About Awespired
Grounded in Experience. Guided by Empathy. Inspired by Awe.
You’re a teenager navigating anxiety and big life decisions, a parent supporting a struggling child, an educator feeling the weight of burnout, or a school leader trying to shift a system that feels stuck.
You care deeply, but you’re stretched thin, and you’re looking for someone who truly understands the complexity of your world.
At Awespired, you’ll find compassionate, experienced support, helping you move from stress and disconnection to calm, connection, and purpose.
My journey into this work is deeply personal.
As a child, I knew what it meant to feel unsafe at school—struggling with anxiety and school phobia so strong it kept me from the classroom for weeks at a time. I experienced firsthand the loneliness of being a student who wanted to belong but didn’t yet feel equipped to thrive. Those early struggles shaped me, not only as a client learning to navigate my own healing, but as a person who discovered the profound difference it makes when someone truly sees and supports you.
As a parent of two remarkable college-aged children with individual needs, I have walked the winding path of navigating health, education, and well-being systems as a mother. My children’s stories, along with my own, have been my greatest teachers, reminding me daily that growth is possible even in the most challenging circumstances.
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These personal experiences have inspired me to help others uncover their strength and find greater harmony in their lives.
Kimberly Israel, LCSW, MPH
Founder and Director
Alongside this lived perspective...
I also bring a strong professional foundation to my work. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Education and Social Policy from Northwestern University and dual Master’s degrees in Social Work and Public Health from the University of Michigan. I received my Pupil Personnel Services Credential from the California Commission for Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) in 2000, my Board of Behavioral Sciences Certification as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in 2003 and my Administrative Services Credential from the CCTC in 2005.
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My professional journey has taken me from middle and high school classrooms to hospitals and intensive school-based mental health programs, to what has been my life’s work over the past 18 years, serving as a district-level educational leader where I created and championed no-cost health, mental health and wellness programs for thousands of students and families each year.
Along the way, I’ve presented at the local, county, state, and national level, co-authored a chapter on Progress Monitoring and Data-Based Decision Making in the book National Perspectives on School Social Work, and received recognition as both School Social Worker of the Year (San Diego County) and School Administrator of the Year (Escondido Union School District).
Supporting you along your journey.
I understand the vulnerability of beginning therapy, the overwhelm that parents experience, the pressures that educators feel in classrooms, the tools that clinicians need to support growth, and the systems that administrators must design to integrate wellness into their school's framework.
I approach each client and organization with a trauma-informed and awe-inspired lens, helping people move beyond stress and disconnection toward purpose, presence, and growth.
My goal is not only to provide support but to inspire individuals and communities to write their own Awespired stories of resilience, connection, and joy.
