Please contact Event Coordinator for Registration details as the deadline date is passed
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2026 Mental Health Multicultural Conference

Healing in a Land of Diversity: A Multicultural Approach to Mental Health

Date & Time

03/17/2026 07:30 AM - 04:00 PM In-Person
03/18/2026 07:30 AM - 04:00 PM In-Person

Place

InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown by IHG
900 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles 90017
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Deadline Date

3/17/2026 or when capacity is reached

ORGANIZER

JAE KIM
jkim@dmh.lacounty.gov

Questions about the conference?  Please contact:
ARISEDivision@dmh.lacounty.gov OR DMHTrainingUnit@dmh.lacounty.gov

 

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Wendy Ashley, PsyD, LCSW, MSW

KEYNOTE SPEAKER INFORMATION

Dr. Ashley is the author of multiple publications; speaks at conferences nationwide and internationally; maintains a trauma informed, anti-oppressive private practice and provides antiracist training and consultation for multiple community agencies. She specializes in deconstructing intersectional oppression, privilege and racialized trauma to promote healing. Her pedagogical acumen centers on conducting and facilitating antiracist, culturally relevant research and practice with marginalized individuals and communities. Dr. Ashley’s research interests emphasize the promotion of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in clinical practice, education and organizational culture. She is passionate about social justice advocacy, and infuses an intersectionality lens in her teaching, practice, training and research.

Description

This vibrant conference will celebrate LA County’s diverse cultural fabric while exploring innovative holistic strategies and treatment methods tailored to our community’s varied behavioral health needs.  This will be a powerful platform to promote equity, belonging, and inclusion, equipping behavioral health professionals and community members with relevant tools to support recovery, resilience, and enhance public mental health services.  

Please contact Event Coordinator for Registration details as the deadline date is passed

Daily Agenda

17 March

Tuesday
Check-In - Continental Breakfast
  • 7:30 AM - 8:30 AM
Location: Wilshire Ballroom
Description: Check-In, Continental Breakfast, Cultural Performance
Welcome and Opening Remarks
  • 8:30 AM - 8:35 AM
Location: Wilshire Ballroom
Description:
Land Acknowledgment
  • 8:35 AM - 8:40 AM
Location: Wilshire Ballroom
Description:
Acknowledgement by DMH Director
  • 8:40 AM - 8:55 AM
Location: Wilshire Ballroom
Description: Director Remarks & Opening of the Conference
Intro of the Keynote Speaker
  • 8:55 AM - 9:00 AM
Location: Wilshire Ballroom
Description:
Morning Keynote Plenary
  • 9:00 AM - 10:20 AM
Healing in Uncertain Times: Cultivating Trauma-Informed, Culturally Responsive, and Antiracist Organizations
Description:

This keynote provides an integrative overview of the current socio-political landscape and examines how prolonged uncertainty, collective trauma, and systemic inequities impact both mental health providers and the clients they serve. The facilitator will explore core principles of trauma-informed care and the ethical necessity of cultural humility, antiracist practice, restorative self-care, and radical healing. The session emphasizes practical application across clinical, supervisory, and organizational contexts.

Dr. Ashley is the author of multiple publications; speaks at conferences nationwide and internationally; maintains a trauma informed, anti-oppressive private practice and provides antiracist training and consultation for multiple community agencies.  Her pedagogical acumen centers on conducting and facilitating antiracist, culturally relevant research and practice with marginalized individuals and communities. Dr. Ashley’s research interests emphasize the promotion of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in clinical practice, education and organizational culture. She is passionate about social justice advocacy, and infuses an intersectionality lens in her teaching, practice, training and research.

