In Movement: 7 Questions with Kristina Coleman, MPA, LCSW | Safe Horizon | New York
September 16, 2025
Welcome to In Movement! In this segment of our blog, we interview thought leaders from within our own organizations – from CACs and MDTs and partner agencies – to gain insight into how they have furthered the movement, and how the movement has changed them. We look forward to benefiting from the lessons they’ve learned, the challenges they’ve faced, and the future they envision for themselves, our centers and teams, and the children and families we serve.
Kristina Coleman, MPA, LCSW is the Vice President, Child Advocacy and Mental Health Programs, for Safe Horizon, located in New York City. Safe Horizon is the largest non-profit victim services agency in the United States. Coleman is responsible for overseeing all five Child Advocacy Centers (CACs), the Counseling Center, the Child Trauma Response Team (CTRT), and A Safe Way Forward.
Why did you choose this as a career?
I love working with children. I love seeing their resiliency. It’s a great reminder that you can and do make a difference in their lives, at some of the worst moments in their lives, and there’s so much power in that. It’s an honor to have a part in helping people become who they are destined to be.
What is something interesting that you have learned recently?
I just had my second daughter, and you might think I’d have learned this already, or maybe I’m learning it all over again – but either way, I’m struck by how quickly it goes, and how amazing it is to watch a child learn and grow. It’s astonishingly beautiful, and I wish I could slow it down!
What is a challenge that you and your colleagues feel proud of solving?
This is going to sound small, but it’s really not. Recently, my team and I figured out a solution in our documentation system to broaden the available categories for identifying race/nationality. So, for instance, instead of only having “African American” as an option, we now have “Haitian American,” “Caribbean American,” etc. It’s an important distinction for many of us, and a way to avoid feeling boxed in by our internal data system. And it is the product of a lot of important discussion and collaboration, that resulted in a solution that is working. It’s not the perfect answer, but it shows that we can make progress on this issue.
What about your work inspires you and keeps you going?
There are so many ways to answer this, but two things spring to mind immediately – the resiliency of the families, and the way my team shows up. Like most CAC teams out there, mine is overworked, underpaid, overwhelmed, and facing funding instability. Despite all these challenges, though, they still choose to show up every day with compassion and creativity and new ideas and ways we can improve people’s lives. That keeps me going.
What is the biggest need for kids you think we can meet in the next 5 years?
We can continue to expand our knowledge and creativity on how to engage caregivers. There’s so much room and space for us to become “parent whisperers,” and work with them to repair their families from within and use those skills to navigate dynamics for the rest of their lives. There are exciting new modalities and tools we can use to do this – for me, this is where future innovation should be focused.
What do you think the ideal future looks like for kids?
A world in which children feel supported and safe. Where they can communicate their needs and emotions without fear of repercussions. And where kids can be kids – and enjoy their youth.
Finally, what is next for you?
People outside the CAC world wouldn’t understand spending your maternity leave thinking about ways to prevent and protect children from incest, but here we are! I’ve spent a long time thinking about ways to help my community, the African American and Black community, and other communities of color, feel comfortable talking about the concept of “house.” For those unfamiliar with this, playing house is a commonplace game amongst children in these communities. It’s also a time when sexual exposure can happen – but even acknowledging the possibility that anything other than innocent play is occurring is highly taboo. And because of that, children don’t have the language to express it, and the supportive adults in their lives don’t have the capacity to hear it. So I want to work on ways to open communication about this among communities of color, in a way that is non-judgmental and non-threatening – and, importantly, that doesn’t contribute to further disproportionality in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. It’s delicate and challenging, but I believe it can be done.
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