Dr. Christian Rummell
Dr. Christian Rummell has over 25 years of experience as a researcher, training and technical assistance provider, and practitioner in the youth mentoring field. As one of the nation's leading experts on mentoring for LGBTQ+ youth, Dr. Rummell has consulted with several of the country's largest youth mentoring organizations, including Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and MENTOR. He is the co-author of the LGBTQ Youth Supplement to the Elements of Effective Practice, which is the nation's standard for creating safe and affirming mentoring relationships for LGBTQ+ youth. At Portland State University's Center for Interdisciplinary Mentoring Research, Dr. Rummell conducted one of the nation's first studies on the role of mentors in supporting identity development in LGBTQ+ youth.
Nia Clark, MSW
Nia Clark has spent over fifteen years working as a child welfare consultant, trainer, and LGBTQ+ youth advocate. From 2006 - 2014, she was a direct care counselor and activities coordinator at The Home for Little Wanderers, one of the nation's oldest youth-serving agencies. From 2015-2017, Nia was the Mentoring Coordinator at LifeWorks, the youth development and mentoring program at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. In 2016, she was the consulting producer of the Emmy-nominated MTV documentary, Transformation, a film featuring herself and six trans & gender-diverse youth. Nia is currently an Expert Trainer for the Human Rights Campaign’s All Children – All Families Project, an initiative that helps child welfare agencies achieve safety, permanency, and well-being for queer youth in foster care. She also serves as a National LGBTQ+ Mentoring Coach for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, which aims to implement more inclusive mentoring services and resources to queer youth and mentors across America, and additionally provides consulting and technical assistance for multiple LGBTQ-youth-focused research projects at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools. Nia holds a master's degree in Social Work from Simmons University.
To Learn More about Nia, please visit her website.
Our Approach
Mentorist consulting provides step-by-step guidance to help schools, non-profits, governments, funders, policy-makers, and youth serving agencies create more inclusive and affirming services to LGBTQ+ youth.
We start our work with each client by assessing readiness for change. Our research-informed approach leverages coaching, training, and technical assistance to navigate through the process of updating policies, practices, and programming. Lastly, we help you to strengthen outcomes for youth by benchmarking progress and evaluating outcomes.