Lorraine Brave, MSW, is Mohawk of the Turtle Clan - people of the Flint, from New York and has lived in the Pacific Northwest since moving to Seattle in 1979. Almost immediately, she became an advocate for the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), serving as Chair of the Local Indian Child Welfare Advisory Committee (LICWAC) for King County, Co-President of the Indian Child Welfare Action Consortium, and as a founding member of the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA). For more than 30 years, Lorraine has facilitated NICWA’s Positive Indian Parenting (PIP) Train-the-Trainers program and has worked alongside Tribal communities to support the exploration, revitalization, and application of traditional child-rearing and family-support practices that promote lifelong connections and a sense of belonging for children.
Throughout her career, Lorraine has served as a liaison and bridge between Tribal programs, urban Native organizations, and state and county child-welfare systems, collaborating with partners to strengthen communication, align systems, and build culturally responsive services that honor Tribal values and strengthen permanent outcomes for children and families while navigating complex public systems.
In 1997, Lorraine established her private consulting practice, Brave Transitions, where she works as a human-development facilitator providing training, facilitation, curriculum development and review, and resource creation. Her work focuses on helping organizations move from theory to practical, day-to-day applications, particularly during transitions such as new management, new staff, program reorganization, or periods of regrouping and regeneration. She frequently designs and facilitates team-building retreats and staff development experiences that strengthen workplace relationships, support healthy communication, and reinforce shared responsibility for children and families. She currently lives in Vancouver, Washington.
