Office of Diversity & Equity
Welcome
The Office of Diversity and Equity (ODE)
Latest News and Highlights
Upcoming Events and Trainings
New Community Resources
- *NEW* Cultural Humility at Work & Leadership Cards
- Cultural Humility Group Agreements - Bring these Group Agreements to your next meeting to ensure all attendees are practicing cultural humility while speaking, listening, and engaging.
- Dealing with Community Stress
- We Welcome All Poster
- Health Equity Initiatives: A Ten Year Review
New from Storytelling Program
- *NEW* Substance Use and Suicide 2017
- ODE Storytelling Report (FY 16-17)
- Housing Photovoices
- On Hate and Bias: Youth Speak Out
- Iris’s Digital Story
BHRS Blog
ODE is dedicated to creatively bringing discussions of inequities, disparities, and injustice front and center in our work. We invite you to visit our page on the BHRS Blog:
Our Programs/ Classes
Free Classes and Programs
View individual links to learn how to participate in each program:
Mental Health First Aid
Youth Mental Health First Aid
Parent Project®
Health Ambassador Programs
Storytelling Program
Health Equity Initiatives
FREE community education course for the public are made possible by the voter-approved Mental Health Services Act (Prop 63) and Measure K.
For more info, email us at ODE@smcgov.org.
Workforce Development
BHRS Workforce, Education, & Training Program (WET) provides education, training, and workforce development to San Mateo County behavioral health staff, client/ consumers, and family members. Ultimately WET aims to achieve a diverse, culturally responsive, and clinically effective workforce to provide the best possible care for our community. Visit WET to learn more.
Ongoing Cultural Humility Trainings
Throughout the year the Office of Diversity and Equity offers a variety of free trainings to providers, clients, consumers, and community members. They exist to ensure that behavioral health systems prioritize cultural humility, inclusion, and quality care for all.
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Becoming Visible- Using Cultural Humility in Asking Sexual Orientation Gender Identity (SOGI) Questions |
One of San Mateo County BHRS’ strategic initiatives is to reduce healthcare disparities in the LGBTQ+ populations. In order to achieve this goal, we will start collecting data on sexual orientation and gender identity of all our patients/clients. This will require extensive staff training in LGBTQ+ health and psychosocial issues faced by the LGBTQ+ populations. |
| Prevention and Management of Assaultive Behavior In Outpatient Settings | This course will help participants identify words used to initiate the cycle of provocation/ antagonization as well as primary interventions that must reliably stimulate rational-thought in another. Participants will also recognize communicational missteps and default words to re-establish balance in a professional relationship. |
| Working Effectively with Interpreters in a Behavioral Health Setting | Learn how you and an interpreter can bridge the gap between a client’s diverse language and culture. You play a key role in helping people from all background improve their health and well-being. Interpreters can improve your communication with clients and help you better understand and meet their individual needs. |
| Working Effectively with Interpreters: Refresher Course | Using the principles that were learned in the in-person training, this course is a convenient online refresher course that is aimed at refreshing staff and county contractors with knowledge and skills to develop competency in working with interpreters. |
| Building Bridges to Diversity and Inclusion: Cultural Humility for Clinical and Non-Clinical Staff |
Cultural humility offers one approach to engage with the ever-changing dynamics of cultural and difference, power and privilege, as we go through our day-to-day work. This collaborative and interactive training will provide attendees with an opportunity to engage and explore these concepts as we all continue to work towards fostering inclusion in the workplace. |
| Office of Diversity and Equity Internship Program | The ODE Internship Program is designed to provide work opportunities and practical learning experience for undergraduate college and graduate students in order to enhance their academic preparation and expose them to public service at the county level. Interns are paid with a stipend funded by MHSA. For more information, please contact Briana Evans at bcevans@smcgov.org or 650-372-6138. |
To learn more about trainings contact Erica Britton by emailing her at ebritton@smcgov.org.
Get Involved
Get Involved!
ODE’s initiatives allow for anyone who is passionate about behavioral health and health equity to get involved to help their family, friends, and community.
