Please join us for an upcoming Adult Mental Health First Aid Training. This important session will equip you with valuable knowledge and practical skills to support someone who may be facing mental health or substance abuse challenges.
The training covers the initial steps to take when you encounter someone in need, and provides you with effective tools to help navigate these situations with confidence and care. It’s a great opportunity to learn how to provide the right support when it’s needed most.
Details of the training:
Date: March 22
Time: 9am-6pm
Location: Le Maota, 833 Mahler Road, Burlingame, CA
Whether you’re already familiar with mental health issues or new to the topic, this training will help you feel more prepared and comfortable in supporting those around you.
Please share this event with your networks. San Mateo County’s Behavioral Health & Recovery Services’ Diversity & Equity Council is inviting Legal Aid of San Mateo County to present for the community.
Legal Aid will discuss community concerns around access to civil legal services with a focus on access to healthcare and public benefits for LGBTQ+, undocumented and mental health consumers.
Learn about Health Consumer Center at Legal Aid, the types of cases they support, and information about Medi-Cal for all, including undocumented individuals.
What: Presentation from Legal Aid of San Mateo County
When: Friday, 2/7/25, 11AM-12:30PM
Where: Via Zoom (Email Brenda Nuñez at Brenda.Nunez@star-vista.org for Zoom info)
Mark your calendars! African American Community Initiative (AACI) is hosting their 2025 Black History Month Wellness Event celebration! This is a free community event promoting arts and wellness for African Americans. Expect live music, resource fair, speakers, and health & wellness checks.
Date: Sat, 2/15/25 Time: 1:00PM- 4:00PM PST Location: Eastside College Preparatory School (1041 Myrtle Street, East Palo Alto) Contact: Dee Pennix at AACIInitiative@gmail.com
About AACI:
The mission of the African American Community Initiative is to become a known resource for African American Community members facing challenges with finding and utilizing mental health services, while addressing inequalities faced by African Americans in our county. Our vision is to build a community driven support system for reducing mental health and substance use treatment disparities, and the stigma of mental illness.
Every three years, Sequoia Hospital conducts a Community Health Needs Assessment to better understand the health and social issues that matter most to our community. As part of this effort, we’ve created a short and simple survey, available in both English and Spanish, for community members to share their thoughts.
We’re reaching out again to kindly ask for your help in spreading the word! Their feedback is invaluable—it will guide where we focus our programs and support, ensuring we address the real needs of those we serve. The survey only takes a few minutes, and every voice truly makes a difference. The survey will end on Friday, January 31st.
Please feel free to share the attached flyer with your members and networks. It includes a QR code for easy access to the survey in both English and Spanish. You can also share the direct links below:
In December 2024, San Mateo County Behavioral Health & Recovery Services(BHRS) submitted a comprehensive three-year Cultural Competency Plan, showcasing our ongoing efforts to support our diverse communities through culturally and linguistically responsive services. This annual requirement, set by the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), helps us track and reflect on our progress in advancing behavioral health equity across our system.
Key areas of focus in the report include our commitment to cultural competence as a system of care, strategies for reducing disparities, efforts to grow a multicultural workforce, and enhancing language capacity to better serve our community. Additionally, the plan highlights our dedication to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) and trauma-informed systems within our organization.
This submission highlights the trends, challenges, and accomplishments of BHRS during fiscal years 2021 through 2024—a period marked by significant transitions as we collectively recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, welcoming new leadership, and prepare for statewide systemic changes.
We recognize this report reflects the lived experiences, needs, and resilience of the individuals and families we serve. These stories are a testament to the strength of our communities and the importance of equitable access to care. We also recognize the dedication and hard work of our BHRS team members and partnering organizations, whose efforts have a direct and meaningful impact on advancing equity and fostering healing within our communities.
Thank you, BHRS, for your unwavering commitment to fostering equity, inclusion, and belong in behavioral health care. Together, we are making a difference.
Last Fall, Behavioral Health and Recovery Services’ Office of Diversity and Equity (BHRS ODE) hosted 3 Parent Project® classes. In partnership with StarVista, we hosted on virtual English class, facilitated by Ivan Marquez and Jackie Cisneros and one virtual Spanish class facilitated by Leonela Zavalza and Karen Palomino Velazquez. This semester we also began our partnership with Community Alliance to Revitalize Our Neighborhoods (CARON), where we collaborated to host one in-person Spanish Course at the Half Moon Bay Library. We are beyond thrilled to have celebrated 61 new official Parent Project® graduates, and 13 participants, ultimately serving 74 parents and caregivers of San Mateo County!
