Caroline Spikner (she/her) is a licensed social worker, educator, and mover based in Chicago. Born and raised in Benton Harbor, Michigan, and Salt Lake City, Utah, she is the daughter of a Black Christian father and an Ashkenazi Jewish mother. Caroline holds a deep commitment to creating space for interfaith, multiracial, and mixed-identity experiences.

Caroline serves as curriculum and training specialist with Mitsui Collective, integrating her passions for embodied practice, racial justice, and Jewish life to develop learning resources rooted in equity, compassion, and belonging. She also works as a therapist at Thresholds, a community mental health agency, where she provides mental health and wellness services for young mothers.

Caroline earned her BA in Communication (Film and Dance) from Northwestern University and dual master’s degrees in Social Work and Nonprofit Management from Case Western Reserve University, where her work focused on community health, maternal healthcare, and program design. She began her professional journey as a Masa Israel Teaching Fellow and was introduced to curriculum design as a Springboard Innovation Fellow with Metro Chicago Hillel. Her certifications include a 200-hour yoga teacher training, a 40-hour domestic violence training, and Therapeutic Crisis Intervention certification. In addition, Caroline has experience teaching dance and yoga in studio and community settings with focuses on creative movement, yoga for new movers, ballet, modern, and jazz.

Select Trainings and Study:

• Licensed Master Social Worker (LSW) — State of Illinois

• Yoga Alliance Certified Yoga Teacher (YTT-200) — Portimão, Portugal

• Louis Stokes Fellowship in Community and Social Development — Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland

• Trauma-Informed Care & Harm Reduction Practices — Thresholds, Chicago

• Group Facilitation, Conflict Resolution & Program Innovation Cohort Trainings — Metro Chicago Hillel

• Maternal Wellness Training — Birthing Beautiful Communities, Cleveland

• Masa Israel Teaching Fellowship — Beer Sheva, Israel

• Masa Leadership Institute, Adaptive Leadership Intensive — Masa Israel Leadership Institute — Tel Aviv, Israel & Krakow, Poland

• Jumpstart AmeriCorps Fellow (2014–2016) — Northwestern University / AmeriCorps

• Intensive Modern Dance Training (2004–2012) — Graham, Horton, Taylor with Eileen Cropley

• Dance Conservatory (2012–2014) — Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts, Salt Lake City, UT

• Jazz Dance World Congress — 2010 (Chicago, IL) & 2012 (Pittsburgh, PA)

• American College Dance Festival Intensive (2015 & 2016) — American College Dance Association

• Shakespeare Festival Dance Intensive (2013 & 2014) — Utah Shakespeare Festival, Cedar City, UT