Publications
Community Resources
- *NEW* Cultural Humility at Work & Leadership Card
- Cultural Humility Group Agreements
- We Welcome All Poster
- 2017 Post-Election Resource Handout
- Dealing with Community Stress Card
- Dealing with Community Stress Card (Spanish)
- Resources for Our Immigrant Communities
Reports
June 2017: 2017 Chinese Community Outreach Worker Progress Report
June 2017: Health Equity Initiatives - A Ten-Year Review
July 2015: Community Education (Measure A Funded) Programs Report
January 2016 – July 2016: 2016 Chinese Community Outreach Worker Progress Report
June 2014 – April 2015: 2015 Chinese Community Outreach Worker Progress Report
April 2014: ODE Report - Eliminating Disparities, Inequities, and Stigma in Behavioral Health
Blog
A Discussion of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
The Office of Diversity and Equity is dedicated to creatively bringing discussions of inequities, disparities and injustice front and center in our work. We invite your to visit our page on the BHRS Blog:
The Office of Diversity and Equity Blog
About Us
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The Office of Diversity and Equity (ODE) advances health equity in behavioral health outcomes of marginalized communities throughout San Mateo County. ODE works to empower communities; influence policy and system changes; develop strategic and meaningful partnerships; and promote workforce development and transformation within the County’s behavioral health service system.
BHRS Three Year Cultural Competence Plan
Meet Our Staff
Maria Lorente- Foresti
She/ Her/ Hers
Office of Diversity and Equity Director
(650) 573-2714 | mlorente-foresti@smcgov.org
Doris Estremera
She/ Her/ Hers
Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Manager
(650) 573-2889 | destremera@smcgov.org
Doris is the Mental Health Service Act (MHSA) Manager for San Mateo County Behavioral Health & Recovery Services providing oversight to the MHSA planning, stakeholder engagement, reporting and evaluation activities. Doris began working for the San Mateo County Health System in 2003 as an Outreach Worker and has since led strategic planning projects in language access, cultural competence, youth development, public information and risk communication, social marketing, community engagement and partnerships in health policy work.
Briana Evans
She/ Her/ Hers
Senior Community Health Planner
Community Outreach and Engagement
(650) 372-6138 | bcevans@smcgov.org
Erica Britton
She/ Her/ Hers
Workforce Education Training (WET) Coordinator
(650) 372-6153 | ebritton@smcgov.org
Frances Lobos
She/ Her/ Hers
Community Health Planner
(650) 372-3272 | flobos@smcgov.org
Frances coordinates the Parent Project, a program that helps families build stronger relationships. She is also a Co-Chair of the Latino Collaborative, which is dedicated to reducing social and health disparities in the Latino community. She is passionate about preventive programs and expanding access to health care for vulnerable communities.
Brittany Ganguly
She/ Her/ Hers
Community Health Planner
650-573-5062 | bganguly@smcgov.org
Brittany is supporting the Technology Suite Innovation Project, supporting the introduction and use of two mental health apps and Suicide Prevention Efforts throughout the county. She received her Masters in Social Work and Masters in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley where she studied health care systems and international public health. She is passionate about working at the intersection of social work and public health and ensuring every individual has the ability to reach their optimal level of health. Specifically, she is interested in how technology can equitably and sustainably fit in to the public health world.
Natalie Andrade
She/ Her/ Hers
Program Coordinator
Adult and Youth Mental Health First Aid
(650) 372-8548 | nandrade@smcgov.org
Natalie coordinates the Mental Health First Aid program to ensure all San Mateo County residents and workers have the skills to recognize warning signs of mental health challenges and provide support and reassurance to those in crisis. Natalie received a B.S. in Health Education from San Francisco State University.
Sylvia Tang
She/ Her/ Hers
Community Health Planner
Stigma Discrimination Reduction
Suicide Prevention
Evaluation Support
(650) 578-7165 | stang@smcgov.org
Sylvia is committed to empowering local communities to shape public health policies that affect them. Her main areas of work are stigma discrimination reduction, suicide prevention and evaluation support. She co-chairs the Suicide Prevention Committee and Chinese Health Initiative. She has a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Public Health at UC Berkeley and Master in Public Policy (MPP) at Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Her other passions include spending time with family, organizing/decorating spaces, and making gifts.
