Tobi Erner

Tobi Erner brings to her work over a decade of experience as a clinician and advocate for survivors of complex trauma from marginalized, low-income communities. Her primary expertise is in gender-based violence, interdisciplinary social work, and working with multicultural communities, and she has previously worked in forensic, medical, outpatient, Family Justice Center, and shelter settings. Most recently, she served as the Senior Social Worker at Brooklyn Legal Services, providing holistic social work services to undocumented families in immigration proceedings. Prior to that, she was the Senior Social Worker in the Domestic Violence Project at Queens Legal Services where she provided individual and group clinical services, developed programs and community partnerships, and advocated for legislative change to support survivors of gender-based violence in achieving safety, justice, and healing. Tobi’s clinical philosophy is strengths-based, client-driven, and systems and trauma-informed. She strives to build therapeutic relationships that honor individuals’ self-determination and resilience and empower people to harness their innate capacities for transformation and healing. Tobi served on the Steering Committee of the Mayor’s Domestic Violence Taskforce and was awarded the 2019 Advocate of New York City. Prior to her career as a social worker, she worked as an organizer and managed grassroots campaigns for progressive causes across the U.S. Tobi received her Masters of Social Work from Columbia University and her B.A. in Gender Studies from New York University.