Cultivating Human Resiliency was founded in 2016 by Michelle Graff (1967-2026) to assist helping professionals and helping organizations build resilience and cultivate compassion. This website serves as a clearinghouse for individuals and organizations in service professions who wish to learn, connect, and share information for the benefit of all.

Michelle Graff (1967-2026) was the founder of Cultivating Human Resiliency. Michelle earned her MA in the field of Political Science and a BA in Psychology. Beginning in 1995, Michelle worked with children and families impacted by trauma in a variety of capacities including providing direct in-home services, professional and program development, and agency leadership. After more than twenty years in social services, she continued to focus on helping the helping professional through her own business, Cultivating Human Resiliency. Michelle also authored The Compassion Fatigued Organization and The Compassion Fatigued Organization Workbook.

Michelle was an experienced trainer and consultant utilizing her expertise in child welfare, organizational leadership, and trauma informed care. She was committed to applying research informed models to deliver effective training and consultation. These models were grounded in what we know about the human brain with an emphasis on bridging the gap between theory and practice to achieve optimum effectiveness.

Her accomplishments included:

• Developing dozens of training curricula utilized by state child welfare agencies in training therapists and social workers to successfully engage clients and create positive change.
• Delivering hundreds of trainings to human service professionals in both public and private agencies across the nation
• Offering a proven record of developing programs to meet the needs of the community, implementing trauma informed models and leading organizational change.

With Michelle’s untimely death, her family and colleagues have joined together to honor her memory by transforming this website to reflect her values of collaboration, connection, and caring. Nothing would have made Michelle happier than to know her legacy lives on through those who work to promote compassion and healing in others.

Below please find information about various resources available to individuals and organizations interested in learning more about cultivating compassion and resiliency.