Monthly Webinars
“La Monarca: Addressing Immigration-Related Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Through Culturally-Informed Intervention“
August 9th, 2024 from 12:00-1:30 PM ET
Presented by Natalie Cruz, PsyD & Amy West, PsyD
All of our monthly webinars on Latine mental health are free!
Webinar Description:
Latinx youth migrating under crisis situations are at higher risk for adverse childhood experiences before, during, and/or after migration, which can increase the likelihood of poor health outcomes. Ongoing toxic stress, including fears for detention and deportation, and acculturative stressors can further jeopardize the caregiver-youth relationship that is essential to buffering the negative impact of traumatic events. The 10-week La Monarca intervention for migrant youth and their caregivers aims to reduce the negative effects of immigration-related and other ACEs to prevent anxiety, depression, and trauma symptoms via addressing acculturative stressors and enhancing cultural protective factors.
Meet Our August Presenters:
Natalie Carlos Cruz, PsyD is a licensed clinical psychologist who completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Southern California University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA) and her predoctoral internship at Cambridge Health Alliance/ Harvard Medical School. She earned her Doctor of Psychology and Master of Arts in Psychology degrees from Alliant International University, as well as her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology degree from the University of California Los Angeles.
Currently, Dr. Cruz works in the Project Heal program at the UCEDD in CHLA where she provides bilingual (English & Spanish) mental health services to children and families who have been impacted by traumatic experiences using evidence-based practices including TF-CBT, CPP, & PCIT. She is a clinical supervisor to pre-doctoral interns and post-doctoral fellows in the field of psychology, and provides various training didactics and seminars on topics related to diversity, grief, trauma, and professional development.
Dr. Cruz is the mental health director of La Linterna, an interdisciplinary clinic that provides trauma-informed medical, mental health, legal, and case management services for recently migrant children and families exposed to trauma. As a part of La Linterna, Dr. Cruz co-developed a support group for migrant youth and their caregivers called La Monarca and facilitates the summer-series, Talleres de Bienestar (or Wellness Workshops) in collaboration with CHLA’s Community Affairs Office. She oversees the training of social work students and postdoctoral psychology fellows rotating through the clinic and is involved with various related community outreach, research, and program development initiatives.
Amy E. West, PsyD is a Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Psychology, and Psychiatry & the Behavioral Sciences; Associate Director for Education, Research, and Mentorship; and Director of the CHLA Child Clinical and Pediatric Psychology Internship in the Departments of Pediatrics and Psychology at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and USC Keck School of Medicine.
Dr. West is a Board-Certified Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychologist and an intervention scientist with clinical and research interests in psychosocial interventions for the treatment of pediatric mood and anxiety disorders, including studying predictors and mechanisms of treatment response, and the application of psychosocial interventions to underserved, ethnic minority populations. She is the developer of child- and family-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (CFF-CBT), or RAINBOW therapy, which is one of only a few evidence-based psychosocial interventions for youth with pediatric mood disorders. This treatment model was rigorously studied through a NIMH-funded randomized trial (PI: West) and published by Oxford University Press, in their prestigious “Treatments That Work” series.
Currently, Dr. West is a co-investigator and the director of CBT implementation for a large PCORI-funded clinical effectiveness trial for pediatric anxiety treatment in urban, underserved, predominantly Latinx youth and families. She is also a co-investigator for the CHLA site of the Adolescent Brain Development (ABCD) Study, a 21-site clinical research study funded by NIH that represents the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States. She is also co-investigator on a pilot intervention study of La Monarca, a trauma-informed psychosocial intervention to decrease anxiety and mood symptoms in Hispanic crisis migrant youth and their caregivers. Finally, she is a co-investigator on several studies funded by DHHS/SAMHSA and focused on intervention development, cultural tailoring, and implementation of substance use prevention and treatment interventions for American Indian/Alaska Native youth and families in partnership with colleagues in the Department of Population and Health Sciences at USC.
Dr. West has been funded by NIMH, PCORI, SAMHSA, CA DHHS, and multiple private foundations for her clinical trial, effectiveness, and community-based participatory intervention research. She has mentored over 150 doctoral trainees, and over 60 as a primary research mentor, including as a sponsor on NIH-funded training grants, such as K-awards, T32s, and F31s. Dr. West received a B.A. in Psychology from Stanford University, her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Virginia, and completed her pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School/Children’s Hospital Boston
Ready to Register?
Click the button below and we’ll see you on August 9th!
*Please note that our procedures have changed! You only need to register in one place, even if you want to receive CEUs.*
Save the Dates for Our Upcoming Webinars:
We have a great year of webinars planned for you! We hope you’ll join us as we dive into the following topics in 2024.
August 9th: Immigration-Related ACEs in the Latine Community – Register Here
September 26th & 27th: Our 2024 Conference! – Learn more here.
October 11th: (Rescheduled from April 2024) Substance Use in Latine Communities
November 8th: ADHD in Latine Communities
December 13th: Early Childhood Development in Latine Communities
Registration for the above webinars will be available soon!
Continuing Education
For participants that register for continuing education, these webinars will provide:
*1.5 Contact Hours (or 0.15 CEUs): Contact Hours include CEs for Social Workers, mental health clinicians, nurses, other healthcare providers, and several other disciplines who utilize contact hours.
CEUs are calculated by tenths. Example: 0.1 CEU = 1 Contact Hour of participation.
*NBCC credit: this program is approved for 1.5 NBCC Hours
El Futuro has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6947. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. El Futuro is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs, including the awarding of NBCC credit.
Participants should confirm continuing education credit information for licensure requirements with their state licensing board(s). If you need any additional information about this webinar for your licensure, please reach out to us at lamesita@elfuturo-nc.org.
Cancellation Policy
In the event of a cancellation, we will provide notification as soon as possible so participants can adjust their schedule accordingly. Participants who need to cancel may choose to do so at any time but will not receive a Certificate of Completion.
Accommodations
Please contact lamesita@elfuturo-nc.org to let us know if you need accommodations at least 1 week before an event. We will work to the best of our abilities to fulfill all accommodation requests.
Concern Response and Grievance Policy
We have carefully modeled the environment around our learning activities to be one characterized by mutual collegiality, kindness, and a commitment to constant learning. This environment allows for providers of all disciplines, regardless of their level of experience, to feel comfortable in taking part in and benefiting from our programming. It is our hope that all La Mesita members will join us in preserving this environment we have cultivated over the years through your participation across our programming.
You can request our full grievance policy or submit a concern by reaching out to us at lamesita@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