Marja Possner is the newest member of Deaf Overcoming Violence through Empowerment (DOVE) as their community empowerment advocate, primarily focusing on sustaining community partnerships with DOVE and increasing DOVE's community engagement. She has over 19 years of experience in the health and human services field working in various roles that serve the deaf, hard of hearing and deaf-blind communities bringing her expertise, knowledge and lived experience as a deaf person.
She has been involved in numerous community organizations, committees, task forces, councils, and boards as a vice president and board member. She also currently works as a consultant for various nonprofit organizations and state agencies. She has supported several state agencies and universities in developing training curriculum and content in focusing on deaf and hard of hearing accessibility in health care and behavioral health spaces. She has served on a numerous panels addressing on several topics on deaf and hard of hearing barriers in the domestic violence field, behavioral health and health care field. She is also nationally certified mental health first aid instructor for youth and adults and has been teaching with a special emphasis on deaf and hard of hearing.
She is passionate to spread more awareness on the deaf and hard-of-hearing community and making connections across various disciplines and community that greatly impact and improve the accessibility for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.