Mental health professionals working with the Latine community may find themselves engaging with more than just the individual in the room, often including a clients’ social systems into treatment. However, providers typically operate within a health-care framework that focuses on treating individuals, or their symptoms, in isolation. El Futuro’s 2024 Conference, Nunca Caminamos Solos: Supporting Latine Families Across the Lifespan, centers on exploring the nuanced ways in which families and social contexts can connect to the mental health and well-being of our Latine clients.
Using a developmental approach, national speakers invited to participate in this 2-day virtual conference will guide participants through life’s developmental stages, discussing the interplay of family systems and social context within each, and their role in mental health treatment. Each 90-minute session will offer practical tools and evidence-based approaches to support family systems integration to client care, all with the goal of moving us towards El Futuro’s mission: Nurturing stronger familias to live out their dreams.
Conference Schedule
Check out this year’s awesome lineup!
Meet Our Sponsors
Thank you to this year’s sponsors, Duke Health and the Hispanic/Latino Behavioral Health Center of Excellence, for making this year’s conference possible!
Contact Us
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Please contact lamesita@elfuturo-nc.org if you have any questions or concerns.
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If you need accommodations in order to attend this year’s conference, please reach out to lamesita@elfuturo-nc.org at least two weeks before the event.
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If you are a reporter and would like to have an interview or find out more information about this conference, please contact Mary Hondermann, mhondermann@elfuturo-nc.org
Alvely Alcántara, LCSW
Rossy C. Garcia, MEd 
Katy Sims, MD 
Everardo Aviles, LCSW, LCAS (Eve)
As a medical anthropologist and social work researcher, Dr. Gulbas’ research embodies interdisciplinarity through the integration of applied theories of health and human development with qualitative and ethnographic methodologies. Her work seeks to understand how people—children, families, and providers—navigate complex sociocultural landscapes in the pursuit of mental health. Most of her work, to date, focuses attention on developing more robust interpretations of suicide risk. With funding from the National Institutes of Mental Health, this body of research has contributed to advancements in theoretical and empirical knowledge of the broader contexts within which youth suicide risk is situated. 
R. Gabriela Barajas-Gonzalez is a developmental psychologist and an assistant professor of Population Health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Dr. Barajas-Gonzalez is the principal investigator of a study that examines the impact of immigration-related threat and stress on school communities. She earned a PhD in developmental psychology from Columbia University and hold a BA in human biology from Stanford University. Dr. Barajas-Gonzalez is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and a first gen college student.
Dr. Parra-Cardona is an Associate Professor in the Steve Hicks School of Social Work (SHSSW) at the University of Texas at Austin. At the SHSSW, he serves as Coordinator for Mexico and Latin American initiatives. He also serves as Area Director for Research at the UT Austin Latino Research Institute. Dr. Parra-Cardona’s program of research is focused on the cultural adaptation of evidence-based parenting interventions for low-income Latinx populations in the US and Latin America.
Bianka Reese, PhD, MSPH is a research scientist and program evaluator specializing in adolescent and young adult sexual and reproductive health. Her previous research in the experiences of Latinx LGBTQ+ youth stems from her work as the Research and Evaluation Manager at SHIFT NC (Sexual Initiatives For Teens), where she led largescale evaluations of multilevel, community-based sexual health promotion initiatives and research projects aimed at elevating the voices of diverse youth in North Carolina. Dr. Reese is currently the Senior Research Strategist at Creative Research Solutions, LLC, an award-winning national evaluation, research, and assessment firm.
Tania Connaughton-Espino, MPH is an independent researcher focused on adolescent and young adult sexual and reproductive health. Her interest in the experiences of Latinx LGBTQ+ youth stems from her previous work with SHIFT NC (Sexual Initiatives For Teens), where she led the training and evaluation department, conducted capacity-building workshops for youth serving professionals including on the topic of how to be more affirming of LGBTQ youth, and from her extensive experience working with the Latinx population in NC.
Maru Gonzalez, EdD is an Assistant Professor and Youth Development Specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Human Sciences at North Carolina State University. Her areas of inquiry include youth development with a focus on activism, social justice, and the experiences of LGBTQ+ young people across familial, school, and community contexts. 
Nayeli Y. Chavez-Dueñas, PhD
Hector Y. Adames, PsyD