This semester featured a lot of notable highlights for the Parent Project® program, one of them being that all of our classes received a presentation from Alcohol and Other Drug’s (AOD) department’s Dr. Ronni Brown, Alex Perez, and Gabriel Lemus. The AOD Overdose Education & Response educated parents on the dangers of fentanyl, how to recognize an overdose, how to utilize Narcan, and how to access BHRS’ substance use services. AOD even distributed Narcan and Fentanyl test strips to our Parent Project® participants. The Office of Diversity and Equity would like to thank the AOD team for supporting the parents and caregivers of San Mateo County! In addition, BHRS ODE provided our general presentation introducing BHRS, our office at ODE, the Health Ambassador Program, as well as how to access Behavioral Health and Recovery Services. For the first time in Parent Project history, we had the Health Ambassadors, Cynthia Castro and Amada Espinoza, facilitate a Know the Signs Workshop, with the support of ODE’s Health Education Associate, Maria Martinez. Know the Signs is a training where participants learn to recognize the signs of suicide in another individual, and how to approach this concern via conversation and appropriate (BHRS) resources. We are so thankful to our Health Ambassador Program for helping our Parent Project® participants to initiate their journey to becoming prospective Health Ambassadors by providing a Know the Signs workshop at one of our Parent Project classes!
Finally, thank you to our partners at StarVista for celebrating our Parent Project® graduates and participants with in-person graduations featuring family activities and holiday raffles for Parent Project® participants to enjoy. We would also like to thank CARON for their in-person graduation featuring resources tables and presentations from the Half Moon Bay Library, Sheriff’s Activity League, Coastside Hope, City of Half Moon Bay, and San Mateo County’s Office of Community Affairs, and even a special visit from the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, therapy dog, Maverick!
Here at BHRS ODE, we wish you all a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year! We look forward to seeing you at our Spring 2025 semester of Parent Project coming soon.
Written by Nicoletta Kelleher, Parent Project Coordinator
Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (In-Person)
ASIST is a two-day in person interactive workshop in suicide first aid. ASIST teaches participants to recognize when someone may be at risk for suicide and work with them to create a plan to support their immediate safety. Skills learned in one environment are transferable to others, creating a life-saving impact across the community.
This course is offered by San Mateo County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services Office of Diversity and Equity:
Dedicated to empowering youth and families in underserved communities through evidence-based mental health training, Kingdom Love LLC focus is on strengthening family and community connections by providing accessible, skill-based education that fosters a shared understanding for prevention and early intervention.
To learn more and register for upcoming trainings, visit:
This is a two-hour foundational workshop that infuses culture and diversity throughout. The County offers a Mental Health version and a Suicide Prevention version.MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID
This is an eight-hour skills-based training course that teaches you how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental health or substance uses signs or crises. The County offers a youth and adult version of this workshop.
For more information about both trainings above, please contact: Sylvia Tang stang@smcgov.org
CALL TO ACTION!
We have the power to make a difference. By spreading awareness, providing support, and advocate for change, we can help people create aa world where they feel seen, heard, and supported. Here are ways you can help:
Actively participate in the next SPC meeting:
Tuesday, January 7th, 2025, 1:30pm – 3:00pm Web Browser: https://zoom.us/j/410362485 (Meeting ID: 410 362 485) One-Tap Phone: +16699006833,,410362485# Phone (dial-in): +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) Meeting ID: 410 362 485
Invite Someone New! Ask new stakeholder, partner, agency, organization, community member to join the SPC mailing list.
Announcements? Have an important commission meeting? Upcoming event you would like to highlight? Send an email by the second Tuesday of each month for co-chairs review to:walter.ng@star-vista.org
QUESTIONS OR FEEDBACK? READY TO GET INVOLVED? CONTACT US!
Sylvia Tang, MPP (She/Her) Community Health Planner San Mateo County Behavioral Health & Recovery Services (BHRS) Office of Diversity and Equity (ODE) stang@smcgov.org (650) 208 – 5799
The County of San Mateo’s Behavioral Health and Recovery Services Office of Diversity and Equity is happy to announce that we have two new interns for this year! Our interns are passionate, driven, and experienced in advancing equity, wellness, and prevention for culturally diverse underserved/unserved populations. Our interns and their respective work areas include:
Michelle Armand (She/Her) – Workforce Education and Training
My name is Michelle Armand, and I’m an intern for the Office of Diversity and Equity (ODE) from September 2024 to June 2025. I am currently pursuing my master’s degree in Diverse Community Development and Leadership from California State University, Northridge (CSUN), and I hold a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from UCLA.
