About Us

Katherine Manners, M.Ed., and Lisa Tieszen, M.A., Co-Founders and Directors of Resilience Works, are national leaders on the response to trauma-exposed employees and groups in the US.

Following decades of direct service in trauma work and victim/survivor services, Katherine and Lisa have a deep understanding of the needs of these professionals and their communities. They are committed to inclusive examination of the full range of traumatic experiences, past and present, individual, collective and community. Together they developed a unique and groundbreaking curriculum, the Advocate Education and Support Project (AESP) to address vicarious trauma among victim services professionals. Increasingly their attention is on the wellness and well-being of teams and organizations. They have trained thousands in their proprietary Resilience Works/AIR program, improving the health and culture of dozens of trauma-impacted workplaces.

Katherine Manners, M.Ed., LMFT

Katherine Manners has worked in victim services, trauma and resilience for her entire professional career.

She began as a domestic violence shelter volunteer before becoming a victim witness advocate in a Massachusetts prosecutor's office in the first wave of federal funding that created the new field of victim services. Seeking a more comprehensive ability to support the victims she was serving, she obtained a clinical degree and licensure in Marriage & Family Therapy.

Katherine became the director of a homicide bereavement program in a Boston area community health center. She increased program funding and staffing to expand the breadth of the program, delivering advocacy and clinical services to all victims of violent crime. She went on to serve, cofound and direct homicide support programs in Boston and Cambridge, MA.

Katherine provides crisis intervention response to events of community violence, mass violence, and critical incidents. She worked with victims and survivors following 9/11, the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and many other crises. She also has a private psychotherapy practice in the Boston area.

Lisa Tieszen, M.A., LICSW

Lisa Tieszen has responded to the needs of traumatized individuals and families for her entire professional career.

Working at Children's Hospital, Boston, she co-founded the first domestic violence advocacy project within a pediatric hospital: Advocacy for Women and Kids in Emergencies (AWAKE). There, she lay the groundwork for a more holistic response to families with concurrent child abuse and domestic violence.

Lisa was instrumental in expanding the Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals' attention to domestic violence advocacy across the region's hospitals, community health centers, and public health departments. She founded the Safe Transitions program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, which has grown to encompass responses to domestic, sexual and community violence. 

Lisa provides crisis response services, which have included providing clinical support during the mass shootings at women's health centers in Brookline, MA in 1994, the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, and Hurricane Harvey in 2017. She has a private psychotherapy practice in the Boston area.

Awards received by Katherine Manners and Lisa Tieszen include:

• Advocate Education & Support Project: Certificate of Appreciation from the Office of Justice Programs, Office for Victims of Crime (OJP, OVC)

• John Taylor LAMP Award for Outstanding Services to Homicide Survivors

• Massachusetts NASW Award for Greatest Contribution to Social Policy and Change

• Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance Award for Extraordinary Community Advocacy

• Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Annual Achievement Award for advancing LGBT issues in the hospital and community