Celebrating Mental Health in Diverse Communities Part I

July 27, 2010

This NNED Network in Action Forum call that took place on July 7, 2010 features efforts taking place in the Latino and American Indian/Alaska Native communities to celebrate Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month.  Speakers provided both a national overview of the efforts taking place to enhance public awareness of mental illness and mental illness among minorities and focused on two local efforts in San Francisco, California and Portland, Oregon. Learn what other communities are doing and see how you too can celebrate this important month.

Watch the webinar recording.

Speakers:

Fred Sandoval|  Chair, National Latino Behavioral Health Association

Fred is Director for the New Mexico State Income Support Division and currently serves as the New Mexico Behavioral Health Collaborative Lead on Cultural and Linguistic Competency and Consumer, Youth and Family Involvement. He is the current President of the National Latino Behavioral Health Association in Washington, DC and former NAMI National First Vice President in Arlington, Virginia. He has provided leadership on a wide range of Latino behavioral health initiatives. Fred received his Masters in Public Administration from Northern Arizona University and his Bachelors in University Studies from the University of New Mexico.

Estela Garcia|  Executive Director, Instituto Familiar de la Raza

Dr. Estela Garcia is a licensed clinical psychologist with 25 years experience in the behavioral health field. She has expertise in developing cultural competent behavioral health and social services and has promoted integration of traditional, complimentary and conventional methodologies in service provision throughout her career. She is the Executive Director of Instituto Familiar De La Raza and represents the agency in collaborative and healthcare initiatives to ensure that native born and immigrant Latinos, including the indigenous populations of San Francisco, have access to culturally and linguistically competent healthcare services.

Sal Nunez  |  Instituto Familiar de la Raza

Dr. Sal Núñez practices as an educator, researcher, consultant and clinician in the San Francisco Bay Area.  He is a tenured faculty member at City College of San Francisco, serves as a consultant, provider, and clinical supervisor at Instituto Familiar De La Raza, and maintains a private practice. Over the course of a decade, Dr. Núñez developed a therapeutic drumming approach that integrates ceremony, drumming, indigenous and behavioral medicine, and psychological principles. In 2004 Dr. Núñez founded the Healthy Drumming Institute® and several years ago began training clinicians, community service providers, and youth in traditional healing arts. Dr. Nunez offers therapeutic drumming circles at Instituto Familiar De La Raza, City College of San Francisco, and other San Francisco Bay Area locations. 

Seprieono Locario  |  National Indian Health Board

Mr. Seprieono Locario (Navajo/Sicilian) earned a B.A. in Public Administration and from San Diego State University in 1999 and an M.A. in Counseling Psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology in 2001. Mr. Locario has dedicated 15 years of professional development to work with American Indian youth throughout the state of California, within multiple levels of incarceration, in community mental health centers, higher education institutions, and reservation communities. Mr. Locario currently works as a Behavioral Health Program Coordinator for the National Indian Health Board in Washington, D.C. where he focuses on identifying and developing best practices with tribal communities and assisting in the support of education for and with AI/AN health.

Stephanie Craig  |  Project Director Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board

Stephanie Craig Rushing, PhD, MPH, is a Project Director at the NW Tribal Epidemiology Center, a tribal health promotion, surveillance, and research center affiliated with the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board. Dr. Rushing directs the Board’s Meth and Suicide Prevention Initiative, Project Red Talon (a STD/HIV prevention project), and several other adolescent health projects. She completed her Ph.D. in Public Administration and Policy at the Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University, focusing on Community Health and Social Change, and her Masters of Public Health at Boston University.

** This webinar was offered in partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Multicultural Action Center, National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health, National Latino Behavioral Health Association, First Nations Behavioral Health Association, National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association, and the Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health. **