NNED Virtual Roundtable: Adapting To the Behavioral Health Needs of Underserved and Racially/Ethnically Diverse Youth

March 18, 2021 | 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm EDT

2021 Virtual Roundtable Series: Community-Based Organizations Build Pathways to Behavioral Health Equity for Communities of Color

Within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and racial disparities, community-based organizations (CBOs) have elevated their response to the behavioral health needs of racially/ethnically diverse communities. The 2021 National Network to Eliminate Disparities in Behavioral Health (NNED) Virtual Roundtable three-part series presents the innovative and resilient work of CBOs in a time of healing and recovery.

Part 1 – Adapting to the Behavioral Health Needs of Underserved and Racially/Ethnically Diverse Youth
Part 2 – Partnering to Strengthen the Behavioral Health Infrastructure and Capacity in Communities of Color
Part 3 – Creating and Enhancing Pathways to a Racially/Ethnically Diverse Behavioral Health Workforce

Image of a young woman and child looking at a computer screen overlayed with a blue-green gradient and information about the NNED Virtual Roundtable.

Part 1 – Adapting to the Behavioral Health Needs of Underserved and Racially/Ethnically Diverse Youth

The COVID-19 pandemic on top of growing racial tensions across the nation are impacting youth mental health—including stress, anxiety, and fear. With school closures and the digital divide, young people are missing a sense of structure and stimulation and are at greater risk for social isolation while not receiving the social support that is essential for their overall mental health and well-being.

Join this NNED Virtual Roundtable to learn how CBOs working with underserved and racially/ethnically diverse youth—Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), immigrant and refugee, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and 2-spirit (LGBTQIA2S+)—are quickly shifting their practices and programs in today’s unprecedented environment to address these mental health needs. Responses to these growing needs of youth include bolstering methods for telehealth, shifting to more remote positions, and providing services in innovative ways. Panelists will share methods for how they are enhancing their staff’s skills and shifting roles to build resilience and competently respond in crisis situations.

Objectives for Part 1:

Understand the national context of the behavioral health issues that underserved and racially/ethnically diverse youth are currently facing;
Identify innovative approaches CBOs are taking to meet diverse youth where they are;
Learn about unique CBO partnerships to address the behavioral health needs of diverse youth; and
Learn how CBOs are increasing their staff capacity, socio-emotional skills, and self-care to quickly adapt and respond to crises.

View Resources and the Recording

This NNED Virtual Roundtable is hosted by the NNED National Facilitation Center and SAMHSA’s Office of Behavioral Health Equity in partnership with SAMHSA’s Mental Health Technology Transfer Center Network Coordinating Office.

Panelists

Alyssa Jojola | Albuquerque Area Indian Health Board

Program Coordinator
Proud Indigenous Youth Leader’s Program
Albuquerque Area Indian Health Board, Inc.

Alyssa Jojola is from the Pueblo of Isleta, located near central New Mexico. She has a background in education, having received her B.S. in Physical Education in 2014 and her M.S. in Health Education with a focus in Community Health in 2020 from the University of New Mexico.

Alyssa has 4 years of teaching experience in grades K-12, where her highlight was being able to teach Physical Education in her community at the Pueblo of Isleta Elementary School. Currently, Alyssa is a Program Coordinator for a Native Youth program, called the Proud Indigenous Youth Leaders, at the Albuquerque Area Indian Health Board, Inc. under the Community Health Education and Resiliency Program. Her work includes creating awareness and helping to provide education in all dimensions of health (i.e. physical, spiritual, environmental, social, and mental health) for the students and families she works with. She is a Certified Health Education Specialist and is a Certified Mental Health First Aid Instructor (Youth and Adult). In her free time, Alyssa can be found running the trails and areas within Albuquerque, reading a book, or hanging out with her family in Isleta Pueblo. She lives in Albuquerque with her husband and two dogs.

