Tara Sanabria Davila, LCSW

Tara Sanabria Davila, MSW is an Assistant professor who has been dedicated to the field of clinical Social Work for the last 20+ years. Her clinical expertise is in supporting youth and families who have been affected by traumatic experiences. Tara is trained and certified in several evidence-based interventions and adapts them with a culturally and structurally humble lens, to meet the unique needs of diverse youth and families.

Tara serves patients, faculty, staff, and trainees at the Child Study Center as Associate Director of Youth Clinical Services and vice chair for Collaborative Excellence. In these roles, she supports members of the Child Study Center community to enhance and nurture a climate that can support and leverage the diversity of talents, ideas, and experiences within the department. The approach she has utilized centers the department’s values, incorporates restorative practices, makes space to learn about lived experiences, and provides opportunities for ongoing learning and self- reflection to support inclusion. She is particularly passionate about contributing to the rewriting of the narrative between Yale and the city of New Haven, and centers this in her teaching, training, and citizenship.

She is dedicated to sharing her clinical and leadership experiences through mentorship to benefit the professional development of others. She is particularly passionate about supporting those who are navigating new spaces and roles, with a focus on supporting members of the global majority in learning how to navigate different systems, go beyond their growing edges, and define their path. She has also helped to bring innovative mentorship approaches to YCSC.

Tara, her husband and their 2 children have called New Haven home for over 2 decades. They are deeply dedicated to supporting New Haven through community organizing and philanthropy. Tara has served as co- chair of the Progreso Latino Fund, which focused on growing leadership and philanthropy in the New Haven’s Latine community. She and her family have established the Siempre Pa’lante fund at the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven to support initiatives that support racial equity and build solidarity.