why we are here

Nikki Bell Peña is a survivor leader, advocate, and nonprofit executive with more than a decade of experience building trauma responsive, survivor led programs for women impacted by exploitation, violence, substance use disorder, and homelessness. She is the Co-Founder and Co Executive Director of Her Way Home and the Founder of Living in Freedom Together (LIFT), organizations grounded in dignity, harm reduction, and lived experience leadership.

Nikki has played a central role in designing, launching, and scaling innovative initiatives across Worcester County, including survivor led housing models, peer mentoring programs, workforce development projects, and harm reduction outreach efforts in collaboration with community based organizations, municipal partners, and regional coalitions. Her work consistently challenges punitive, compliance based systems and replaces them with approaches rooted in safety, autonomy, and trust.

Deeply informed by her own lived experience, Nikki is a sought after speaker, trainer, and consultant on trauma responsive care, survivor led program design, ethical integration of lived experience, and systems change. She has worked alongside state agencies, universities, and local leaders to advance more humane and effective responses to exploitation, addiction, and homelessness.

Nikki’s leadership and advocacy have been recognized through multiple community honors and awards celebrating her impact, courage, and commitment to justice. 

Above all, she is driven by the belief that healing should never require compliance, perfection, or silence and that survivors must be centered as leaders in the solutions that shape their lives.

Jillian Keans is a survivor leader, advocate, and harm reduction practitioner whose work reflects the heart of Her Way Home. Grounded in lived experience and guided by a deep commitment to justice, Jillian helps shape survivor-led spaces where women impacted by commercial sexual exploitation, substance use disorder, trauma, and homelessness are met with dignity, autonomy, and unconditional support.

Jillian’s work spans direct service, leadership, and systems advocacy. She has spent years building trust with women who have been harmed and overlooked by traditional systems, meeting them where they are and honoring their right to make choices about their own lives. Her approach is rooted in harm reduction, trauma responsiveness, and the belief that safety and support should never be contingent on compliance, perfection, or readiness.

As a founding leader in the development of Her House, Jillian helped create a first-of-its-kind harm reduction shelter for women impacted by prostitution and trafficking. Her role as a cultural architect ensured that the program centered survivor leadership, safety, choice, and compassion, rejecting shame-based and punitive approaches in favor of individualized pathways to healing. These same principles continue to guide her work with Her Way Home.

At Her Way Home, Jillian brings survivor expertise into program design, leadership, and advocacy. She works to dismantle systems that have historically harmed women while helping build alternatives rooted in trust, accountability, and care. Her leadership reflects the organization’s belief that women are the experts of their own lives and deserve support that honors their autonomy and humanity.

Jillian is a trusted voice among community partners, service providers, and policymakers. Her credibility comes not only from her experience, but from her integrity, compassion, and unwavering commitment to survivor-led change.

Jillian Keans embodies the vision of Her Way Home. Her work continues to shift narratives, transform systems, and build a future where women who have been pushed to the margins are finally seen, heard, and supported.