Qiana Holmes
Qiana Holmes is a transformational coach, speaker, author, literacy advocate and mom whose work centers on personal growth, mental wellness, education, and community engagement.
A proud Madisonian of more than 21 years, Qiana was born in Chicago, raised in Louisiana before making Madison her home. With more than 18 years of experience in social services and education, she brings a wealth of experience in trauma informed care, youth development, conflict resolution, and mental wellness.
Qiana is the founder of Village Girl Wellness and Village Girl Boutique and author of Owl Always Love You. When she's not working, you can find her traveling, writing, eating ice cream year round, pickling vegetables, or enjoying a drink from one of her oversized mugs.
Her motto: “You Are Worthy of the Life You’re Dreaming Of.”
In-Person | PM Session A
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
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Facilitated By: Qiana Holmes
Audience: Open to Everyone
This session creates space for practitioners to move from intention to impact, from helping to relationship, and from avoiding harm to practicing accountability and repair. The goal is not perfection. It is building the awareness, courage, and relational practices necessary to contribute to an ecosystem where people are not simply served, but respected, heard, empowered, and treated as partners in their own liberation.
This workshop centers the helper. Before we can consistently bring our best selves to our work, we have to recognize what the work is doing to us. Helping professionals often spend their days holding space for everyone else while overlooking their own emotional, mental, and relational needs.
This workshop creates space for helpers to pause, breathe, recognize what they are carrying, and explore what restoration looks like in practice.
We cannot create a just ecosystem while reproducing harmful relationships inside of it. Repair begins with examining how we show up for ourselves and one another.
In-Person | PM Session B
2:45 PM - 4:00 PM
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Facilitated By: Samantha Green & Qiana Holmes
Audience: Open to Everyone
When Helping Hurts invites helping professionals to examine how their personal lens, assumptions, biases, boundaries, communication, and use of power can influence the experience of the people they serve.
Through guided reflection, interactive discussion, and practical exercises, participants will explore the ways good intentions can sometimes produce unintended harm. The workshop encourages professionals to move beyond intention and consider impact, accountability, and the role of repair in maintaining healthy helping relationships.
The goal is not perfection. The goal is greater awareness, intentionality, and the courage to repair when our helping misses the mark.