  • Speaker: Wendy Ashley, PsyD, LCSW, MSW
  • Room #: Wilshire Ballroom
  • Capacity: 800
  • Continuing Ed: 1.50 CE / CEU
Break
  • 10:20 AM - 10:30 AM
Location: Wilshire Ballroom
Description: Morning wrap up, instructions: Move to Workshops
AM Session Workshops
  • 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Coming to Terms with Historical Trauma: Practical Strategies for Building Resilience Through Culturally Responsive Mental Health Practices
Description: (Translation provided in Khmer and Korean) Drawing from my memoir, “Coming to Terms with Historical Trauma,” I will share pivotal moments from my life and offer practical strategies for building resilience. My presentation will blend personal anecdotes, interactive discussions, and evidence-based approaches to healing. Attendees will explore how education, cross-generational support, and community engagement can strengthen individuals and families facing adversity.
  • Speaker: Sara Pol-Lim, Ed.D *St. Mary Medical Foundation Center
  • Room #: Silverlake
  • Capacity: 104
  • Continuing Ed: 1.00 CE / CEU
Building Resilience and Community Wellbeing: A Model for Supportive Projects of Creative Expression and Engagement
Description: Present a description and explanation of the SMBA-HRC Community Wellbeing Microgrant Model; “Funding People, Purpose & Possibility.” The importance and value of these grants to personal growth, individual agency, inner harmony, and sense of empowerment will be discussed. These community-based projects provide opportunities that promote well-being and foster self-care through creative expression. As an innovative Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) approach, the projects have purposely been awarded to and centered the voices, experiences, and strengths of BIPOC and marginalized people. Microgrant recipients channel their aspirations and creativity through various forms of arts and crafts, self-care strategies, skill-building, civic and community engagement. Post-project evaluation data indicates positive changes for the grantees. PEI work is part of a comprehensive continuum of mental health care. It is especially critical for those who have experienced trauma, displacement, and systemic exclusion/discrimination. Communities that recognize and address these issues with thoughtful, sustainable interventions can mitigate the effects, support recovery when they occur and nurture resilience. Workshop participants will learn about the programs’ design, implementation, 1st person accounts, and outcomes. Participant sociodemographic characteristics, (i.e., multicultural, multilingual, multi-generational) will be described. The challenges and implications will be shared.
  • Speaker: Karen S. Gunn, Ph.D. *Gunn Consulting Group , Julie Rusk, B.A., *Civic Wellbeing Partners, and Lizeth Antonio, B.S., *Community Wellbeing Program
  • Room #: Hollywood Ballroom
  • Capacity: 238
  • Continuing Ed: 0.00
Hidden Spaces, Visible Outcomes: Queer Youth and Substance Use in Schools
Description: Across school campuses, students often seek moments of safety in “unseen spaces” such as locker rooms, bathrooms, and empty hallways. For queer and trans youth, these areas can serve as both refuge and risk. They offer temporary relief from harassment and hyper-visibility, yet they are also places where students face gender policing, social pressure, and increased exposure to substances like tobacco and vaping. These overlapping dynamics highlight the deep connection between physical environments, identity safety, and behavioral health. This presentation will explore how tobacco use in these pseudo-private spaces is a behavioral health response shaped by minority stress, social exclusion, and the desire to belong. Traditional discipline-focused approaches frequently overlook these underlying factors. Instead, we will introduce a queer care framework that centers wellness, agency, and cultural belonging. Participants will be able to think critically about where harm and support occur on school campuses, learn practical strategies for transforming campus cultures, and gain culturally responsive insight about the relationship between physical spaces and behavioral health outcomes.
  • Speaker: Jess Esquivel, MPH *California LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network
  • Room #: Ladera Heights
  • Capacity: 52
  • Continuing Ed: 0.00
Cultivating Calm, Creativity & Connection: Expressive Arts for Multicultural Healing
Description: (Translation provided in Armenian) Participants will explore how expressive activities help individuals process complex emotions, honor cultural identity, and build shared spaces of safety and belonging. By the end of the workshop, attendees will leave not only with strategies they can use in their own settings, but also with the felt experience of calm, creativity, and connection. This session is ideal for practitioners who want to integrate low-barrier arts-based tools and inclusive circle approaches that uplift cultural wisdom and foster healing across diverse identities.
  • Speaker: Carla Lavelle, LCSW, PPCS * Full Bloom Group
  • Room #: K-Town
  • Capacity: 55
  • Continuing Ed: 0.00
Si te Ríes, Gozas: Community Theater for Multicultural Healing (Spanish)
Description: Si te Ríes, Gozas is a one-hour Spanish-language community theater performance that explores the emotional realities of immigrant life through humor, vulnerability, and cultural storytelling. The play addresses sensitive topics such as abuse, masculinity, LGBTQ+ identity, grief, family conflict, the fear of not fitting in, and the silent emotional pressures experienced by many immigrant families. Performed by immigrant adults and elders, the presentation reflects authentic cultural perspectives and highlights intergenerational wisdom as a mental health resource. Following the performance, a facilitated forum invites participants to engage in open dialogue about the themes presented and their relevance to behavioral health. The discussion emphasizes how laughter, storytelling, and culturally rooted practices can reduce stigma, foster emotional expression, and strengthen resilience across communities. This session aligns with the conference’s focus on multicultural wellness by offering a non-traditional, arts-based approach to mental health education. Bringing Si te Ríes, Gozas to ARISE 2026 would be a valuable opportunity to uplift diverse voices and illustrate a community-centered model of healing and emotional connection.
