Thanks to all the team of interns who worked with us. The doors of El Futuro will always be open for you. Thank you for your great work with the Latino community that we love. Here are some special messages for you:
“Sophie will be wrapping up 2 years of her externship at El Futuro this May, and what a two years it has been! During her time with us, Sophie has immersed herself in just about everything El Futuro does, from taking on challenging individual clients and intakes, to co-delivering therapy groups, to attending every.single.La Mesita.event.possible! Sophie has grown so much as a clinician during her time with us and, whereas we will be sad to see her go in May, we know she will continue to do great work for the Latinx community as she moves along in her career.” (From Juan Prandoni)
“Luz is finishing her first year with us at El Futuro and has already committed to staying with us for an additional year, yay! Luz has grown immensely in her clinical skills during her short time with us so far, providing excellent individual therapy with some very challenging clients and collaborating well with other EF clinicians on shared family cases. Luz has also taken on some group work at El Futuro and has really enjoyed the collaborative and supportive nature of doing groups alongside our clinicians and client families. During her time as a clinician at El Futuro, Luz has also juggled maintaining an impressive research regimen within her program, which includes 17 (SEVENTEEN!) publications and most recently being awarded the prestigious Ford Predoctoral Fellowship, which will help her to continue her amazing research on ADHD and bullying prevention for underserved populations. We’re excited to see what the future holds as Luz continues working with us into the next year!” (From Juan Prandoni)
“Conexiones welcomed Nancy as an intern for the Spring Semester via Meredith College. Throughout her time in Conexiones she has been a valued member. Her passion and commitment to her clients has really shown through as a case manager. Nancy has also been at the forefront of the TTT pilot where she has helped clients complete a Universal Assessment. Her insights and feedback have been instrumental in shaping service delivery for the TTT program. Although her time with us is coming to an end, (April 28th), she will forever be a Futurista. Thank you Nancy for all of your work with us this semester. P.S. And who knows she may intern for us again as she starts her Master’s Degree in Social Work at NC State University this Summer.” (From Ismael)
“We are so appreciative of all that Sandra Candelario has done during her Masters in Social Work internship to expand El Futuro’s ability to connect people with resources to support mental health. As she wraps up her internship, we want to celebrate her contributions. She revised and repeatedly updated a list of therapists and other mental health options. She helped develop and deliver training for community health workers and other community volunteers in Spanish so they can address mental wellbeing, suicide prevention, and self-care. She created training materials and helped facilitate Motivational Interviewing training for Spanish-speaking professionals to enhance their capacity to engage Latinx clients in behavior change. Sandra helped review candidates to provide El Futuro with the DEI training we will enjoy this spring. She wrote a grant to expand the capacity of UNC-G to provide coursework related to culturally responsive mental health treatment. She created posts for La Mesita and researched best practices for ALMA’s future consultation efforts. Sandra was awarded the Jane Curtis Parker Scholarship for her second year of graduate study because she is an inspiration for others to live with compassion and courage while addressing social justice.” (From Rachel G)
“Gaby is wrapping up her time at El Furuto as a Counseling Intern and will very soon earn her degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Eastern Carolina University! Gaby has done wonderful work as both a practicum student and an intern working with children, families and individual clients and has been co-groups leader with Heather in our new DALE depression and anxiety weekly group. Gaby also presented a talk at the North Carolina Counseling Association conference this year along with Lynn. We are so grateful for all that Gaby has brought to her work with us, and know she has a very bright future ahead of her as a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor. Congratulations, Gaby!” (From Molly)
“Mari Sahonero is a Clinical Mental Health Counseling student at the University of Cumberlands, and is finishing her Practicum experience with us this semester. Excitingly, we will see Mari back in a few weeks as she begins her Internship with El Futuro over the summer and in the fall semester! Mari brings compassion and thoughtfulness to her work with her clients, adults and kids alike. We look forward to further collaboration with Mari during her internship!” (From Molly)
“Neishma Torres has been an intern with El Futuro, helping Pablo and the Sin Ataduras program. We are grateful for her support during the DWI group therapy and for helping our program with recruitment activities for special events like simulacros and webinars. She has helped with community awareness of substance use events as well. Neishma we will miss you so much when you leave us in May!” (From Mary Jones)
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