Toni Bankston is a member of the CMBM Faculty. She is a Project Director in Puerto Rico and Baton Rouge. Certified in Mind-Body Medicine, Toni has provided support to those in Broward County, Haiti, Israel/Gaza, and Puerto Rico, and most recently worked in Western Maryland to address the opioid crisis and in wildfire-stricken areas in California.
Toni is the Founder and Director of MindBody Baton Rouge, the culmination of a 35 year-long career spent in mental health care and trauma response. She is a Master Adverse Childhood Experiences Trainer for the state of Louisiana, and has served on the LA Governor’s Children’s Cabinet Advisory Board and the Governor’s Advisory Board for Human Trafficking. Her areas of focus center around childhood trauma precipitated by violent crime and disaster trauma. Toni has implemented programming in Baton Rouge to address natural disasters—Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Gustav; the BP Horizon Oil Spill—and homelessness. She also served as the CEO of the Baton Rouge Children’s Advocacy Center, where she developed innovative programs and established Mind-Body Skills Groups to bring support to violent crime victims, their families, and those who serve them. She also trains educators, law enforcement officers, judges, and other community service professionals in building trauma-responsive teams to mitigate effects of secondary stress and trauma. She was honored recently by the National Association of Social Workers, LA Chapter, with the Social Worker of the Year Award for the State of Louisiana.
Toni earned her BA in Psychology and MSW from Louisiana State University.
