Yaa D. Underhill

Yaa is a trained drama therapist and mental health clinician living in New Jersey. Graduating in 2008 from Rutgers University with her BA in English, Yaa spent her early professional years in education, working as a high school English teacher in Newark before landing with the educational non-profit City Year. During her 5 year tenure, she supported City Year’s direct programming, national admissions process, and onboarding initiatives for accepted Americorps members. 

During this time, Yaa began pursuing her Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Lesley University with a specialization in drama therapy. In 2017, her educator experiences, therapist training, and love for theatre came together in her role as Artistic & Education Director for the Massachusetts non-profit Rehearsal for Life. There she oversaw their Urban Improv, Youth Unscripted and Re:Action Assembly programming, and facilitated workshops for social-emotional learning utilizing improvisational theatre. 

After returning to New Jersey in 2019, Yaa is enjoying being married, building her self-care consulting business and pursuing her clinical licensure as she works with adults in crisis through University Behavioral Healthcare. For self-care Yaa loves to write poetry, sing, watch tv and movies, and walk. She loves the philosophy of Connection Labs and believes that personal thriving results from being and becoming our best every day!

VIA Strengths: Spirituality, Perspective, Curiosity, Teamwork, Creativity, Fairness, Social Intelligence