Our Team

Our Mission

We are dedicated to revolutionizing access to mental health care for adolescents from marginalized communities.

Who We Are

CHRISTINA GUILBEAU, FOUNDER

As a former middle school teacher in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, our founder, Christina Guilbeau, saw the impact of the lack of accessible mental health services in our schools firsthand.

She also experienced the difficulties of navigating the mental health care system as a Black woman whose struggles began in adolescence. Christina came to understand the challenges of the licensure process for mental health clinicians when her close friends and family members began to pursue various graduate degrees in the field, and she felt they were an under-leveraged resource given the insufficient amount of providers in our country. She was then motivated to virtually connect adolescents in need of accessible mental health support with highly-motivated and supervised clinician interns in need of licensure hours.

Christina holds a B.A. in Psychology from Amherst College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she earned a Certificate in Social Innovation and Public Management. She was one of two students to receive the Stanford Social Innovation Fellowship in 2019, which provided her with the funding to launch Hopebound.

Outside of work, Christina enjoys exploring Atlanta, traveling. and spending time with her friends and family, including her husband Logan and their young son Cooper.

TENIJAH HAMILTON, CHIEF COMMUNITY OFFICER

As Chief Community Officer, Tenijah Hamilton stewards the growth and development of the Hopebound community through relationship building and partnership cultivation. A seasoned strategist and storyteller, Tenijah is also charged with building out the narrative framework of the organization to further evangelize the important work Hopebound undertakes.

Since earning her Bachelors in Mass Communications, Creative Writing and Film and Media studies from the University of West Georgia, Tenijah has worked at the intersection of youth and social impact. Most recently she led the very first youth facing program for NOVA on PBS, the longest running primetime science documentary series, further cementing her dedication to empowering the next generation.

In addition to her work at Hopebound, Tenijah hosts and produces a podcast called Bring Birds Back about conservation efforts by formal and citizen scientists that are impacting birds, through the lens of intersectionality and environmental justice. In her spare time she can be found hanging out with her partner Ryan and their very chatty cat Aotearoa, in Atlanta where they live.

Our Counselors

Anita Aghadiuno

Patrick Brown

Marissa Henderson

Brieanna Hill

Allison Sheppard

Kaitlin Onorato

Ariah Washington

Anita, originally from Nigeria, earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Kennesaw State University in 2017 and will graduate from Brenau University’s Master’s in Clinical Counseling Psychology program in 2022. She is passionate about positively guiding adolescents during such a critical time in their lives. In her free time, Anita enjoys watching anime an spending time with her family, including her young son.

Patrick joined Hopebound in the fall of 2020 and graduated from Clark Atlanta University’s Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program in 2021. During his matriculation at Clark Atlanta, Patrick was a member of four international honor societies and is a proud member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity. Patrick enjoys singing, journaling, and spending time with family. He was drawn to Hopebound because he felt the organization’s values and principles closely aligned with his own.

Marissa is currently pursuing her Master’s in Social Work at Monmouth University, where she also completed her Bachelor’s in Social Work, and will graduate in 2022. Her high school Student Assistance Coordinator inspired Marissa to pursue teen mental health counseling. Marissa works as a waitress outside of school and in her spare time she enjoys going to the beach near her hometown on the Jersey Shore and playing with her cat, Bear.

Brieanna, or Brie for short, graduated from Nicholls State University with a B.A. in Pre-Law & Psychology and a minor in International Studies, Humanities, and Geography in 2019. She will be graduating from Brenau University’s Master’s in Clinical Counseling Psychology program in spring 2022. Brie has aspirations to attain her PhD. in neuropsychology. Brie enjoys working with a diverse population in an encapsulating environment, such as Hopebound’s. She is a proud Louisiana native, where “gumbo is cherished, and crawfish is mandatory”!

Allie graduated from the University of Georgia in 2020 with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, her favorite subject in high school. She has always been passionate about working with children and decreasing the stigma related to therapy, and she believes receiving counseling at a young age is extremely beneficial. For fun, Allie enjoys eating comfort food, reading, watching movies, and playing soccer.

Kaitlin is currently pursuing her Master’s in Social Work at Monmouth University, where she also completed her Bachelor’s in Social Work, and will graduate in 2022. Kaitlin has a passion for helping and working with school-aged children, which led her to Hopebound. She plans to one day work in an elementary school and have a private practice. Kaitlin is a Mets fan who enjoys cooking, gardening, and, most importantly, playing with her four dogs.

Ariah earned her Bachelor’s in Psychology from Georgia Gwinnett College in 2017 and will be completing her Master’s in Clinical Counseling Psychology from Brenau University in the spring of 2022. She is inspired to help today’s youth navigate life’s challenges and better prepare them for brighter futures. Ariah strongly believes all children have the capabilities to rise above and succeed if they have support and understanding, and believes Hopebound is an ideal organization to provide mental health servies to youth in need.

Clinical Supervisors

Rick Bevacqua LCSW, ACS

Brentia Caldwell Ed.S., LPC, ACS

Community Engagement Staff

Christina Gutierrez

Community Engagement Intern

Karen Hernandez

Spanish Language Interpreter

Rochelle Thompson

Parent & Caregiver Liaison

Christina is currently a senior at Rutgers University, pursuing her Bachelor’s in Social Work with a minor in Labor Studies. Upon graduation, she hopes to continue her education at Monmouth University to complete her Master’s in Social Work. Christina found her love for helping children when working with children with learning differences and behavioral challenges. Christina advocates on behalf of Hopebound to youth, caregivers, and local community members, and co-facilitates virtual counseling groups. In her spare time, Christina enjoys enjoy traveling, cooking, and spending time with her family, including her three-year-old daughter Natalia.

Karen received her BA in Anthropology from Georgia State University in 2018, and has always been passionate about community-based work. She worked in criminal defense, worker’s compensation, and local/national political campaigns after college, then made a switch to work in education as a classroom aide, summer camp counselor, substitute teacher, and is now a full-time admissions assistant at The Paideia School. As Hopebound’s first Spanish Language Liaision, she has found a role that enables her to serve children and also code switch in the natural way she has been doing all her life as a daughter of immigrants. Becoming a language liaison is one of many ways she intends to bridge the culture and generational gap between communities in Atlanta.

Rochelle received her B.A in Education from Georgia State University, and went back to pursue her M.ED and ED.S degrees in Language and Literacy. She has twenty years of experience teaching elementary, middle, and high school, founded two educational literacy organizations, and is an educational consultant for some of the largest book publishers in the U.S. When Rochelle learned about Hopebound, she signed her daughter up to receive services and inquired about how to get involved so that she could advocate on our behalf to prospective caregivers, prospective school partners, and the greater Atlanta community. As the caregiver of a child currently participating in Hopebound, a middle school teacher, and a community advocate for accessible mental health support for youth, Rochelle has been an invaluable member of the team since she joined in the fall of 2021.

Art by Morgan Harper Nichols

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We can work together toward a world of greater hope for our adolescents.