About Us
Meet Luciana, Founder
My Story
People often ask me why I started Where Darkness Meets Light. The answer begins long before this organization existed.
Throughout my childhood and much of my adolescence, I endured bullying that had a profound impact on my emotional well-being and sense of identity. Those experiences slowly shaped how I saw myself. I struggled with low self-esteem, loneliness, anxiety, depression, and believing that I didn't matter. Long before I understood who God created me to be, those experiences began shaping how I saw myself. Because I longed to be accepted and had not yet discovered my God-given worth, I was exposed to emotional and psychological abuse that shaped how I understood relationships and boundaries, leaving me vulnerable to sexual abuse no child should ever experience. - No one stopped to ask me, “How are you really doing?”
Over time, I learned to suffer in silence, and eventually, that silence became my normal. I carried those wounds with me into adulthood, unaware of how deeply they continued to influence my thoughts, relationships, and decisions. What I didn't know was that God would one day use my deepest wounds to reveal my greatest purpose.
In my early forties, while participating in a Christian discipleship and spiritual healing program called Forward, God began revealing the roots of my pain and replacing the lies I had believed with His truth. For the first time, I understood that many of the struggles I had carried into adulthood were rooted in unresolved childhood trauma and wounds that had never truly healed. That revelation changed the course of my life. I realized that children should not have to wait until adulthood to heal from childhood wounds. That conviction became the foundation of Where Darkness Meets Light and the calling God placed on my life. This is more than my profession. It is my calling!! I know what it feels like to live in darkness, and I know the life-changing power of the Light that leads us out of it. This is why Where Darkness Meets Light exists.
Education Background
Luciana holds a Master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, is a Certified Mental Health Life Coach, and has a Master Diploma in Crisis Response, Trauma Care, and Suicide Prevention. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in Community Care and Counseling with a specialization in Traumatology, further strengthening her expertise in trauma-informed care.
At the heart of her work is a desire to help every child move from hidden pain to healing. Through faith-centered care and creative approaches—including art, music, culinary expression, and group experiences, she empowers young people to discover hope, resilience, and lasting purpose.
About Where Darkness Meets Light
Where Darkness Meets Light is a faith-based nonprofit program dedicated to supporting children, adolescents, and families through trauma-informed psychoeducational and emotional wellness programs. These programs empower youth to develop emotional awareness, healthy coping skills, resilience, and hope while recognizing that their experiences shape their story but do not determine their future. We believe many adult struggles can be influenced by childhood wounds, difficult experiences, and times when individuals lacked the support needed to heal, grow, and develop healthy coping strategies. Through compassionate education, emotional wellness tools, and supportive connections, these programs help youth recognize their worth, strengthen resilience, and build a foundation for lifelong well-being.
Because every child deserves to begin healing today—not someday.
Our Mission
Our mission is to help children and adolescents discover their God-given identity before the messages of pain, adversity, or unhealthy experiences shape how they see themselves.
The Heart Behind Our Mission:
Every child enters this world with immeasurable value, purpose, and greatness because they are created in the image of God. Yet many children begin believing lies about themselves long before they discover the truth about themselves. Traumatic experiences can slowly shape how a young person sees themselves. Instead of believing they are loved, valuable, and created with purpose, they may begin to believe they are unwanted, broken, invisible, or unworthy.
- This leads to an important question that sits at the heart of this mission:
Why are we waiting until adulthood to begin the healing process?
- What if children could learn healthy coping skills before pain becomes overwhelming?
- What if teenagers could recognize their strengths before believing they have none?
- What if young people were given the tools to understand their emotions, process difficult experiences, and build resilience while they are still growing?
At Where Darkness Meets Light, we believe that no painful experience has the authority to define a child’s identity—only God does.
Our desire is to help children discover God’s truth before life’s wounds convince them otherwise, because a child who understands their identity is better equipped to navigate life’s challenges with wisdom, resilience, courage, and hope.
Our Vision
We envision a generation of emotionally healthy, spiritually grounded, and resilient young people who know their identity in Christ, confidently walk in Goodness, Righteousness, and Truth, and become lights within their families, schools, churches, and communities. We believe that when children know who they are, they are better prepared to make healthy choices, build meaningful relationships, overcome adversity, and positively influence the world around them.
"You are the light of the world... let your light shine before others." — Matthew 5:14–16