Amara Ifeji | Maine Environmental Education Association (MEEA)

Grassroots Development Coordinator
Maine Environmental Education Association

Amara Ifeji is a freshman at Northeastern University pursuing a B.S. in Politics, Philosophy, & Economics with a concentration in Environment and Energy Policy and a minor in Environmental Studies. In high school, her lack of environmental education prompted her to self-seek such learning opportunities through leading her school’s student-driven water quality management team for BIPOC, female-identifying, and lower-income students, co-organizing school-wide climate education learning initiatives, and conducting internationally-awarded environmental research. At MEEA, Amara advocates for intersectional climate justice solutions, equitable access to the outdoors, and empowering youth to spark change in their local communities through MEEA’s Changemakers and JustME for a JustUS youth networks. She also works with the Nature-Based Education Consortium (NBEC) on local and state-level policy advocacy through NBEC’s Climate Education and Local Outdoor Learning Advocacy working groups, Steering Committee, and co-chair of the NBEC Communications Working Group. For her work in promoting environmental education, she was awarded the Global North American Environmental Education 30 Under 30 International Award—one of only six people under 30 in the USA–and the National Geographic Young Explorer Award–one of 24 youth in the world.

Julie Laurence | Life is Precious, Comunilife New York

Senior Vice President
Life is Precious, Comunilife New York

Julie Laurence, LMSW is the Senior Assistant Vice President at Life is Precious, Comunilife New York, a holistic youth suicide prevention program serving Latina teens dealing with depression and suicide through expressive arts, music, comprehensive case management, family engagement, and building connectedness. Prior to coming to Life is Precious, Julie was the Chief Program Officer at Girls Educational and Mentoring Services for 15 years, where she worked with commercially sexually exploited and trafficked girls and young women to become free from violence and develop to their full potential. Julie is experienced in non-profit management- specializing in program and staff development and supervision. Her core competencies and areas of expertise include positive youth development, suicide prevention, commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking, social justice, and trauma-informed care. She lives in New York City.

Mónica Martin | Montgomery County Department of Health & Human Services

Administrator, Child/Adolescent School & Community-Based Services
Children, Youth and Family Services
Montgomery County Department of Health & Human Services

Mónica Martin is a bilingual/bicultural human services administrator, clinical supervisor, mental health clinician and social worker experienced in leading cross-sector public/private partnerships to promote and improve the well being of children and families.

Mónica has worked in public, collaborative, non-profit, private practice, community, hospital, school, and volunteer settings dedicated to integrated health and human services, community school supports, building place-based opportunity ecosystems, prevention/early intervention, child/adolescent mental health, family therapy, social services, wraparound systems of care, sexual assault crisis care, cancer/hospice, teen pregnancy, HIV, migrant education, and child welfare.

She has experience writing successful grant proposals, conducting strategic planning and serving on steering and advisory committees for cross sector initiatives, County Executive, and regional/national learning collaboratives.

Additionally, she has presented at local, state, national, and international panel and conferences on topics such as: Two-Generation Approaches for Immigrant Family Advancement; The Role of Schools in Fighting Poverty; The Case for School-Based Case Management: Innovative Approaches to Reaching Unreachable Youth; School-Based Integrated Care for Youth; Creating and Sustaining Community School Partnerships; Trauma-Focused Assessments and Evidence-Based Treatments for Children Exposed to Violence; Bullying in Schools; Spread, Replication and Bringing Collaborative Initiatives to Scale; Opening Barriers in Working with Parents and Caregivers; Latino Mental Health Issues; Talking with Teens about Sex and Sexuality within the Clinical Relationship; and others. She is committed to leveraging resources; ensuring culturally-competent, family friendly and strength-based programming; and building systemic capacity.

Tamara Manzer | Youth MOVE National

Youth Program Specialist
Youth MOVE National

Tamara Manzer’s journey with leadership and advocacy work began at Youth MOVE Maine with Maine’s Trauma-Informed System of Care Initiative, where she developed and coordinated statewide programming that served youth involved in systems. Tamara comes to Youth MOVE National with a lens of having faced adversities of her own, and she wholeheartedly believes in the power of supporting youth towards wellness and resilience. Tamara served on Maine’s Juvenile Justice Advisory Group (JJAG) as an advocate and member of the Disproportionate Minority Contact Committee, where she examined racial and ethnic disparities within the juvenile justice system. She has a plethora of experience working in the nonprofit sector. Tamara has experience at an innovative education organization as part of a school turnaround around initiative for education reform. More recently, Tamara also spent some time working at MaineHealth’s Center for Health Improvement. Tamara is passionate about the rights of young people, racial equity, and thriving communities. In her free time, she enjoys life with her family and embraces fitness.