Influential Women Profiles Kimber Olson, PhD, MSW: Founder, CEO, and Principal Consultant of Juniper & Pine Consulting
Transforming Health Systems, Strengthening Tribal Partnerships, and Championing Intergenerational Healing Across Native Communities
Kimber Olson, PhD, MSW, an enrolled member of the Chiricahua Apache Mimbres Band Nation, is a nationally recognized expert in Indigenous partnerships, health systems transformation, and trauma-informed practice. With over three decades of experience supporting Native-led organizations, Kimber specializes in designing and implementing culturally grounded, healing-centered programs that address youth and family engagement, early childhood systems building, and intergenerational trauma recovery. Her work uniquely integrates Indigenous knowledge, neuroscience, and relational accountability, fostering safe, resilient, and sovereign communities across the United States.
As Founder, CEO, and Principal Consultant of Juniper & Pine Consulting, LLC, Kimber collaborates with Tribal Nations, community-based programs, and service systems to transform organizational culture and leadership through culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and healing-centered approaches. She develops curricula, certification pathways, and training programs that honor Indigenous design principles, emphasizing listening, community authority, and reciprocity. Her facilitation work—including retreats, leadership circles, and multi-day trainings—creates spaces of safety, kinship, and regulation, helping organizations shift from transactional relationships to transformational partnerships.
Kimber’s approach goes beyond professional strategy; it is rooted in lived experience, cultural wisdom, and a commitment to fostering wellness. She has held leadership roles in Tribal early childhood initiatives, vocational rehabilitation programs, and higher education, contributing to national Tribal training strategies, conducting culturally responsive needs assessments, and teaching courses on Tribal vocational rehabilitation at Northwest Indian College. Kimber holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Alaska and a PhD in Psychology from Breyer State University. Her academic and practical expertise positions her as a trusted guide for organizations, Tribal governance, and community stakeholders seeking to restore balance, honor Indigenous knowledge, and cultivate wellness across generations.
Grounded in Culture and Holistic Practice
Kimber attributes her success to being deeply grounded in her spiritual, cultural, and traditional teachings, as well as in holistic practices that emphasize prevention and healing. Her work centers on providing guidance, developing proposals, designing training curricula, and creating programs—all with a focus on fostering meaningful relationships through compassion, generosity, integrity, and co-creation.
She is particularly proud of her personal journey of renewal, achieved through cultural healing, which inspired her dedication to supporting the Indigenous community. Through this work, Kimber develops resources and initiatives that promote healing and wellness, often drawing on traditional stories and holistic approaches. Demonstrating her commitment to community, she allocates a portion of her service funds to support local non-profits and community members.
Beyond her professional endeavors, Kimber is actively involved in initiatives such as Empowering All Relatives to Heal (EARTH), earth-based healing practices, and Kinship foster care. She also volunteers with the Holistic Healing Community, contributing her time and expertise to support wellness and resilience, recognizing the profound impact of such support when it is lacking.
Prioritizing Connection and Meaningful Relationships
Kimber considers the best career advice she has ever received to be the importance of prioritizing meaningful connections, both personally and professionally. She places great value on nurturing her relationships with her husband, three children, and nieces, finding her greatest peace and joy with them—often on their boat or anywhere near water, which she describes as her haven. Kimber also treasures deep friendships, continuous learning through reading and cultural practices, and grounding herself in tradition with guidance from Elders and spiritual advisors within her community. These practices collectively shape her perspective and inform her approach across all areas of life.
In her work with emerging leaders, Kimber advises young women entering her industry to walk in alignment with their values and to care for their nervous system. She encourages practicing gratitude, honoring connections with others, and shifting the focus from simply producing results to grounding oneself in purpose. By centering themselves and remaining true to their principles, young women can navigate their careers with intention, resilience, and meaningful impact.
Addressing Challenges in Indigenous Wellness
One of the greatest challenges in the field of Indigenous wellness, Kimber observes, is addressing the multi-generational trauma carried by relatives and the cumulative weight of how that trauma persists within programs, organizations, and the nervous systems of those providing care. For generations, Indigenous communities have borne the neuroepigenetic imprints of historical and contemporary trauma, alongside strengths and resilience. Colonial violence, land dispossession, boarding schools, and systemic discrimination have altered stress-response patterns across generations, shaping how Indigenous bodies, minds, and families respond to adversity. These inherited survival patterns manifest today as chronic stress, grief, addiction, and a pervasive sense of hypervigilance.
Kimber notes that Tribal and social service programs themselves often carry these imprints. When helpers continuously walk alongside relatives in crisis without avenues for repair, their own nervous systems begin to mirror the trauma they support. Over time, organizations can become “trauma-organized”—rigid, reactive, and burned out—sometimes unintentionally replicating dynamics they seek to heal. Financial constraints, political pressures, staffing shortages, and continuous crises further pull individuals and systems away from traditional teachings toward survival mode.
Despite these challenges, Kimber sees immense opportunity in reclaiming the cultural, spiritual, and neurobiological wisdom that has always belonged to Indigenous communities. Just as individuals carry stories shaped by trauma, organizations do as well; when these narratives are reshaped through culture, ceremony, and community connection, systems can return to balance. While this has long been understood within Indigenous knowledge systems, contemporary neuroscience is increasingly validating these approaches. Kimber emphasizes that the core challenge is not a lack of healing wisdom within Indigenous communities but the disconnection from these methods caused by crisis-driven, compliance-focused systems.
Anchored in Values of Connection, Guidance, and Service
Kimber identifies connection, guidance, and service as the values most central to both her work and personal life. She credits her late friend and mentor, Diane Payne, as a profound influence—someone who served as a colleague, mother figure, and guide for over 20 years. Through Diane, Kimber deepened her connection to her Indigenous family and traditions, learned practices of care and protection for children, and was inspired to bring light and hope to those facing challenges. This enduring example continues to shape Kimber’s approach to her work and relationships, grounding her actions in integrity, compassion, and a commitment to service.
Learn More about Kimber Olson:
Through her Influential Women profile, https://influentialwomen.com/connect/kimber-olson, or through her profile on Juniper & Pine Consulting, https://www.juniperpineconsulting.org/meet-our-team
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