Tania Perez
She/Her/Hers
Community Health Planner
(650) 573 5047 | tsperez@smcgov.org
Tania is supporting the work with the Government Alliance for Racial Equity and BHRS’s Multicultural Organizational Development Plan. She received her Master’s in Public Health from University of California, Los Angeles with special interest on the intersection of health and educational disparities. She is passionate about racial equity, systems change, and increasing access to quality services to historically marginalized communities.
Siavash Zohoori
He/ Him/ His
Community Program Specialist
Digital Storytelling, Photovoice
(650) 372-3214 | szohoori@smcgov.org
Siavash runs ODE’s Storytelling program, which is a space of people to share their stories to make a meaningful impact on themselves and others. He received his B.A. at UC Santa Barbara, where he studied Sociology, Economics, and Applied Psychology. There, he began sharing his story and realizing the profound impact it had on himself and his peers, and is grateful to continue helping others share their stories in San Mateo County.
Karin Herndon
She/ Her/ Hers
Community Program Specialist I
650-372-6155, Ext. 806155 | kherndon@smcgov.org
Karin coordinates the Office of Diversity and Equity Internship Program and the Cultural Competency Stipend Internship Program. These programs provide work opportunities and practical learning experience for undergraduate and graduate students in order to enhance their academic preparation and expose them to public service at the county level. She has facilitated Youth Mental Health First Aid for three years. Karin has a background in event planning and education.
Kristie Lui
She/ Her/ Hers
Community Program Specialist I
650- 573- 5037 | kflui@smcgov.org
Kristie supports a variety of ODE programs and projects as well as the production of several ODE resources with the intention of building inclusion and cultural humility practices in the San Mateo County. She also oversees ODE Communications to bring discussions of inequities, disparities and injustice in ODE’s work. Kristie received her B.S. in Community Health Science from California State University, East Bay.
Annette J Pakhchian
She/Her/ Hers, They/ Them/ Theirs
Community Program Specialist II
LGBTQ+ Outreach Worker
650- 372- 6156 | apakhchian@smcgov.org
Annette serves as the LGBTQ+ Community Outreach Worker for San Mateo County, promoting equitable access and culturally appropriate services across the health system for LGBTQ+ community members. With 10 years of experience in LGBTQ+ community organizing across California, Annette aims to collaborate with the San Mateo County Pride Center, Pride Initiative, LGBTQ Commission and community partners to foster the continual growth of San Mateo County’s LGBTQ+ community. Annette received her Masters in Social Work from San Francisco State University, focusing on reducing health disparities experienced by LGBTQ+ older adults.
Daniel Naha-Veevalu
He/ Him/ His
Community Program Specialist II
PI Outreach Worker
650-372-6139 | dnaha-veevalu@smcgov.org
DannyBoy serves as the Community Outreach Worker intentionally focused on the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) community to provide culturally relevant behavioral health outreach and engagement services for NHPI’s living in San Mateo County. He also serves as the co-chair for the Pacific Islander Initiative. DannyBoy has 8 years of experience serving the NHPI community in Southern California as a community organizer and program coordinator and is happy to return home to San Mateo County to serve his people.
Maria Martinez Resendiz
She/ Her/ Hers
Peer Support Worker
mmartinezresendiz@smcgov.org
Camille Hicale
She/ Her/ Hers
Office Specialist
650-372-6137 | chicale@smcgov.org
Camille provides administrative and office support for ODE. She brings 10 years of experience as a former San Francisco Unified School District educator. Born and raised in San Mateo, Camille is grateful to be part of a team whose work empowers the diverse communities throughout the County.
Elise Cabilatazan
She/ Her/ Hers
Office Specialist
650-573-2610 | Ecabilatazan@smcgov.org
Elise is an Office Support Specialist for the Workforce, Education, and Training (WET) program with BHRS. She supports the WET program’s training, assist in CE coordination, and also supports activities focused on addressing behavioral health inequities in San Mateo County. She is a first-generation Chinese-American born and was raised in the Bay Area. She also has interest in youth empowerment, educational justice, and mental health awareness. She is grounded in work that serves and reflects her purpose of providing individuals of different cultural, ethnic, and neurodiverse communities a voice. Elise received a B.S. in Speech Pathology and Audiology from California State East Bay in 2015.