Position: Behavior Support Specialist (BSS)
What led you to your current position: I've always loved working with children in the school setting.  I'm also passionate about social justice issues. Being a BSS, I have the privilege to bring diversity, equity and inclusion issues directly to administrators.
What inspires you to do this work: I am passionate about creating spaces for all children to be their authentic self. I also wanted to support teachers to become more aware of positive behavior interventions to support student success. Being able to sit at the table with the schools administration to create systems for student discipline that move away from harmful zero- tolerance practices that are detrimental to our students is what inspired me to do this work. 
What is a recent highlight you’ve experienced in the work or an important lesson you’ve learned in this role: A recent highlight was being able to reduce defiant office referrals from 40 referrals in trimester 1 to 23 referrals in trimester 2. This was possible by addressing the subjective behaviors concerns directly with teachers one to one and during our monthly all staff meetings. I have and will continue to support teachers to increase their awareness around cultural competency, their personal biases, the power and the privilege they have as teachers, and how to use our behavior matrix to ensure office referrals are procedural and not personal.  We've got a long way to go but change is Here!!
​Share your life motto or something unique about yourself: "I cannot do all the good that the world needs, but the world needs all the good I can do." -Jana Stanfield

​Did you know that UE Alhambra's Counseling Enriched Classroom (CEC) program is located in Martinez, California, and that we work with high schoolers on a public campus? We are a one classroom, eleven student, and all Seneca staff program. There are amazing happenings at the site. Below are some that my team and I want to highlight.
 
Meeting clients where they are at: We work collaboratively with our school partners to create a truly individualized treatment that includes (1) aligning their class schedule (between mainstream and CEC) to match their identified strengths and needs, (2) incorporating a clinical focused lens to school based discipline, and (3) providing additional academic resources such as online credit recovery courses to help bridge gaps in school credits. Most importantly, the program is based on offering a supportive atmosphere environmentally (see pictures) as well as therapeutically (see pictures) that invites each student to be themselves and get the support they need. 

What parts or moments of your work with students, families and staff bring you joy? ​

Thank you team and school staff for your commitment and care in creating a supportive and empowering community for students and families!

The demographics of our students in Oakland are ever shifting and changing. In recent years, we have started to serve more students who are recent immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America. Some of them came to the U.S. alone, many of them traveling long distances under harrowing circumstances. Some are multilingual and others are monolingual in the indigenous language of their region. Their needs and experiences are unique and diverse.
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Over the past two years, our program has implemented several new services tailored specifically to the immigrant experience. First, two therapists have collaborated to provide newcomer groups. These groups bring together students who are new immigrants to process their experiences and get support from their peers as well as the therapist facilitators. Topic areas include sharing cultural values and practices, celebrating their heritage, processing their immigration journeys and discussing their experience living in a new country. One group started a practice of wearing traditional dress on Friday as a way to share their cultural heritage with their larger school community. These groups were such a resounding success that they were featured in a KQED radio program. Take a listen! 
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Second, at a middle school, a therapist has started a Spanish language parent support group. While this group is not specifically for parents of newcomer students, there is a strong focus on helping monolingual Spanish speaking parents to support the social-emotional wellness of their children. Group topics include communication strategies, adolescent development, love languages and much more!
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Meeting the needs of our students and families has always been at the heart of our school-based work. These new and creative interventions strategies have helped us to continue to meet those needs and build on the resilience of the immigrant communities we support.