JOELLE AMIE CHARLES
social worker ݀ educator ݀researcher ݀creative
Joelle Amie Charles is a youth and family services social worker, educator, and applied anthropologist supporting individuals, families, and communities through transition, healing, and growth
She holds a Master of Social Work from Howard University and a Master of Arts in Anthropology and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University
Grounded in restorative justice, Joelle’s practice centers culturally sustaining, healing-centered care at the intersections of education, social work, and art. Her work attends to the body, the story, and the internal system, honoring lived experience and exploring the conditions that shape it
Joelle has designed and facilitated life skills and project-based learning experiences for young people, integrating therapeutic interventions, creative expression, and mind–body practices. A certified youth yoga instructor and long-time social-emotional wellness educator, she works with children and families across New York City to support regulation, resilience, and collective care
Her work also extends into public art and advocacy. Joelle designed the pilot phase of WHY KNOT, NY?, an arts and education initiative framed by Ubuntu, inviting young people to reimagine Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd’s Non-Violence sculpture through their own visions of peace and resistance
In 2025, Joelle served as a case worker with the International Rescue Committee, providing trauma-informed case management through psychosocial assessment, individualized service planning, and advocacy to reduce barriers to care and strengthen access to health and social services for individuals and families navigating displacement. She plans to enter educational leadership to build care-centered school cultures, drawing on her clinical training, learning and skill developement pedagogy and behavioral and material intervention skills to support sustainable, community-oriented learning environments
She has produced research on the social, emotional, and political acts of care within subcultures, and she is the curator of Boyce Archives, an online gallery of her grandfather’s media collection
She lives in Harlem and she’s happy you’re here