Instructor Profiles

Eva Vlach earned a Bachelor degree from the University of Kansas with a double major of Sociology and Psychology.  Also at KU, she earned a Master of Social Welfare degree.  As luck would have it, a volunteer experience turned into a passion and then a career.  In January 2006, Eva signed up for the volunteer training at Women’s Transitional Care Services (now Willow Domestic Violence Center) in Lawrence, KS.  She connected deeply with the mission and the work of the agency.  At the end of June that year, while on vacation and riding her bicycle across Kansas with 800 other enthusiasts, she accepted a full time job as the volunteer program director. Her duties included recruiting, training and managing volunteers for the agency, plus a strong direct service component. Eva has been with Rose Brooks Center for almost 10 years; first as a Bridge coordinator and then, for the last 5 years, as the Health Services coordinator.  Her passion for domestic violence advocacy continues to be fueled by the powerful and moving life experiences of the survivors she serves.

Jess Harman is the Advocacy and Education Manager at Rose Brooks Center in Kansas City, MO. She has over 9 years of experience working with diverse populations including youth, survivors of sexual/domestic violence and sex trafficking, LGBTQIA individuals, folks with disabilities, people experiencing severe and persistent mental illnesses, individuals impacted by substance use, incarcerated folks, people experiencing homelessness, and people living with HIV/chronic health conditions. After she received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, her career has primarily focused on anti-violence systemic and direct services advocacy. Jess has presented at local, state, and national conferences and organizations regarding gender-based violence, systemic oppression, and advocacy. She has trained domestic and sexual violence advocates for over 4 years and has trained law enforcement officers, attorneys, prosecutors, case managers, social workers, community health workers, physicians, nurses, undergraduate and graduate students, teaching professionals, school personnel, firefighters, home visitors, sexual health educators, state child welfare personnel, mental health professionals and clinicians, community organizers, criminal justice system personnel, court personnel, judges, corrections personnel, Pre-K-12 students, parents, business professionals, and community members across 3 states both virtually and in-person.

Tanya Draper Douthit, MSW, LSCSW, serves as Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Rose Brooks Center, in Kansas City. In this role, she provides leadership to program services staff, guides the agency’s performance and quality improvement processes, coordinates accreditation activities, and directs agency initiatives. Tanya joined Rose Brooks Center in 2010 as the Bridge Program Director, which expanded to Director of Community Programs; she assumed the role of COO in 2021. Prior to working at Rose Brooks Center, she was the executive director of a domestic and sexual violence agency. In addition to her advocacy background, Tanya brings over sixteen years of leadership and program development experience. She has extensive experience presenting on secondary trauma, trauma exposure, and reproductive coercion regionally and nationally, as well as at the World Conference of Women’s Shelters. Tanya completed both her undergraduate and graduate degrees in social work, is a licensed clinical social worker, and also has her certificate in nonprofit management from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Andrea Raya received a Bachelor’s degree from The University of Kansas in Applied Behavioral Sciences. She started her career in youth leadership and equity & inclusion programming. While in her Social Work master’s program at The University of Missouri – Kansas City, she was introduced to the domestic violence field. For the following 13 years, Andrea’s advocacy expanded to include domestic violence health care, residential advocacy, supervision and program management. Andrea is cross trained in Batterer’s Intervention programming and has presented on various topics related domestic violence. She serves on the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence membership committee and is a member the Missouri Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. In August 2021, Andrea transitioned to be Rose Brooks Center’s Director of Community Programs providing program management to the Bridge Program, Legal and Non-Residential advocacy, Health Services, Blueprint for Safety, and Lethality Assessment Program.

Annie Struby [she/her]