East Hampton High School Alum Named Shelter Director at The Retreat

When Thalia Olaya was a student at East Hampton High School, as a requirement, she and all the other students had to complete a certain number of community service hours. She noticed there was a posting to join the Team Leadership Council at The Retreat, and she did. That was in 2010.

Over a decade of volunteering later, the former teen leader at The Retreat, Olaya has been named its new director of the Stephanie House Residential Shelter.

“I’m humbled. I’m excited for the opportunity to be the shelter director and to work here,” she said during a recent interview. “Every interaction that you have with a survivor is something indescribable. If I can get to be of service during their darkest hours, and let them feel seen and heard, I see it as a gift, privilege, and honor that I can’t take for granted. You can see the profound impact that sexual assault and violence has on the mind and body. You see the resilience of these clients.”

Olaya first began with The Retreat when she was in high school, as a member of its Teen Leadership Council. As a teen leader, she spearheaded fundraisers, led outreach tables, and spoke at events, including at Latino Parent Nights at East Hampton High School, where she graduated. Her experience with TLC left a lasting impression. In high school, Olaya had an interest in legal advocacy, but she was too young to assist in the agency’s department. That changed once she turned 18. She volunteered with The Retreat’s legal advocacy team while attending college, learning how to help clients navigate the family court system.

“When I turned 18, I reached out to the director at the time and told her I wanted to volunteer for the legal department while I was a student at Suffolk County Community College,” Olaya explained, adding that she received her associate’s degree there before transferring to St. John’s University in Queens to finish her bachelor’s degree.

The Retreat’s emergency shelter provides housing for up to 18 adults and children. Comprehensive services are available to all residents and include counseling, legal advocacy, educational programs, and case management. Nonresidential clients, who are most of them, access all services through the East Hampton, Riverhead, and Hauppauge offices.

During her time as a volunteer for the legal advocacy department, she’d spend most of her time in the Riverhead Retreat office and went to court to help represent clients filing for child custody and visitation rights. After graduating from Suffolk, Olaya took a break from volunteering because she was attending school in Queens.

After that, she took a gap year before attending law school at Hofstra University in Hempstead. During that gap year, Olaya worked at The Retreat as an administrative assistant. She graduated from Hofstra in 2019 with her law degree.

“Being a legal advocate really sparked my interest in law even more,” she said. “I just saw so many injustices going on.”

After graduating from law school, she worked for Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. as a legislative aide until she took the new position at The Retreat. In this position, Olaya oversees general operations of Stephanie House, manages staff, and most importantly, ensures clients’ needs are being met.

“It was meant to be,” Olaya said of returning to The Retreat after more than three years of working for Thiele. “I told them, I would love to work there again. My heart is at The Retreat.”

“It’s really great to have Thalia back in a leadership role,” Loretta Davis, executive director of The Retreat, said. “I think Thalia has learned a tremendous amount for all of her experience.”

Davis, who has been at The Retreat since 2015, added that Olaya will work with the volunteers, donors, clients, counselors, and advocates, explaining that it is an interactive job. Davis remembers when Olaya answered the hotline for The Retreat. “There is nothing more challenging than that, it takes a lot of training. We’re very excited to have her on board. It’s a 24/7 job. You never know when you’re going to have a crisis.”

“I’ve really enjoyed getting to interact directly with survivors and the opportunity to hear their stories and see their resilience, it’s something that has meant a lot to me,” Olaya said. “Also, the opportunity to change someone’s life and be a part of their healing process. It’s something that I love to do. It’s work that really matters. You feel like you have a purpose. There is something bigger than just me.”

As the director, Olaya will manage the staff, including day and overnight. She said she is always on call in case anything happens. She will oversee the daily operations of the shelter and make sure that everything is running smoothly and that the clients are happy and taken care of. “It’s all about working with people,” she added of the 18-bed shelter.

“At the end of the day, what I always wanted to do was be an advocate for social justice. I wanted to make a positive impact on someone’s life, and I hope I am doing that in a positive way. I know I can’t change the world, but I know I can advocate for survivors, which might be a positive change in someone’s life,” Olaya said, adding that The Retreat for her started as a volunteer experience, but became more than volunteer work, it became a passion.

“It is an inspiring job,” she said. “Something that makes me want to get up every day and come to work. It motivates me to lead an organization with a mission to save lives. I’m looking forward to footing the organization’s mission and building a strong connection with the community.”

The Retreat has offices in East Hampton at 13 Goodfriend Drive, which is the main office, and in Hauppauge and Riverhead. The Retreat is a safe haven for families in crisis across Suffolk County. The community-based, not-for-profit agency provides comprehensive domestic violence services for children and adults, support for survivors, and violence prevention community education. If you or someone you know needs help, call The Retreat’s 24-hour hotline at (631) 329-2200. For more information visit allagainstabuse.org or follow @allagainstabuse.