  • Speaker: Patricia Veliz, BA, PCC *Generaciones en Acción
  • Room #: Roosevelt
  • Capacity: 104
  • Continuing Ed: 0.00
Will Not Attend
Description:
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  • Continuing Ed: 0
Transition to Lunch
  • 11:30 AM - 11:40 AM
Location: Wilshire Ballroom
Description:
Lunch/Networking
  • 11:40 AM - 12:55 PM
PM Session Workshops
  • 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Thriving Between Two Worlds: Healing Identity, Stress, and Stigma Through Improv, Movement, and Culturally Rooted Storytelling
Description: (Translation provided in Khmer and Korean) Introduces an innovative, culturally grounded approach that uses improv, physical movement, and embodied storytelling to help participants understand and transform how stress, identity conflict, and stigma show up in the mind and body. Led by a nationally recognized expert in Asian American mental health, trauma-informed practice, and arts-based healing, this session draws on real community case studies from Los Angeles County and 15+ years of frontline experience. Participants will examine how acculturation pressures, filial expectations, masculinity norms, and intergenerational trauma uniquely affect Asian and immigrant families, as well as those living at the intersection of multiple cultural identities. Through accessible activities rooted in theater, mindful movement, and narrative healing, attendees will learn tools to reduce shame, foster psychological safety, and increase engagement among communities traditionally underserved by mainstream mental health systems. This workshop equips clinicians, community leaders, and program staff with high-impact, culturally attuned strategies to support resilience and belonging across diverse immigrant populations.
  • Speaker: JR Kuo, MA * CoffeeWithJR
  • Room #: Silverlake
  • Capacity: 104
  • Continuing Ed: 0.00
Complex Trauma within the Armenian Community
Description: (Translation provided in Armenian) This presentation provides information about history of oppression of the Armenian people and ways in which many years of massacres, the Armenian Genocide, Communism, poverty, living amongst dominant groups as a minority, immigration & migration, the 1988 Earthquake in Gyumri, and 1st & 2nd Wars for Nagorno Karabagh Wars collectively impacted the Armenian Community. For the Armenian Community accumulative trauma from centuries of oppression, discrimination, massacres and the atrocities from the Genocide has “historical root.” This presentation will discuss how there has been a direct rejection to the Armenian identity on ongoing, systemic level due to facing continuous atrocities and its mental health effects. It will also discuss the adaptation & survival, resilience, coping strategies which have been present on individual and collective level across generations within the Armenian Community, and how these skills & abilities helped Armenians to not only survive but also thrive. Scientifically based mental health interventions & treatment tips when working with the Armenian Community members will be provided to help heal from historical trauma.
  • Speaker: Anna Yaralyan, Psy.D *DMH
  • Room #: K-Town
  • Capacity: 52
  • Continuing Ed: 1.00 CE / CEU
Neurodivergent Voices: A look into serving communities at the intersection of LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent identities
Description: This interactive workshop explores the Neurodivergent Voices Album (NDVA), a first-of-its-kind music project centering LGBTQ+, neurodivergent, and artists with disabilities. Designed as both an artistic incubator and wellness initiative, NDVA created culturally responsive structures for creative expression, peer connection, and mental health support. Through case study insights and participant storytelling, this session will highlight the inclusive strategies that shaped the program, ranging from trauma-informed artist advocacy to adaptive performance planning and accessible recording practices. Attendees will engage in reflection and discussion on how to apply these methods within mental health programs, community spaces, and creative initiatives. This session is ideal for behavioral health professionals, community-based organizations, and cultural workers looking to better serve LGBTQ+, neurodivergent, and people with disabilities in mental health settings. Participants will walk away with tools and frameworks adaptable to a wide range of clinical and community environments.
  • Speaker: Rex Wilde, (They/Them) Educator/ Speaker * Rex Wilde Consulting
  • Room #: Roosevelt
  • Capacity: 104
  • Continuing Ed: 0.00
Panel - TAY Wellness Film Partnership
Description: The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) has made efforts to bring person centered solutions to young people of all backgrounds with the launch of the Office of Transition Age Youth (TAY), which focuses solely on the mental health and well-being of young people ages 16 to 25. This is best exemplified by a short film developed in partnership with Kids in the Spotlight (KITS), an organization that assists foster youth’s healing and growth from trauma through the power of storytelling and filmmaking, and UCLA’s Prevention Center of Excellence. The film amplifies the voices of youth and explores the realities of coping with mental health and substance use challenges. This panel will discuss the path the Office of TAY, UCLA, and KITS took to create the film. The panel will highlight lessons learned from this multi-agency collaboration with an emphasis on how to sustain youth leaders in policy and programming. Youth leaders with lived experience will discuss the ways they can engage with the office to make powerful change.
  • Speaker: Erica Reynoso, Ph.D./LCSW Joseph Roa, London Jones, Natalie Arbid, Moderator: Natalie Hanna, Ph.D. * UCLA
  • Room #: Boyle Heights
  • Capacity: 52
  • Continuing Ed: 0.00
Will Not Attend
Description:
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  • Capacity:
  • Continuing Ed: 0
Afternoon Break/Networking
  • 2:00 PM - 2:25 PM
Location: Wilshire Ballroom
Description:
Introduction for Afternoon Plenary Speaker
  • 2:25 PM - 2:30 PM
Location: Wilshire Ballroom
Description:
Afternoon Keynote Plenary
  • 2:30 PM - 3:35 PM
A Portrait of Los Angeles County 2026
Description:

