Shanondora Billiot
Shanondora Billiot
Dr. Shanondora Billiot is an Indigenous scholar, social worker, and advocate who incorporates Indigenous and other perspectives in ecological work to restore the balance between human and environmental health. She has a range of diverse experiences, from serving in the Louisiana Air National Guard to the Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Center and international health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Billiot is a macro social worker committed to community engagement and participation in research and policy, using mixed methods to explore trauma, discrimination, and relationships to the environment.
"my sense of direction depended on the water" - Shanondora Billiot, 2023.
Powell, T., Billiot, S. & Muller, J. M. (2022). The Cost of Caring: Psychological Adjustment of Health-Care Volunteers During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Traumatology, 28(3). https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000387
Johnson-Jennings, M. D., Walters, K. L. & Billiot, S. (2020). Returning to Our Roots: Tribal Health and Wellness through Land-Based Healing. Genealogy, 4(91). https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy4030091
Mitchell, F. M., Billiot, S. & Lechuga-Pena, S. (2020). Utilizing Photovoice to Support Indigenous Accounts of Environmental Change and Injustice. Genealogy, 4(2). https://doi.org10.3390/genealogy4020051
Billiot, S., Beltran, R., Brown, D., Fernandez, A., & Mitchell, F. (2019). Indigenous Perspectives for Strengthening Social Responses to Global Environmental Changes: A Response to the Social Work Grand Challenge on Environmental Changes. Journal of Community Practice. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2019.1658677
Billiot, S., *Kwon, S., Burnette, C.E. (2019). Repeated Disasters through Generations Impede Transmission of Cultural Knowledge, Journal of Family Strengths 19(1). Available at: https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/jfs/vol19/iss1/11
Billiot, S., & Mitchell, F. M. (2019). Conceptual interdisciplinary model of exposure to environmental changes to address indigenous health and well-being. Public health, 176, 142–148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2018.08.011
Dr. Shanondora Billiot’s sense of place began in South Louisiana near the Gulf of Mexico. Living near the water, she grew up with a deep appreciation and care for the environment – the water provided a sense of direction, both literally and figuratively. Familial gatherings were always around seafood and the bayous, but repeated disasters and significant coastal erosion changed the landscape. The BP oil spill and others in the gulf further changed fishing access and contaminated the waterways. Additionally, the continual loss of land in Louisiana, most of which are tribal lands, not only threatened physical survival but cultural as well. A few months after Hurricane Katrina hit, Billiot graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology at Louisiana State University. However, witnessing the difference in responses from the government and social work and the lack of authentic community engagement, especially with Indigenous communities, she narrowed her focus from disaster mental health to social work response. This led her to pursue her Master of Social Work at the University of Michigan. She then attended Washington University in St. Louis for her Ph.D. in Social Work to further study how physical environments impact physical and mental health. Prior to beginning her doctoral studies, Billiot sought guidance from her tribe, who told her to go beyond traditional reporting and research, which is often extractive and focuses on intergenerational knowledge and cultural knowledge – to “find solutions that were not extinct in 15 years” (2023).
Before attending LSU, Dr. Billiot served in the military. During her undergraduate studies, she served in the Louisiana Air National Guard, furthering her interest in disaster mental health. Prior to entering graduate school for her doctorate, she worked for ten years in positions ranging from crisis intervention with the Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Center to post-disaster grassroots community development with the Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations to analyzing federal and international health policies with the United States Department of Health and Human Services as an International Health Analyst. Dr. Billiot was also selected as a Presidential Management Fellow in 2007, where she worked with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Upon receiving her Ph.D., Dr. Billiot joined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an Assistant Professor. She currently works as an Assistant Professor at Arizona State University, teaching Social Policy and Services and Policy Practice and conducting research focused on adaptive capacity, Indigenous health, behavioral health, environmental change, and traditional ecological knowledge. Her research seeks to draw on her knowledge as a macro social worker and her experiences as an Indigenous woman to cultivate an ecological movement within social work that incorporates Indigenous and other knowledge to restore the balance between human and environmental health. In addition to teaching, Dr. Billiot serves on the boards advancing the mission of.
Throughout her career, Dr. Billiot has had to develop measures and methods for science to show what community members already knew to be. She had to learn to deliver information in ways scientists and government officials could understand. This was challenging, as grant applications and research often didn't go to indigenous scholars seeking to do this type of work. Moreso, when she did publish papers and other work, it often felt as though she needed to justify herself and the need to conduct indigenous research, something not all researchers can relate to. However, despite these challenges, Dr. Billiot persists. She highlights that the Social Responses to a Changing Environment Social Work Grand Challenge expanded the discipline she had long advocated for. Though environmental and social work still needs to be bridged in many ways, she is proud to have contributed to that conversation.
Dr. Billiot has been able to mentor students at her home institution and others. She remains in touch with many mentees and mentors from previous experiences, including her year at Yale during her Ph.D. She highlights that numerous individuals have helped her throughout her career, some in more official mentorship capacities and others informally. One of these individuals is Susan Kemp, an individual she met at her first academic conference, who wrote an article on how the physical environment and work can influence well-being. Though Kemp may have been more of an informal mentor, Dr. Billiot highlights that this relationship was pivotal to her career, opening doors for her to meet other people in the field and serve on committees, among others. Moreover, a mentor at the Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Center encouraged her to pursue graduate studies after a recent disaster, telling her that disaster will keep coming but that she could be more effective by pursuing her education. Doing so introduced her to a lifelong friend and role model, Karen Tabb-Dina. She also cites her Chair and committee as influential mentors in her life but underscores that too many individuals have helped and supported her to name them all.
In reflecting on advice she'd give young professionals, she highlights that pacing yourself and following your instinct is important and is something she is still learning. Doing things that have been done already doesn't always work, so it is important to follow your instinct. Dr. Billiot highlights that we need new and varietal methods to address the climate crisis, and there won't be one magic bullet solution. Though it will be challenging, it is important that we don't give up but rather collectively empower ourselves and others to find and try new methods and solutions.
Shanondora Billiot. Arizona State University. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2023 from https://search.asu.edu/profile/3670449
Shanondora Billiot [Photo]. Arizona State University. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2023 from https://search.asu.edu/profile/3670449
Shanondora Billiot, PhD. LinkedIn. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2023 from https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanondora-billiot-phd-8ba907149/
Survey and interviews conducted by Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Sustainability Initiative staff. 2022-2023. Yale University-School of the Environment. New Haven, Connecticut.
Shanondora Billiot [Photo]. Arizona State University. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2023 from https://search.asu.edu/profile/3670449