Peer Support Program
Our Mission
At El Futuro, our Peer Support Specialist program is dedicated to empowering the Latino community through shared lived experience, compassion, and cultural understanding. Rooted in our mission to nurture stronger familias, we provide individuals facing mental health challenges and substance use disorders with connection, guidance, and hope. Our certified Peer Support Specialists—individuals who have overcome similar challenges—offer a unique pathway to healing by fostering community, promoting self-empowerment, and supporting clients on their personal recovery journey while uplifting Latino values and ethnic pride. Through trauma-informed care, mentoring, goal setting, and empathy, we create a supportive environment where dreams are nurtured, resilience is built, and transformation is possible. We believe that by meeting individuals where they are, honoring their experiences, and working together in mutual respect, we can help them achieve greater well-being and long-term recovery. This program is an essential part of our holistic approach to mental health, ensuring that every client has the support they need to build a fulfilling and hopeful future.
Values of the Peer Support Program at El Futuro
These values reflect the program’s holistic, culturally responsive, and person-centered approach to mental health and recovery.
Improving Access to Care for All
Empowerment Through Shared Experiences
Facilitate connection and hope by sharing lived experiences, validating clients’ challenges, and promoting self-empowerment within the Latino community.
Culturally Responsive Support
Provide culturally responsive peer support that honors the unique cultural, spiritual, and social contexts of the individuals and their families.
Recovery-Oriented Practices
Implement strengths-based, trauma-informed approaches to foster resilience, support recovery, and guide clients toward achieving their goals.
Professional Growth and Development
Maintain a commitment to the continuous growth of peer support specialists through training, supervision, and reflection.
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