, ETSU
Deborah (Debi) Thibeault, LCSW, DSW is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at East Tennessee State University. Her research interests are history and policies that impact indigenous peoples such as Indian Child Welfare, historical trauma, and cultural appropriation. Environmental justice education is another area of scholarship. Debi is a member of Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) and serves as the Indigenous and Tribal Social Work co-track chair CSWE’s Annual Program Meeting. She is also a member of the Indigenous and Tribal Social Work Educator Association.
Prior to teaching full-time she worked in the field of social work for over twenty years, in case management, advocacy, program coordination, and directing non-profit organizations. The populations she worked with include gang-involved youth, youth involved with Juvenile Justice, and people with HIV/AIDS. In her clinical work she worked heavily with children overcoming trauma who were in child protective services.