This presentation will focus on the key findings of Measure of America’s newly released report, A Portrait of Los Angeles County 2026, which is an update to the 2017 edition. The report serves as a detailed portrait of well-being, need, and access to opportunity in Los Angeles County. This report was supported by the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, and it tracks change over time, community by community as well as for different demographic groups, and creates a shared frame of reference for setting goals and tackling important health, education, standard of living, and equity challenges. The report also included a community-based participatory research process in which residents of several Los Angeles geographic and demographic communities participated in a series of “data walks,” and were able to share their insights on the report’s findings. Included in the presentation will be a demo of a local voices portal in which you can hear Angelenos describe well-being challenges in their own words

  • Speaker: Kristen Lewis *Measure of America
  • Room #: Wilshire Ballroom
  • Capacity: 800
  • Continuing Ed: 1.00
Wellness/Mindfulness Wrap Up Activity
  • 3:35 PM - 3:45 PM
Location: Wilshire Ballroom
Description: Wrap Up Activity
Closing Remarks
  • 3:45 PM - 4:00 PM
Location: Wilshire Ballroom
Description: Closing Remarks

18 March

Wednesday
Day 2 Check-In - Continental Breakfast
  • 7:30 AM - 8:30 AM
Location: Wilshire Ballroom
Description: Check-In, Continental Breakfast, Arts and Culture Performance
Welcome & Land Acknowledgment
  • 8:30 AM - 8:40 AM
Location: Wilshire Ballroom
Description:
Intro of the Keynote Speaker
  • 8:55 AM - 9:00 AM
Location: Wilshire Ballroom
Description:
Morning Keynote Plenary
  • 9:00 AM - 10:20 AM
Our Immigrant Stories: The Healing Power of Stories and Storytelling for Immigrants and Immigrant Communities
Description:

This keynote explores how storytelling serves as a powerful tool for healing within Eastern European and Middle Eastern immigrant communities. Drawing on clinical experience, cultural traditions, and the lived experiences of immigrant families, the presentation highlights the ways in which stories help individuals make meaning of displacement, trauma, loss, identity, and resilience. Participants will learn how narrative expression—whether through spoken stories, writing, art, or film—supports emotional processing, strengthens cultural pride, and nurtures intergenerational understanding. The keynote will address how immigrant communities often carry unspoken grief, inherited trauma, and cultural stigma around mental health, and how storytelling creates safe pathways to acknowledge these experiences. Using examples from community-based work and creative projects, including film and collective writing initiatives, the session illustrates how stories build connection, reduce stigma, and foster healing. Attendees will leave with a deeper appreciation of how narrative practices can support mental health, cultural continuity, and community empowerment among Eastern European and Middle Eastern immigrants. 

