ABOUT DR. DONNA
MEET DR. DONNA
Founder of Women Emerge and creator of the ARISE Method™
Dr. Donna Rixey is a trauma-informed advocate, speaker, and criminal justice and social impact consultant dedicated to transforming how individuals, organizations, and systems understand, support, and respond to women impacted by trauma, systemic barriers, and justice involvement. As the founder of Women Emerge® and developer of The ARISE Method™, she integrates psychology, criminal justice expertise, advocacy, and faith-informed empowerment frameworks to advance healing, identity restoration, and transformational growth for women.
Criminal Justice Leadership
Dr. Donna Rixey brings over 26 years of experience within the Illinois Department of Corrections, where she dedicated her career to advancing trauma-informed, gender-responsive support for justice-impacted women. As former leader of the Women’s Parole Liaison Team and a key architect of the Female Individuals Specialized Unit (FISU), she worked to ensure that women returning from incarceration received coordinated resources, advocacy, reintegration support, and gender-responsive care that honored the fullness of their lived experiences.
Clinical Training & Academic Foundation
Her academic path reflects a sustained commitment to understanding the intersection of trauma, incarceration, behavioral health, and community reintegration. Dr. Donna earned a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Social Justice from Lewis University, a Master of Science in Clinical Psychology from Benedictine University, and a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Adler School of Professional Psychology. Her doctoral dissertation, Formerly Incarcerated Women with a History of Trauma and Their Reintegration Back into the Community, examined the layered challenges, resilience, and lived realities of women navigating reentry after incarceration.
Programmatic & Systems Experience
In addition to her corrections leadership, Dr. Donna developed extensive clinical and programmatic experience through work with the Cook County Sheriff’s Women’s Justice Program, Logan Correctional Center, Sixteenth Judicial Circuit Services–Kane County Diagnostic Center, and Hartgrove Behavioral Health System, where she led a trauma-focused treatment program.
National Impact & Leadership
Her expertise has contributed to the broader advancement of gender-responsive practice in justice settings. Dr. Donna is a certified Women’s Risk Needs Assessment (WRNA) trainer, equipping professionals to use a validated, gender-responsive assessment that recognizes women’s risks, needs, strengths, trauma histories, and protective factors. She was also selected to serve on the National Institute of Corrections’ first Diversity Review Team (DiveRT), a specialized advisory panel focused on strengthening the cultural competency, equity, and gender-responsiveness of correctional assessment tools for justice-impacted women, particularly women of color.
Dr. Donna is also the creator of The ARISE Method™, a trauma-informed reflection and integration framework that guides women from awareness to embodied action through attentive presence, emotional honesty, truth-telling, regulated integration, and lived practice. She is the author of You Are Not What Wounded You: An 8-Week Devotional Journey to Healing, Identity, and Wholeness, a faith-based, trauma-informed devotional and guided reflection journey designed to help women move beyond shame, reclaim identity, and walk in healing and freedom.
Today, her work continues to influence training, advocacy, leadership development, and systems-level conversations centered on healing, identity restoration, and transformational change.
THE WOMEN EMERGE MOVEMENT
At the heart of Dr. Donna’s work is a powerful mission—to help women heal, reclaim their identity, and rise into purposeful, aligned lives. Through Women Emerge, she bridges clinical expertise, lived experience, and advocacy to create transformational pathways for individuals, communities, and systems alike.
THE ARISE METHOD™
Developed through Dr. Donna’s clinical training and extensive work with women navigating trauma, reentry, and identity restoration, The ARISE Method™ is a six-stage reflection and integration framework that guides participants from awareness to embodied action.
The framework helps women process lived experiences with honesty and intentionality, strengthening emotional awareness, reclaiming identity beyond trauma, and translating insight into intentional, embodied action.
The ARISE Method™ is utilized across women’s empowerment groups, organizational trainings, advocacy initiatives, faith-based settings, and community-centered programs.
THE WOMEN EMERGE VISION
Women Emerge was founded on the recognition that many women carry both visible and invisible burdens—justice involvement, trauma histories, systemic harm, and internalized narratives that shape identity and voice. Dr. Donna established Women Emerge to create pathways for healing, reclamation, and empowerment grounded in structured reflection, advocacy, and community support.
Today, Women Emerge advances trauma-informed training, advocacy initiatives, and empowerment programs designed to help women heal from the past, reclaim their identity, and emerge into purposeful lives.
ADVOCACY & IMPACT
Dr. Donna’s work extends beyond individual empowerment into systems awareness, advocacy, and organizational impact. She partners with organizations, agencies, and community leaders to strengthen trauma-informed, gender-responsive approaches supporting women impacted by trauma, violence, systemic harm, and justice involvement.
Her advocacy centers on domestic violence awareness, coercive control recognition, reentry support, and cross-sector collaboration—helping reshape how systems recognize, understand, and respond to women’s lived realities.
Through training, consultation, and leadership engagement, Women Emerge continues advancing conversations that promote healing, identity restoration, and transformative support for women.
SPEAKING & TRAINING
Dr. Donna is a dynamic speaker and trainer who delivers transformational presentations for conferences, organizations, faith communities, advocacy initiatives, and women’s leadership spaces.
Her work integrates clinical insight, trauma-informed understanding, criminal justice expertise, and empowerment frameworks to create experiences that foster healing, identity reclamation, systems awareness, and intentional action.
Through speaking and training, Dr. Donna equips audiences to engage women with greater compassion, awareness, and trauma-informed responsiveness.
Ready to continue your healing and transformation journey ?
Women are not defined by what they have endured. With understanding, support, and structured pathways for growth, they can reclaim their voice, restore identity, and emerge into who they were created to be.