Dr. Lisa Maaca Bartlette, DSW, MSSA

DSW, MSSA

Lisa Maaca Bartlette, DSW, MSSA, is a social work scholar, keynote speaker, story distiller, embodied trainer, and strategist. Her work is guided by one enduring question: “What conditions allow people, communities, and the living world to flourish?” Drawing on more than two decades of leadership across child welfare, juvenile justice, higher education, and organizational development, she partners with public agencies, Native Nations, universities, and community organizations to redesign the cultural and relational conditions that shape decision-making, leadership, and learning.
 

Known for weaving rigorous scholarship with compelling storytelling, Lisa challenges audiences to move beyond information transfer toward transformation. Her presentations invite professionals to examine not only what they know, but how culture, power, relationship, and identity shape the decisions they make every day. Integrating adult learning, systems thinking, trauma-responsive practice, neuroscience, and decolonizing approaches to education, she creates learning experiences that are intellectually rigorous, relationally grounded, and immediately applicable.
 

Lisa’s doctoral scholarship introduced the Cultural Attachment ICWA Framework, a sovereignty-aligned practice innovation that reimagines child welfare decision-making by integrating Indigenous-defined safety, cultural attachment, and Tribal sovereignty into assessment, supervision, and organizational decision-making. Her broader scholarship explores the relational conditions that allow people, communities, and the living world to flourish together, challenging institutions to move beyond procedural compliance toward relational accountability, curiosity, repair, and shared responsibility.
 

As Founder of Lisa Maaca Inc., Lisa leads a team that designs and delivers workforce development, curriculum innovation, organizational consultation, and keynote experiences that transform how professionals learn, lead, and serve. Whether advising executive leaders, designing learning experiences, teaching graduate students, or delivering keynote presentations, she distills complex scholarship into stories, strategies, and practices that reshape how people learn, lead, and relate.