  • Speaker: Mastaneh Moghadam, LCSW Executive Director *Cross Cultural Expressions Community Counseling Center
  • Room #: Wilshire Ballroom
  • Capacity: 800
  • Continuing Ed: 1.00 CE / CEU
Break
  • 10:20 AM - 10:30 AM
Location: Wilshire Ballroom
Description:
AM Session Workshops
  • 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Restoring Dignity and Wellbeing: Centering Cultural Influences in Suicide Prevention During the Postpartum Period
Description: Death by suicide is a leading cause of maternal mortality and accounts for about 20% of postpartum deaths. This workshop provides an overview on mental health in pregnancy and postpartum, Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs), and centering cultural influences in suicide prevention during this vulnerable time period. Attendees will learn about risk factors and unique challenges associated with perinatal mental health, including hormonal, emotional, and social changes that can contribute to suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Participants will also learn about screening tools and addressing the risk of suicide in pregnant and postpartum individuals. Increasing protective factors, centering culture in the conversation, intervention strategies and resources designed to promote the well-being of individuals during this critical time will also be addressed.
  • Speaker: Alisha Manning, LCSW, PMH-C; Verónica Chávez, PhD, Amber Cardenas
  • Room #: Roosevelt
  • Capacity: 104
  • Continuing Ed: 0.00
Black Mothers Navigating Pregnancy, Birth, and Postpartum Recovery
Description: Black mothers navigating pregnancy, birth, and postpartum recovery often face systemic inequities and cultural pressures that impact mental health. Traditional approaches for mental health practitioners frequently rely on slides, didactic teaching, or checklists—tools that, while informative, can lack the experiential empathy needed to truly understand the lived realities of Black birthing people. In our session, we will recreate a community-tested model developed and piloted with Black mothers in our Strength in Tiny Steps support group, which has demonstrated significant results: mothers were able to self-identify symptoms of postpartum depression and anxiety, and all participants gained a deeper understanding of emotional cues and stressors. This immersive, interactive session invites mental health practitioners to engage with a community-tested model developed and piloted with Black mothers in the Strength in Tiny Steps support group. Both facilitators—Dominique DjeDje and Summer McBride—are Black mothers who have navigated the NICU journey with their newborns. While their experiences differ, they are able to empathize and connect through a peer-to-peer approach that centers understanding, validation, and support. Participants will explore how empathy—particularly when paired with awareness of systemic inequities and lived realities—enhances engagement, trust, and outcomes for Black mothers. Through an interactive exercise followed by a discussion, attendees will gain practical strategies for recognizing and supporting postpartum mental health in culturally responsive, accessible, and equitable ways.
  • Speaker: Dominique DjeDje, Master in Library & Information Studies, and Summer McBride, BA *Maternal Mental Health NOW
  • Room #: Boyle Heights
  • Capacity: 52
  • Continuing Ed: 0.00
Building Cross-Generational Resilience: Implementing EBPs with Fidelity Scorecards to Strengthen Youth and Families
Description: (Translation provided in Spanish) This presentation will illustrate a cross-generational approach to building resilience in youth using the Resourceful Adolescent Program for adolescents (RAP-A) and its complimentary curriculum for caregivers (RAP-P). The panelists will introduce and promote the use of a Fidelity Scorecard to ensure implementation fidelity and promote the use of inclusive language to address implicit bias, continually improve instructional program delivery, provide feedback for professional development, and support sustainability. Panelists will also preview their research in process that investigates the impact of using this cross-generational approach supplemented by a community referral network to support the overall environment of healthy adolescent development.
  • Speaker: Jasmine Martinez, MPH, Program Coordinator, Joni Novosel,MHA, Director Emerita, Christine Schaeffer, Ph.D., MBA, MPH, Program Evaluator, Angelica Crook, BA, Community Educator *Center for Healthier Communities, Dignity Health Northridge Hospital
  • Room #: Hollywood Ballroom
  • Capacity: 238
  • Continuing Ed: 0.00
Trans and Nonbinary Equity in Behavioral Health Settings
Description: This project equips mental-health providers with a clearer, more holistic understanding of the barriers transgender and nonbinary clients face in accessing care, as well as the essential role of gender-affirming practices in psychiatric settings. The training covers community-informed language, core principles of gender-affirming care, current data on suicidality within trans communities, and other critical considerations. A central component includes policy recommendations, such as encouraging facilities to clearly post their trans-inclusive policies so clients can understand their rights and raise concerns about noncompliance. By combining education with practical strategies, the training gives participants tangible tools for delivering culturally competent, affirming care. This approach aims to reduce the trauma and emotional labor often placed on trans and nonbinary clients, who frequently must advocate for their own safety and understanding within clinical environments. Ultimately, increasing providers’ knowledge of gender-affirming care empowers them to create safer, more respectful spaces where clients feel comfortable sharing their identities and seeking comprehensive support aligned with their needs.
  • Speaker: Jesse Gilbert, Advocacy & Disability Justice Professional
  • Room #: K-Town
