Tiffany Cortese

Tiffany Cortese Burke is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) in California. She received her Bachelor's degree in Social Work and Theater from Rutgers University and her Master's in Social Work with a specialization in Integrative Youth Behavioral Health from New York University (NYU). As a Rutgers alumnus and born and raised Jersey girl, Tiffany is excited to return to her roots by obtaining her DSW at Rutgers. She has been practicing in the field of Power Based Personal Violence for over 10 years now, with her career initially starting in various student leadership roles within the Office for Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance and across campus. 

One of the most memorable roles she held was being a SCREAM Theater student performer and leader. SCREAM Theater is a prevention education program that utilizes drama therapy techniques to train college students on how to perform skits that address power-based personal violence dynamics to their peers and middle and high school students. Her work with SCREAM led her to pursue an internship in drama therapy, where she developed some of her first drama therapy workshops. One of the workshops she designed during her time as a resident assistant interwove drama therapy techniques and trauma-informed practices to increase students' empathy for victims/survivors, knowledge surrounding the prevalence/impact of sexual violence, and trauma-informed strategies for resident assistants to utilize when responding to student disclosures. 

Fast forward to now, eight years post-graduating from Rutgers, she is currently the CEO/Founder of Honey & Twine Counseling and The Resiliency Network. Honey & Twine Counseling is a California-based mental health practice that provides accessible and trauma-informed therapeutic services to primary and secondary survivors of power-based personal violence and youth at risk. Within Honey & Twine Counseling, Tiffany currently supervises four clinicians who specialize in utilizing survivor-centered and trauma-informed psychotherapy practices. Her other business venture, The Resiliency Network, is still in the development phase, but once launched, it will be an education, consulting, and community-organizing-based agency providing courses, tools, and resources to survivors, school-based professionals, clinicians, parents, and other community members to increase access to primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention strategies. As she embarks on obtaining her DSW, she is determined to follow in the footsteps of the brave change makers of this world in utilizing research and the arts to create a better tomorrow for individuals, families, and communities impacted by power-based personal violence.