PROJECT: Integrate trauma-informed yoga services into domestic and sexual violence agencies in Los Angeles County, providing Asian and Pacific Islander survivors access to healing modalities, and supporting their trauma recovery and overall health and wellness.

Nadeeka Karunaratne is a PhD candidate in the Higher Education and Organizational Change program at UCLA. She conducts research on issues of campus sexual and relationship violence, exploring the experiences of minoritized survivors with a focus on healing. She is currently an American Association of University Women (AAUW) Fellow. She also serves as an Adjunct Instructor in California Lutheran University’s Department of Counselor Education.

Karunaratne previously worked at the Race and Equity Center at the University of Southern California, the Cross-Cultural Center at UC Irvine, and UC Irvine’s Campus Assault Resources & Education office. She is also a trauma-informed yoga instructor and leads healing yoga programs on college campuses and in the community.

Karunaratne has a master’s degree in Student Affairs Administration from Michigan State University and a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from UC Berkeley.