Elliott Hinkle
Elliott Orrin Hinkle (they/them) is a skilled consultant, facilitator, trainer, speaker, advisor, and national expert focused on elevating lived experience and expertise in systems that serve children, youth, and families. As Principal and Founder of Unicorn Solutions LLC, they are an advocate and professional that brings 12+ years’ experience on topics such as child welfare, youth mental health, and the LGBTQIA2S+ community through training, advising, and facilitating culture change efforts. They are a graduate of Portland State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Women, Gender, Sexuality, and Queer studies. While completing their degree they worked at the Portland State University, School of Social Work, Regional Research Institute (RRI) at as a coach on the My Life and Better Futures Projects. At PSU they also held the role of the Youth/Young Adult Coordinator on the Oregon Healthy Transitions grant funded via the Oregon Health Authority and SAMHSA. Since August of 2019 the have been certified as a Traditional Health Worker, Youth Peer Support Specialist in the state of Oregon through the Oregon Health Authority. They have served as Vice Chair and Commissioner to the Oregon Governor’s Child Foster Care Advisory Commission. Most recently they served as a Lived Experience Advisory Board Member for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) – Equity Technical Assistance Center (ETAC).
Elliott has lived experience in the Wyoming Foster Care System as a young person but calls Oregon home. They have assisted and participated in child welfare and youth mental health research, they actively work to reduce barriers to access to care for LGBTQIA2S+ youth and families and are trained in evidence-based peer coaching. Additionally, their skills include consultation and reviewing state’s Independent Living programs and National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) survey work as well as providing support in program and policy development. Since 2014, Elliott has been a trainer and advisor of the Center for the Study of Social Policy’s Youth Thrive initiative and is a certified trainer for Youth Thrive for Youth. Elliott was also a member of the LGBTQ Xchange for Change team and served as the Executive Editor and Co-host of the Xchanges podcast. In 2022 Elliott was recognized as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award for Healthy Equity winner via Youth Move National.
As a volunteer, Elliott serves as Board Secretary of Portland’s Bridging Voices LGBTQ+ youth chorus, the HOPE National Advisory Board and Family and Community Experts Council for HOPE (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences), and the Casper Pride Board of Directors. They are excited to join the Center for the Study of Social Policy’s Board in March of 2024.
To learn more and reach Elliott visit www.unicornsolutions.org or @unicornsolutionsllc on Instagram.