Leadership Team at Her Way Home

Mattie Castiel, M.D., has always held a professional and personal mission to work with the underserved. She was born in Camaguey, Cuba and immigrated to the U.S. in 1962 as part of Operation Peter Pan. Raised and educated in California, she completed her medical training at the University of California-San Francisco after earning a B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from California State University - Northridge. 

Dr. Castiel moved to Massachusetts to complete her residency at UMass Memorial, and she has worked as a Board-Certified physician in Internal Medicine in the Worcester community for over 34 years, including working at UMass Memorial Medical Center and Family Health Center of Worcester and as an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, Family Medicine and Psychiatry at UMass Medical School. 

In 2009, Dr. Castiel founded the Latin American Health Alliance (LAHA), a nonprofit organization in Worcester dedicated to combating homelessness and drug addiction.  She was their Executive Director and medical director up until 2015.  In 2015 she continued as Medical Director up until October of 2023.  LAHA’s programs consist of the Hector Reyes House a substance use treatment facility for Latinx males and 2 transitional houses which one is named after her.  In 2015 LAHA opened Café Reyes on Shrewsbury Street, an innovative jobs training program for the residents at Hector Reyes House and transitional houses. 

Dr. Castiel has served on the boards of several Worcester nonprofits, including The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts, Centro Las Americas, Abby’s House, Greater Worcester Community Foundation, Quinsigamond Community College, United Way, and the Boys and Girls Club.

In September of 2015, Dr. Castiel was appointed as the City of Worcester’s Commissioner for Health and Human Services, where she oversees the divisions of Public Health, Youth Services, Veterans Affairs, Elder Affairs, and Homelessness along with advancing important new initiatives that fall under the scope of youth violence and the current opioid crisis, mental health, reentry from jail and Covid19. 

Most recently, she has been awarded the UMass Medical School Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Service, 2019, Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Award, Family Health Center Healthy Communities Award 2019, LIFT Community Hero award 2019, WBJ 2021 and 2022 Hall of fame award, Abby Kelley Foster award 2021, Massachusetts association of Hispanic Lawyers, Social responsibility Award 2021,  She was also appointed by Governor Baker to the Health Policy Commission, and is a part of the Health Equity Compact

Ryann Whitaker serves as a dedicated member of the leadership team for Her Way Home, contributing her expertise to the board members and helping to shape the organization's mission.

Manuel Pena is an integral part of the leadership team at Her Way Home, where he collaborates closely with other board members to drive the organization's mission forward.

Jillian Keans

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.

  Nikki Bell-Pena

Nicole Bell is the founder of Living in Freedom Together, Inc. (LIFT), a survivor-led, non-profit working to end prostitution and provide viable pathways out of the sex trade. Ms. Bell created several programs addressing the ending of systems of prostitution and promoting recovery from trauma, substance use disorder and mental health disorder. Under Ms. Bell’s leadership LIFT opened Jana's Place, the first recovery home for women exiting prostitution with co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders in the nation, as well as HARBOR (Healthcare, Advocacy, Room Board, Outreach and Rehousing) a zero barrier access shelter for survivors of prostitution and sex trafficking, and created the CATI (Creating Alternatives To Incarceration) Program a pre-arraignment diversion program in partnership with the Worcester DA’s Office. She has written trauma-informed curriculum and has created survivor mentoring programs for youth and adult survivors of systems of prostitution. and leads policy and advocacy work to effect social change at the local, state, and national level. Ms. Bell presents both nationally and internationally on the importance of ending all systems of prostitution through the promotion of the Equality Model, which incorporates social change with legislative action, and increased funding for implementing resources and service to assist survivors of the sex trade in exiting prostitution.

Ms. Bell has received recognition for her work with this underserved and marginalized population including Worcester Magazine’s Hometown Hero, Advocate of the Year 2016 WAASE, and Worcester Woman of Consequence 2016, Worcester's Most Inspirational Women for 2019, was named one of Worcester Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Class of 2019, and awarded a 2020 Outstanding Law Enforcement Award from US Attorney Andrew E Lelling for her commitment to violent crime prevention and intervention.. Ms. Bell sat on the Executive Council for World Without Exploitation and was appointed to The Executive Office of Public Safety's Justice Involved Women's committee and is a consultant for AEQUITAS and the International Association of Chiefs of Police. 

In her most recent endeavor, she has co-founded Her Way Home a survivor led organization that is working to open a low barrier shelter for prostituted women. She continues to build community and advocate for survivors of commercial sexual exploitation in the Worcester community.

Dr Catherine Callaghan

Dr. Katherine Callaghan an Ob/Gyn, Addiction Medicine specialist, and expert in trauma-informed medicine, particularly for women and people assigned female at birth. She is the founder of a multidisciplinary clinic providing comprehensive prenatal care and addiction treatment to patients with a variety of substance use disorders. “The Green Clinic” optimizes and integrates obstetrical & postpartum care, addiction treatment, psychiatric services, Peer Support and social work support to those in recovery, seeking recovery or actively using substances. She was site Co-PI for the Worcester site of the MomsDoCare Program, a multi-year and multi-million dollar grant from SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) to provide recovery support, primarily through Peer Supports. She is a member of American College of Ob/Gyn’s Opioid and Addiction Medicine Expert Work Group. In addition to being an Ob/Gyn, buprenorphine provider, and a leader in the care of women with Opioid Use Disorder, she is also a wife and a mother to two growing kids, two cats and one spoiled dog.

Dr Luu Ireland

Dr. Luu Ireland Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts’s Chief Medical Officer. In her role, Dr. Ireland provides leadership and oversight of medical services, works with clinical and operational teams to improve patient satisfaction and staff support, and delivers direct medical care including abortion, family planning, and other reproductive health services.

Dr. Ireland brings over 15 years of experience as an OB/GYN and reproductive health advocate to this new role. She also serves as an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UMass Memorial Medical Center and UMass Chan Medical School, where she was instrumental in expanding abortion and contraception access and training the next generation of medical students, OB/GYN and Family Medicine residents.

Dr. Ireland has been a prominent voice for reproductive rights and equitable abortion access in Massachusetts, helping to shape and pass policies that strengthen abortion access and protect patients and providers. As the Massachusetts Section Chair of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), Dr. Ireland mobilized members to share testimony to help pass the ROE Act in 2020 which codified abortion rights and expanded abortion access for minors and patients with fatal fetal anomalies; and in 2022, she played a key role in passing the Shield Act to protect abortion providers and patients in Massachusetts post-Dobbs.  

Dr. Ireland earned a Master of Public Health in Population and Family Health from Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health. She then completed her medical degree at the University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine. Following this, she completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Women and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island / Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University. She concluded her medical training with a Fellowship in Complex Family Planning at the University of California, Los Angeles. A first-generation abortion provider of Vietnamese and Mexican heritage, Dr. Ireland is passionate about making health care more equitable, inclusive, culturally humble, and patient centered.