Rafaela Steen

Rafaela Steen is a licensed clinical social worker and educator who has spent more than two decades working in K–12 education spaces supporting mental health, suicide prevention, and community wellbeing. Based in Portland, Oregon, her work is rooted in a strengths-based, dignity-centered, and healing-focused approach. Rafaela believes deeply in the power of connection, deep listening, restorative practices, and relationships as the foundation for creating cultures of care and belonging within schools and communities.

Growing up as a military child who moved frequently, Rafaela learned how to build connections quickly while also carrying a longing for rootedness and lasting relationships. This experience shaped her commitment to helping others find belonging and stability in their environments. Influenced by thinkers and leaders such as Dr. Shawn Ginwright, Maya Angelou, Thich Nhat Hanh, Adrienne Maree Brown, and Desmond Tutu, she is passionate about building communities that nurture collective care and healing-centered education.

Rafaela joins the Acosta Institute Fellowship at an important moment of transition as she begins to imagine the next chapter of her work through her emerging initiative, Collective Vibrance. Through the Fellowship, she hopes to explore new possibilities for supporting communities in cultivating “nourishing soil” for social permaculture—spaces where care, belonging, and meaningful change can take root and flourish.