Erica, a first-generation Queer Latina, serves as the Permanent Supportive Housing Supervisor at the LA LGBT Center. She is an active member of the Center's DEI committee and has provided training and presentations across the country on LGBTQ youth and systems of care. In addition, Erica is an adjunct professor at Pacific Oaks College.With a robust career spanning over 26 years, both in management and as a clinician, Erica has worked and volunteered with dual diagnosis youth, communities of color, homeless youth, immigrant and first-generation children and families, underserved and minority populations, and the LGBTQIA+ community. She has also worked with individuals involved with the foster care and juvenile justice system.
Erica holds a Bachelor's degree in Sociology and Psychology and a Master's degree in Marriage Family Therapy with an emphasis on Latine communities. Currently, she is working on her Psy.D from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, developing a curriculum aimed at helping mental health professionals increase their cultural sensitivity when providing services to gender-expansive adults.
Degree | Institution | Year |
---|---|---|
MFT | Pacific Oaks College, Pasadena, CA | 2007 |
BA Sociology | College of Notre Dame De Namur, Belmot,CA | 1999 |
BA Psychology | College of Notre Dame De Namur, Belmot,CA | 1999 |
Role | Organization |
---|---|
Fellowship member | • Racial Equity in Homelessness Social Justice Partnership LA |
Area | Expertise |
---|---|
Addiction/Substance Abuse | General Expertise |
Child & Adolescent Development | Identity Development |
Multicultural Youth | |
Social Development | |
Critical Thinking | General Expertise |
Anti-bias Curriculum | |
Curriculum and Program Development | Professional Learning Communities |
Diversity | Community Mental Health |
Cultural Issues | |
Culture-centered Pedagogy | |
Diversity Issues | |
Identity Development | |
Multicultural Training | |
Racism | |
Higher Education | Teaching Adult Learners |
Advocacy | |
Foster Youth | |
Homelessness | General Expertise |
Housing | |
LGBTQ Youth | |
Psychology | Social Psychology |
Select Area | Adult Teaching and Learning |
Gender Identity | |
Gender Reassignment | |
Sexuality/Gender Issues | General Expertise |
LGBTQ | |
Social Justice | General Expertise |
LGBTQIA | |
Race & Ethnicity | |
Behavioral Therapy | |
Therapeutic/Theoretical Orientation | Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy |
Humanistic/Existential | |
Positive Psychology | |
Social Psychology | |
Gangs | |
Violence | General Expertise |
Please describe your teaching philosophy. |
I want students to leave my class knowing at least one thing that they didn't know before. I want to help them feel empowered by their education and to motivated to be of service to the communities that need them |
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