Center for Race and Adoption Focused Therapy

Susan Dusza Guerra Leksander (she/her), LMFT, is a Latina first mother and transracial domestic adoptee. A licensed psychotherapist specializing in the adoption and foster care triads, she joined Pact in 2016 as a parent consultant, first/birth family advocate, and coordinator of trainings for service providers. When Pact became a licensed adoption agency in 2017, Susan was appointed its founding Agency & Clinical Director. She launched Pact’s Center for Race & Adoption Focused Therapy (CRAFT) in 2021, and was selected as Pact’s second Executive Director in 2025. She is raising two sons and is on an ongoing journey of reunion with her first families and the daughter she placed for adoption.

Carla Felten (she/her) is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has worked in mental health, child welfare, and juvenile justice systems in California, Colorado, and North Carolina. Her passion is supporting foster/adoptive families and she is blessed to have been mentored by adoption professionals who highlighted the need for radically inclusive and anti-racist work in the adoption field. As a biracial Black woman, Carla has experienced the duality of sharing two (competing) cultures and is committed to creating healing, safe spaces for folx to explore their own racial and/or familial identities. Carla’s current focus is working with adolescents and supporting parents/families through their adoption journeys, as well as guiding parents in becoming attachment-centered, trauma-informed, and culturally supportive and responsible.

Arlie Ausich (she/they), LCSW, is a transracial international adoptee from the Philippines. She earned her Master of Social Work degree from Simmons University with a Child & Family specialization, focusing on adoption and attachment as they relate to trauma. Arlie’s lived experience as a transracial adoptee is the driving force behind her passion and commitment to support fellow adoptees and their families as they navigate their own journeys. Her goal is to provide a safe, empathetic, curious, and nurturing space for people to explore, develop, repair and thrive.

Marcus Christmas (he/him) is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a graduate of Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research; he identifies as a Black cisgender male and is a proud descendent of The Burlington 37. He specializes in treating early childhood trauma, anxiety, depression, and stress, using a holistic approach incorporating meditation, cognitive and neuroscience strategies.  He has extensive experience working with children in foster care, birth families, and adoptive families (including transracial), and has worked with both closed and open adoptions. He finds it deeply rewarding to help adoptees explore their stories and find their voices.

Natalie Crittendon (she/they), OTR/L, is a cisgender queer white woman, transracial adoptive mother, and Spanish-language learner. Like all white people in the United States, she is a descendant of immigrants: third generation from Ireland and Germany.  A psychosocial occupational therapist, she specializes in skill-building in the face of suffering, serving folx who have experienced trauma, live with ongoing trauma, or are parenting those impacted by trauma. Her focus at Pact is supporting white adults, and specifically transracial adoptive parents, in exploring the impact of their cultural conditioning, while building new skills. Past work includes developing a model of mental health services for San Francisco’s county high schools, and serving young people detained at San Francisco’s juvenile hall, with a focus on serving BIPOC adolescents.