Over my academic and career journey, I have always been driven to advance health equity—especially in terms of correcting injustices in underprivileged areas. Through my profession in healthcare, I have had the honor of serving Los Angeles County’s most underprivileged populations, therefore strengthening my resolve to guarantee fair access to high-quality treatment. This internship provides a valuable opportunity to connect that passion with the practical skills needed to make a difference in the behavioral health field, and I’m excited to contribute to the Workforce, Education, and Training (WET) program.
During my time here, I will be focusing on learning more about workforce development, cultural humility, and the intersection of mental health and equity. I’m thrilled to work with a team that’s committed to creating meaningful change, and I’m eager to both share my perspectives and gain new insights that will help me grow, not just professionally, but personally.
I’m happy to be working with impactful, empathetic, and bold collaborative team of leaders who not only provide space and listen to me and my fellow interns but also to the San Mateo community. We are working together right now to compile data on how San Mateo County could fight the present epidemic of loneliness that so many people all around are experiencing.
Sharing my ideas and learning more about what ODE has to offer to develop not only professionally but also personally will be interesting. It is an honor to help serve not only this organization but this community. Thank you all for your time and don’t forget to be kind to one another.
A fun fact about me: I’m a creative soul who loves to express myself through cooking and art.
Hello! My name is Frankie, and I am an intern for the Office of Diversity and Equity (ODE). I recently graduated from University of California, San Diego with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a Specialization in Clinical Psychology.
I was born and raised in the Bay Area, and I truly appreciate the diversity that comes with living here. Being immersed in such a variety of cultures has deepened my understanding and appreciation of them.
Throughout my career, I’ve gained valuable experience in roles such as a behavior specialist, eating disorder counselor, and mental health peer educator. Currently, I work full-time as a Crisis Intervention Specialist for CARES, where I assist law enforcement with mental health crises along the coast side.
In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family, exploring new coffee spots, going to the beach, and baking.
For this internship, I’ll be focusing on suicide prevention and stigma reduction, areas I’m deeply passionate about. I’m excited to contribute to such an amazing team and continue my work in the mental health field.
About the Internship Program The Office of Diversity and Equity (ODE) Internship Program is designed to provide work opportunities and practical learning experience for undergraduate and graduate students to enhance their academic preparation and expose them to public service at the county level. This program is offered every fiscal year from September to June. Interns work 20-hours per week and are paid with a stipend funded by the Mental Health Services Act.
About the Office of Diversity and Equity 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.
San Mateo County is recognizing this year’s Transgender Day of Remembrance with a flag-raising and speakers on Wednesday, November 13, from 9:00-9:30am. Supervisor Pine will be sharing remarks as well as Venus Itzuri Perez-Hernandez from Mariposa Outreach. The flag-raising is open to everyone and will be in the County Courtyard at 500 County Center Redwood City.
On Friday, September 27, the Behavioral Health & Recovery Services (BHRS) Office of Diversity and Equity (ODE) celebrated its 15th anniversary at the South San Francisco Public Library. The event brought together 150 community members, partners, and BHRS staff to commemorate ODE’s remarkable journey.
The evening featured cultural performances, leadership reflections, and a tribute to ODE’s ongoing impact on behavioral health in San Mateo County. A candlelight ceremony symbolized the collective effort to ignite meaningful change and foster hope and healing for all.
Key highlights included:
Cultural Performances from the nine Health Equity Initiatives, including spoken word by Allen Bustos (Amulit), a Siva Samoa performance, and dances by Tulip Dance Studio. See our agenda for the full list of performances.
Leadership Remarks from Dr. Jei Africa, Scott Gruendl, Louise Rogers, and Dr. Lorente-Foresti emphasizing ODE’s contributions to advancing equity and access.
Special Recognition of Mental Health Services Manager Doris Estremera for her dedicated service to the team.
ODE’s work transcends services, focusing on breaking down barriers and amplifying marginalized voices. Over the years, ODE has driven initiatives like Health Equity Initiatives, the Mental Health Services Act, and culturally informed trainings that have reshaped behavioral health care in San Mateo County.
Thank you to everyone—past and present—who contributed to ODE’s success. We look forward to many more years of progress and partnership!
You must be logged in to post a comment.