  • Capacity: 52
  • Continuing Ed: 0.00
From the Mat to the Community: Culturally Grounded Approaches to Youth Mental Health Through Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Community Belonging
Description: Explores how culturally grounded, relationship-based programming, specifically Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) and structured movement communities, can strengthen mental health and resilience across Los Angeles County’s diverse youth populations. Drawing from research in criminology, social work, and public health, this session highlights how culturally safe, identity-affirming spaces reduce isolation, improve emotional regulation, and counter traumatic stress among youth of color. Participants will learn how embodied practices like BJJ help youth develop stress-management skills, interdependence, and a positive sense of identity while creating cross-cultural solidarity. The workshop will also share case studies from the Northeast San Fernando Valley, demonstrating how after-school movement-based programs can serve as protective factors against anxiety, grief, behavioral crises, and community violence. Attendees will leave with practical tools for incorporating culturally responsive, community-rooted youth engagement models into mental health practice.
  • Speaker: Mariza Flores
  • Room #: Ladera Heights
  • Capacity: 55
  • Continuing Ed: 0.00
Will Not Attend
Description:
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  • Continuing Ed: 0
Lunch/Networking
  • 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM
PM Breakout Session 1 - Workshops
  • 1:05 PM - 2:05 PM
Resilient Families, Resilient Communities: Parenting for Cross-Generational Wellbeing
Description: (Translation provided in Korean) Building resilience across generations is essential to strengthening communities and advancing mental health equity. This presentation will highlight lessons learned from the Filipino Family Health Initiative Study, a community-academic partnership currently funded by the National Institutes of Health. Led by a multidisciplinary team of parents, pediatricians, mental health providers, occupational therapists, schools, churches, and community-based organizations, this initiative has implemented culturally-tailored, evidence-based parenting interventions designed to enhance family wellbeing and prevent teen suicide. Pilot studies have demonstrated promising outcomes, including reductions in child-reported anxiety and depression, underscoring the power of culturally responsive approaches. Beyond the Filipino community, these interventions have been adapted and offered across diverse cultural groups, affirming their relevance in Los Angeles County’s multicultural landscape. Through compelling parent and child video testimonials, participants will gain insight into how cross-generational strategies foster resilience, belonging, and solidarity. This session will equip behavioral health professionals and community members with practical tools to promote healing and strengthen public mental health services in a land of diversity.
  • Speaker: Joyce Javier, MD, MPH, MS, FAAP
  • Room #: Silverlake
  • Capacity: 104
  • Continuing Ed: 1.00 CE / CEU
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and Behavioral Health: Brain-Based Understanding for Promoting Mental Wellness
Description: (ASL & CART Accessible) This interactive interdisciplinary workshop—led by a pediatrician, a psychologist, a psychiatric social worker, a disability advocate, and a person with living experience—will offer a practical overview of FASDs, their mental health impacts, and how intersectionality shapes access, recognition, and support. Presenters will address challenges such as cross-cultural assessment, the need for translated materials, and reducing bias in clinical practice. Participants will examine barriers to identification and the consequences of misinterpreting brain-based differences as behavioral problems. The session will highlight resilience factors and outline opportunities for mental health systems to implement inclusive, FASD-informed, divergence-affirming approaches through case discussions, reflective dialogue, and collaborative problem-solving.
  • Speaker: Roxanne Chang, Michele Walker-Bauer, Lisa Schoyer, Ana Cardenas
  • Room #: Echo Park
  • Capacity: 52
  • Continuing Ed: 1.00 CE / CEU
Platicas, Ritual and Resilience: Culturally Grounded Grief Support for Spanish-Speaking Adults in Los Angeles County. Insights and Future Directions from OUR HOUSE Grief Support Center’s Spanish Community Program
Description: (Translation provided in Spanish) Invites participants into a conversation about grief and why it is an essential part of community wellbeing. Presenters from the Spanish Community Program at OUR HOUSE Grief Support Center will explore how grief influences emotional, physical, social and spiritual health for individuals and families. The session highlights how pláticas, cultural rituals and the OUR HOUSE Model support Spanish-speaking adults and reduce stigma around expressing pain. Participants will learn how common cultural messages such as “tienes que ser fuerte” or “no llores” shape grief across generations and may limit emotional safety. The workshop will also explore how grief shows up alongside immigration experiences, housing instability, community violence, substance use and other challenges that many communities in Los Angeles face. Through stories, activities and clear language, participants will see how talking openly about grief creates space for healing and connection. The goal is to encourage reflection about how grief affects the communities we serve and why culturally grounded spaces for expression are vital for long-term wellbeing.
  • Speaker: Claudia Reyes, Jenny Rivera-Cruz, LCSW, Ingrid Lopez,BA, Sophia Cortes, Soical Work Student Intern, Tiya Parasseril, Social Work Student Intern OURHOUSE
  • Room #: Roosevelt
  • Capacity: 104
  • Continuing Ed: 1.00 CE / CEU
