Founded in 2008, EmpowerMe! Services (EMS) was born out of my personal experiences as a queer women of color and my professional experiences working in disenfranchised communities. During my time providing direct care to communities, I bore witness to well-intentioned service providers who came into the community to help. All too often, despite the best of intentions, these same individuals would end up causing more harm than good. It is from witnessing this over and over again, that I began to want to support those providing services in the community to be able to provide more culturally inclusive and trauma informed care.

It is through EMS that I am able to continue to serve the communities that I feel most passionate about but through a more systemic lens. Now, over a decade later, EMS has grown into an entity of its own…having expanded to include a team of highly skilled facilitators and to offer a range of services from expert level facilitation, trainings and workshops, leadership coaching, and organizational consultation.

I am a licensed clinical social worker and hold a pupil personal services credential. I have extensive experience working in community mental health, specializing in providing services in the school systems. I have close to 20 years of experience working in the field, with over 10 of those years spent working at a continuation school, providing mental health related services to “at risk” and “hard to engage” youth while also developing systems of care to help best support them. In addition, I have direct experience providing intensive therapeutic services to youth and their families in outpatient clinic settings. I utilize an integrative approach in my clinical practice and strongly believe in the importance of building relationships and utilizing a culturally inclusive and trauma informed lens.

In addition to my direct practice work, I am the founder of EmpowerMe! Services. Through this business, along with a team of subcontractors, I provide supervision to aspiring mental health professionals, teach workshops designed to help those in helping professions provide more culturally inclusive services, facilitate courageous conversations as requested by a variety of organizations, and provide leadership coaching. Additionally, I offer consultation to help support the development of culturally inclusive services and systems of care. I bring all of myself to my individual work as well as my teaching endeavors. I utilize my professional and personal experiences in life as a tool in teaching. I strive to create a safe space for my students to focus on their own healing, self-growth, and empowerment.

I am Taquelia Washington Toland
I am African American, rooted in a legacy of slavery
I am the resilience of my ancestors
I am mommy, wife, sissy, Kiki, and Nikki
I am a colleague and friend
I am a facilitator of space and energy.
I am passionately caring for all I serve
I am a healer
I am healing
I am a student, curious, yearning for knowledge, growing each and everyday
I am California, Michigan, Virginia, Japan, So-Cal, Nor-Cal, and connected to the Bay
I am the beautiful calm turquoise of the Caribbean Sea
I am runs around the lake and spiritual podcasts
I am gentle stretches and mindfulness
I am reading books and turning the electronic pages of my burnt orange kindle
I am dedication, passion, and inspiration
I am self-reflection
I am empowered