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As the founder and clinical director of Era Center, an organization providing psychotherapy, outreach education, and comprehensive training that addresses the physical, emotional, and psychological effects of sexual assault, Kim Panelo Xue ‘10 just celebrated both a professional and personal milestone as head of the company.

The Center announced that Broncos Rise, an eight-week closed support group for SCU student survivors of assault, has been renewed for the 2023-2024 academic year. The renewal culminates years of perseverance through adversity, education, and commitment to the vision – embodying the poem that inspired the naming of the group: Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise.”

“While working with Santa Clara University students in my private practice, I was hearing about the isolation that came with navigating college life as a survivor. I got the idea to start this group as a space where these students could all be in the same room to connect with each other and heal together, while still receiving counseling from adult professionals,” says Xue.

Spotting the Gaps

Kim’s interest in working with a university is also driven by a personal journey through higher education and her early career. Before pursuing her graduate degree in 2007 from SCU’s School of Education & Counseling Psychology, Kim discovered her passion to become a therapist during her undergraduate experience at University California, Berkeley. As a third generation Filipino American born and raised in South San Jose, Kim struggled to find community and mental health support while at school.

“I sought out counseling for the first time while pursuing my undergraduate degree, and it was in that experience that I recognized higher education’s gap in culturally and trauma-informed mental health support. I wasn’t getting the help I needed from the people I needed. And in one particular moment with a therapist I remember thinking to myself, ‘I’m going to learn how to do this person’s job, and I’m going to do it better.’”

The Era Center

With that, Kim was off to Santa Clara to earn her graduate degree. Upon graduation, Kim worked for local organizations like YWCA Silicon Valley, specializing in rape crisis and sexual violence. But it was six years later when the idea of Era Center was born.

“It was the political climate right before the Trump election. I was bombarded by a certain anticipatory terror that sat with each individual patient I was seeing. Each and every person was fearful for their safety and the younger generations to come. And just like that it felt like the walls were closing in, and I knew I needed to build out, and create something bigger than me,” Xue says.

After three years of laying the business groundwork and developing partnerships with large organizations like Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula, and YWCA Silicon Valley, in 2019 Kim finally built out a three pillar trauma center she had dreamed of. Era now stands as an organization providing individual and group intervention work, community education, and consultation. “People said a center putting sexual violence at the forefront would be too much and too narrow of a focus.. But I knew the need was there – we just needed a big enough doorstep and a loud enough sign.”

Inspiring the Next Generation of Therapists

Years later, Kim knows there’s still more to be done. She hopes to inspire the next generation of therapists to provide more culturally and trauma-informed mental health care, starting by teaching at the school where she got started.

“I realized that in order for there to be more therapists that look like me, more people like me need to be in the classroom teaching. ECP’s student body is more diverse than when I was a student, and it’s time for the faculty and staff to follow suit.”

Starting September 26, Broncos Rise runs every Tuesday from 6-7:30PM at the SCU Wellness Center. If you or any students you know would benefit from Broncos Rise, feel free to first complete the following or forward the following information:

• Connect Online: Enter in your name and email (https://www.era-center.org/scu-broncos-rise)

• Intake & Assessment: Era will contact you via email to schedule a 20-30mins Zoom intake

• Next Steps: Based on level of needs, Era will determine the best supportive services for you