Collective Care in Action: Multigenerational Healing, Digital-Age Disconnection, and Workforce Pathways in Multicultural Mental Health
Description: This multisector panel explores how culturally grounded, community-integrated mental health models operationalize collective care to address intergenerational trauma, restore human connection, and improve access to care in the digital age. Led by the developer of an equity-centered wellness framework currently implemented across school and community settings, the discussion will feature leaders from education, Medi-Cal managed care, and county behavioral health systems. Panelists will examine how exposure to trauma, disrupted socialization, and digital dependency have reshaped emotional regulation, identity formation, and relational development across generations. Speakers will share real-world strategies for culturally responsive engagement, school-based prevention, creative and land-based healing, and intentional workforce alignment that reduce stigma, improve trust, and increase sustained participation in mental health services. Participants will gain practical insight into how anti-racist, whole-person systems of care can integrate clinical and non-clinical support while creating sustainable pathways to wellness careers and community leadership within complex public systems.
  • Speaker: Nakeya Fields, LCSW, PPS
  • Room #: Hollywood Ballroom
  • Capacity: 238
  • Continuing Ed: 1.00 CE / CEU
Bridging the Divide: A Public Health Approach to Loneliness
Description: Loneliness is a public health crisis affecting the U.S. across all ages and identities. This session moves beyond viewing loneliness as an individual failing, proposing it as a systemic issue stemming from social isolation and minority stress particularly impacting BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities.
  • Speaker: Bill Sive
  • Room #: Ladera Heights
  • Capacity: 55
  • Continuing Ed: 0.00
Supporting Urban Native American Transitional Youth through Culturally Based Services in Higher Education
Description: The presence of Native American Resource Centers supports the well-being and positive transition to adulthood. Addressing the mental health and well-being of Native American youth through culturally appropriate ways involves consideration of Relational Worldview Framework (RWV). This framework focuses on balance among the domains of mind, body, spirit and context. By promoting culturally grounded interventions to overcome the traumatic histories and current oppressive conditions affecting Urban Native American youth. Through group discussion and practical exercises, participants learn how these dimensions intertwine to affect daily life, identify areas of support and create personalized strategies to foster holistic health and achieve greater balance and fulfillment.
  • Speaker: Harrelson Notah
  • Room #: Boyle Heights
  • Capacity: 52
  • Continuing Ed: 0.00
Will Not Attend
Description:
  • Speaker:
  • Room #:
  • Capacity:
  • Continuing Ed: 0
Afternoon Break/Networking
  • 2:05 PM - 2:25 PM
Location: Wilshire Ballroom
Description:
PM Breakout Session 2 - Workshops
  • 2:30 PM - 3:35 PM
Healing Through Community: Supporting Black Birthworkers to Strengthen Perinatal Mental Health
Description: (ASL & CART Accessible) Introduce the Black Birthworkers Community, a co-designed model that strengthens the social, economic, and physical conditions needed for Black birthworkers to thrive. Rooted in cultural humility, community leadership, and healing justice, the model positions Black birthworkers as essential partners in improving perinatal mental health for Black birthing people and their families. Participants will learn how peer support networks, shared resource spaces, mentorship, and access to mental health and economic supports build sustainability and reduce the strain placed on birthworkers who navigate systemic inequities while caring for others. The model centers joy as a protective factor that honors the cultural wisdom and emotional labor Black birthworkers carry. Designed for behavioral health professionals, community-based practitioners, public health partners, philanthropic leaders, doulas, midwives, and program administrators, this session will show how investing in the well-being and joy of Black birthworkers expands access to culturally congruent care and strengthens resilience across families, creating conditions that foster emotional safety, positive mental health, and improved outcomes for Black families in Los Angeles County.
  • Speaker: Kimberly Gray, MTS and Anita Burdette, LCSW
  • Room #: Echo Park
  • Capacity: 52
  • Continuing Ed: 0.00
Healing-Centered Peer Support: Building Multicultural Care Networks
Description: This immersive session translates healing justice into practical action. Participants learn to design peer-led support that honors race, gender identity, sexuality, and lived experience. Participants practice trauma-informed facilitation, motivational interviewing, and harm-reduction conversations. Tools include Safety & Wellness Action Plans, culturally responsive screening prompts, and community agreements for psychological safety. Techniques feature grounding, brief narrative reframing, and strengths-based check-ins that fit busy drop-in settings. Skills focus on building trust, navigating crises, and documenting care without pathologizing clients. The workshop centers AMAAD’s lessons from South Los Angeles: peer power, visibility, and protection. Participants leave with a plug-and-play facilitation script, a referral map template, and a 30-day implementation checklist—ready to seed resilient, multicultural peer networks in their own contexts. We’ll also model inclusive data collection, privacy practices, and quick post-incident reviews and accountability.
  • Speaker: Gerald Garth, MBA and Lanelle P. Laws LMFT
  • Room #: Ladera Heights
  • Capacity: 55
  • Continuing Ed: 0.00
The Intersections of Trauma-informed Care and Culture: Building Awareness and Humility
Description: (Translation provided in Spanish) Trauma-informed care (TIC) is a flexible framework that can be used as a clinical intervention for youth and families or as an organizational strategy to promote safety, empowerment, and healing. While this innate flexibility can be liberating; it can be challenging to integrate these styles into your own therapeutic framework and maintain cultural humility. Using the core principles of trauma-informed care this training will help professionals and clients explore how culture, diversity, and inclusion are integral to this approach. Through discussions and creative activities, participants will increase their own awareness of intersectionality, learn to honor cultural identity to build stronger communities, and be inspired to help clients realize their full potential. Self-reflection: You will learn how to describe the intersectional dimensions that are present within yourself. Community building: You will learn how to honor intersectional dimensions to create safe, healthy, and resilient communities. Client empowerment: You will be inspired to help clients realize their unique potential through trauma-responsive care.
  • Speaker: Dana Wyss, PhD, LMFT, ATR-BC, RPT and Patrick Foreman, LMFT
  • Room #: Hollywood Ballroom
  • Capacity: 238
  • Continuing Ed: 1.00 CE / CEU
From Risk to Resilience:  Mental Health and Cultural Identity Among Asian American and Pacific Islander Youth   
Description: (Translation provided in Korean) Rates of suicidality have drastically risen among Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) youth, yet research on their developmental and mental health needs remains strikingly limited. This presentation weaves together four papers highlighting the complexities of AAPI youth and young adult mental health. The first paper utilizes disaggregated national data to examine disparities in suicidality across East, South, and Southeast Asian college students, revealing increased risk among Southeast Asians. The second paper synthesizes research on internalized racism as a critical factor shaping the racialized experiences and psychosocial well-being of AAPI youth. The third paper highlights the potential of digital mental health help-seeking tools and AI-based interventions in addressing the paradox of high mental health need and low service utilization among AAPI emerging adults. The final paper describes a grounded theory connecting acculturation, developmental processes, and suicidality among 1.5-generation Pilipinx American young adults. Collectively, these papers foreground the roles of internalized racism, discrimination, and colonization in shaping AAPI mental health, and how culturally responsive interventions may facilitate healing.
  • Speaker: Madonna P. Cadiz, PhD, LCSW, Lalaine (Lainey) Sevillano, PhD, MSW, Hillary Nicole Peregrina, MA, MSW, and John Bosco Bunyi, MA, MFT
  • Room #: Silverlake
  • Capacity: 104
  • Continuing Ed: 1.00 CE / CEU
From Overwhelm to Grounding: Somatic Micro-skills and Peer Support for Queer and Trans Parents
Description: Workshop blends practical somatic care with lessons learned from two years of facilitating the Your Queer Parenting Journey support group, a weekly space serving queer parents, parents to be, and caregivers. The session begins with a brief overview of how the group was created, how its structure has evolved, and the themes that consistently emerge, including identity development, navigating systems, community isolation, and the emotional demands of early parenthood. Participants will then engage in an immersive, hands-on experience that models the grounding practices regularly used in the group. Facilitators will guide attendees through a short somatic sequence focused on breath, sensory orientation, and gentle movement. Attendees will also rotate through stations that introduce low-cost grounding tools such as scent, temperature, texture, and flavor, demonstrating how these quick interventions help reduce anxiety, support emotional regulation, and promote connection in moments of overwhelm.
  • Speaker: Alex Villalba, MA and Durga Abbas, CA Peer Support Specialist, Certified Trauma Informed Yoga Teacher, Somatics Practitioner/Teacher
  • Room #: Boyle Heights
  • Capacity: 52
  • Continuing Ed: 0.00
The First-30: A Culturally Responsive Hybrid Model Bringing MH Access to Diverse Communities Through Traditional & Non-Traditional Methods
Description: Introduces The First-30, a 30-day hybrid recovery stabilization model designed to close mental health access gaps across cultures by combining traditional group counseling with non-traditional digital delivery, including automated daily lessons, videos, journal prompts, and Google-based self-assessment tools. The First-30 approach meets participants exactly where they are—online, in person, and across cultural contexts—using simple mobile-friendly technology that eliminates literacy, transportation, scheduling, and stigma-related barriers. Participants will explore how early recovery needs differ across cultural communities, and how the First-30 integrates culturally respectful practices: storytelling, guided reflection, personal pacing, and supportive relational coaching. Through interactive demonstrations, attendees will learn how this model expands reach for individuals who may not engage in traditional treatment due to fear, shame, or cultural mismatch. The session will highlight case examples from African American, Latino, API, and multi-ethnic communities, showing how consistent daily micro-interventions strengthen resilience, reduce crisis episodes, and improve treatment retention. This session equips providers with practical tools to incorporate the First-30 into multicultural behavioral health settings.
  • Speaker: Margie Wilson, MPA
  • Room #: Roosevelt
  • Capacity: 104
  • Continuing Ed: 0.00
Will Not Attend
Description:
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Conference Wrap up and Closing Remarks
  • 3:35 PM - 4:00 PM
Location: Wilshire Ballroom
Description: