Infographic: RAMS services at Wellness Centers

We are thrilled to present the publication of the RAMS & Wellness Centers Service Summary!  This infographic illustrates the types of services provided by RAMS & being utilized by high school students in San Francisco Wellness Centers.

RAMS is the core behavioral health provider at the Wellness Centers.  The Wellness Initiative and the school-based Wellness Centers is a collaboration with leadership from the SF Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF), Department of Public Health (DPH), San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), and RAMS. Confidential student services are provided on-site at Wellness Centers located in SFUSD high schools, at which RAMS provides the integrated behavioral health services component (mental health & substance abuse). This includes confidential on-site Mental Health and Substance Abuse Assessments, Individual and Group Psychotherapy, Crisis Intervention/Consultation, Grief & Loss/Trauma Counseling, Referrals to community resources, and Consultation to school staff and community.

 View the document by clicking on the images below to enlarge (right-click and select any options to "Open").

The original PDF document can be viewed or downloaded HERE.  More information on the results and impact of this program can be found HERE.

The Wellness Initiative 2013-2014 Profile

The San Francisco Wellness Initiative, a program dedicated to improving the health, well-being and academic success of the city’s 16,000 public high school students at 19 campuses, released their 2013-2014 profile which highlights the program's achievements and notable accomplishments this past year.

The Wellness Initiative and the school-based Wellness Centers is a collaboration with leadership from the SF Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF), Department of Public Health (DPH), San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), and RAMS. Confidential student services are provided on-site at Wellness Centers located in SFUSD high schools, at which RAMS provides the integrated behavioral health services component (mental health & substance abuse). This includes confidential on-site Mental Health and Substance Abuse Assessments, Individual and Group Psychotherapy, Crisis Intervention/Consultation, Grief & Loss/Trauma Counseling, Referrals to community resources, and Consultation to school staff and community.

Here's an excerpt of the 2013-2014 Profile which provides an infographic on the services, as well as a feature profile of Dr. David Shephard, RAMS Behavioral Health Counselor at the Wellness Centers program.   View the document by clicking on the images below to enlarge (right-click and select any options to "Open").

The full 2013-2014 Profile can be viewed by clicking HERE.  More information on the results and impact of this program can be found HERE.

In The News: San Francisco Achievement Collaborative Team (SF-ACT)

On October 15th, RAMS took a lead role in the launch event for the San Francisco Achievement Collaborative Team (SF-ACT).  SF-ACT is an innovative juvenile drug court treatment program, a partnership among RAMS; the San Francisco Superior Court; San Francisco Unified School District; the Juvenile Probation Department; the Department of Children, Youth and Families; the Department of Public Health; the Office of the District Attorney; the Office of the Public Defender; Catholic Charities CYO; and Seneca Center’s AIIM Higher program. The program is located at the Civic Center Secondary School, 727 Golden Gate Avenue.

RAMS SF-ACT Program Manager Richard Zevin speaks to some of the attendees,
including San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon (at far right)

RAMS is the lead treatment provider in this collaborative, and will start to provide individual, group, and family services following the end of the school day on October 21st. The launch event was an opportunity for the many different agencies involved to celebrate the beginning of a program unlike any other in the nation – a program that we hope can become a model for the nation.

(Right to Left) SF-ACT Program Manager Richard Zevin, LCSW; SF-ACT clinical staff Ernest Brown, PhD, and Danae Carvacho, MS, (not pictured: Dennielle Kronenberg, MA), and RAMS Director of Behavioral Health Services at the Wellness Centers Kristin Chun, LMFT.

SF-ACT focuses resources on rehabilitation, collaborative team decision-making, an emphasis on therapy and recovery, and a commitment from youth and their families to undergo an intensive outpatient treatment program designed to end the cycle of substance abuse and delinquent behavior.

Here is a feature presented by KTVU Channel 2 News, which covered the event:



If you are unable to view the video, click HERE to be redirected to KTVU's website.

To read the full text of the video transcription, click HERE.

Trauma, Grief, and Loss... and Wellness

In times when groups of students are affected by community violence, grief and/or loss, RAMS provides Trauma, Grief & Loss Counseling to provide roving crisis support as part of the Wellness Centers Program therapeutic services at the high school sites.

Our counseling staff is able to provide debriefing, short to long term support groups, trainings to parents & teachers, and clinical consultation to other providers. We are pleased to share the latest “research snapshot” about our positive impact on addressing the trauma, grief, and loss that high school students have experienced as well as how we have supported them in the process of healing & growth.

 View the document by clicking on the image below to enlarge (right-click and select any options to "Open").

Meet RAMS - Alison Ching, LMFT and Yuka Hachiuma, LMFT

On October 30, 2012, in celebration of Mental Health Awareness Week, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors commended individuals in each supervisorial district for their work in the mental health field. We are proud to announce that Supervisor Eric Mar awarded RAMS counselors Alison Ching, LMFT and Yuka Hachiuma, LMFT with Certificates of Honor as the individuals representing the Richmond District of San Francisco.

Here’s why:

Alison Ching, MA, Ed.M., MFT is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with over 15 years of experience in the human services field. Beginning as a Research Assistant Intern for one of the first U.S. studies on HIV and substance use in Asian American populations, Ms. Ching has since worked with a range of culturally diverse communities of children, youth, and families providing clinical assessment, psychotherapy, and health education. She has been working at RAMS, since 2006, as a Behavioral Health Counselor for teens and families providing culturally competent assessment, therapy, and crisis intervention services for students on-site at Washington High School and Lincoln High School (and previously Burton High School) through the Wellness Initiative. She exhibits passion and dedication to working with culturally diverse youth and families, while demonstrating tireless advocacy and providing effective client-centered mental health services.

Yuka Hachiuma, MS, MFT is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with 10 years of experience in the mental health field. A bicultural, bilingual Japanese-speaking therapist, Ms. Hachiuma works at RAMS as a Mental Health Counselor providing culturally competent counseling to youth and their families, on-site at Washington High School. Specifically, she serves students & families with limited resources and youth receiving special education services while providing consultation to school faculty and administrators. While at RAMS, Ms. Hachiuma previously served as the first Coordinator for the agency’s launch of the Summer Bridge program, a summer mentoring program for San Francisco high school students designed to promote awareness of psychological well-being and foster interest in the helping professions. She continuously exhibits unwavering commitment to serving the diverse San Francisco community of children and youth, while modeling and inspiring compassionate & quality mental health care in the field.

Please join RAMS in congratulating Alison and Yuka for this commendation, and in celebrating all the honorees of the various San Francisco districts!

The San Francisco Wellness Initiative

If you'd like to read more about how the Wellness Centers program is structured, the San Francisco Wellness Initiative website is a great place to start.

The mission of the SF Wellness Initiative is to improve the health, well-being, and educational outcomes of San Francisco Unified School District high school students.  RAMS, Inc. is the core provider of behavioral health services for the Wellness Initiative. 

Check out the latest videos (featuring RAMS staff!) from the San Francisco Wellness Initiative YouTube page to learn more about how San Francisco collaborates to support the health of our adolescents.

Trauma/Grief and Loss Counseling Services through the San Francisco high school-based Wellness Centers

RAMS, Inc. has had over a decade of partnership with the San Francisco Wellness Initiative, a collaboration between the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), SF Department of Public Health / Community Behavioral Health Services (SFDPH-CBHS), and Department of Children Youth and Families (DCYF). The Wellness Initiative has established Wellness Centers in, currently, 16 of the public high schools in San Francisco. The Wellness Centers provide free, on-site, confidential health services to students including behavioral health counseling, nursing services, support and empowerment groups, and connections to health resources in the community. RAMS, specifically, is the core behavioral health services provider  with on-site counselors/therapists, clinical case managers, and an intern training program that recruits graduate students annually, to provide support  to over 1,500 students a year.  Over the course of our work, they have experienced a high volume of students regularly affected by frequent acts of community violence that occur several times (sometimes more) a year.  Each violent act simultaneously affects bands of students at several high schools at once and the volume of the problem outweighs the capacity of the Wellness Centers’ staff.  In response to this need, the Trauma/Grief & Loss Counselor (TGL) position was proposed by RAMS and funded through the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) / SFDPH-CBHS in 2009.  The TGL Counselor is integrated, and is available to all 16  Wellness Centers and provides immediate response to and intervenes in schools when students or faculty are affected by school-wide crises, such as neighborhood violence or deaths of students and teachers.  The TGL Counselor provides debriefing, de-escalation, training, and short and long term group therapy. The TGL Counselor possesses a Master’s degree (mental health field), is bilingual & bicultural, and has clinical expertise in working with adolescents and trauma/grief & loss issues. 

Students are recruited for Trauma/Grief & Loss services in several ways. Following an incident of community violence or other tragedy (i.e. suicide or death of teachers) there is subsequent debriefing and containment at a school(s), after which students may directly agree to on-going group support.  The Wellness Center staff also may identify students who have been referred to them by teachers or academic counselors; and have exhibited symptoms of trauma; or have admitted some experience with being victims or witness to violence.  Staff will request TGL group services for these students. TGL services average about six groups per semester.

The curriculum for the Trauma/Grief and Loss groups is a combination of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (Cohen, Mannarino, & Deblinger, 2006) and the Seeking Safety models (Najavits, 2007).  Both models are present-focused and components-based and aim to help group members learn new skills to cope with and manage symptoms of trauma.  Both have evidence that support their efficacy.

For the 2011-12 school year, the TGL Counselor provided services to 90 students and facilitated 11 groups at nine school sites.  The participant demographics were: 51% Latino, 25% African American, with the remaining being Filipino, Multi-racial, Caucasian and Other.  Approximately 70% of the youth had recently experienced the death of a family member or someone close to them while others had issues relating to immigration or other trauma (i.e. suicide or domestic violence).   

To evaluate the effectiveness of the services, students are administered a pre- and post-test during their participation,  based on the Child PTSD Symptom Scale (CPSS) (Foa, et al.,2001) which measures their level of PTSD symptomology on a 1- 51 scale.  Students rating over 15 are considered to be above the clinical PTSD range.  The Wellness Initiative’s research partner, ETR (Evaluation, Training, Research) Associates collects the test data and reports annually on the outcomes. Consistently, the results have been promising.  In the 2011-12 group evaluation survey, 100% of the participants reported a decrease in their PTSD symptoms with an average 16-point drop.  Furthermore, 92% of group participants, at intake, were above the PTSD range; at the end of the group, only 44% of these students measured above the PTSD range.   

It is these hopeful outcomes that support our commitment to serving San Francisco’s youth in the Wellness Centers.  RAMS continues to solicit feedback from students about services to identify and further strengthen culturally competent, consumer-driven programming and how to effectively support youth experiencing trauma symptoms.
Photo credit - by FotoRita on Flickr

Trauma, Grief, and Loss... and Wellness

In times when groups of students are affected by community violence, grief and/or loss, RAMS provides Trauma, Grief & Loss Counseling to provide roving crisis support as part of the Wellness Centers Program therapeutic services at the high school sites. 

Our counselor is able to provide debriefing, short to long term support groups, trainings to parents & teachers, and clinical consultation to other providers. We are pleased to share the “data snapshot” about our positive impact on addressing the trauma, grief, and loss that high school students have experienced as well as how we have supported them in the process of healing & growth.

View the document by clicking on the image below to enlarge (right-click and select any options to "Open").

CIIS Alumni Meet Urban Needs at RAMS

The Spring 2012 hardcopy issue of the community newsletter published by California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) features several CIIS alumni who are working at RAMS. 
You can read the feature story by clicking on the images below to enlarge (right-click and select any options to "Open").

Thank you to our amazing staff for sharing your personal stories!  What you do is an inspiration to us all!

Meet RAMS - The Wellness Centers

RAMS is proud to be the core behavioral health provider for the San Francisco Wellness Initiative whose mission is to improve the health, well-being, and educational outcomes of San Francisco’s public high school students by providing comprehensive, school based student health programming. Founded in 2000, the Initiative is made possible by a unique partnership between the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF), the San Francisco Department of Public Health/Community Behavioral Health Services (DPH/CBHS), and the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). Leveraging the resources of each agency, the Initiative allows the school district, city departments, and community-based organizations such as RAMS to align and coordinate their efforts to address student health needs. Focused on prevention and early intervention in areas critical to student wellness, the San Francisco Wellness Initiative is one of the first networks of high-school-based health centers that has been brought to scale in a school district.

RAMS employs 21 Behavioral Health Counselors, 3 Clinical Case Managers, and a Trauma/Grief & Loss Counselor to work in 15 of the public high schools’ Wellness Centers throughout San Francisco. As a multidisciplinary team (i.e. psychology, marriage & family, counseling, social work), our counselors are able to provide mental health and substance abuse support services to approximately 1700 students each year including; individual & group counseling, assessment & triage, crisis intervention, consultation to teachers & parents, and case management services. Each counselor works as part of a team member of the Wellness Center, who is responsible for serving, primarily, non-academic needs of the students. In addition to RAMS, the core staff typically includes the Wellness Coordinator, a school health nurse, and a Community Health Outreach Worker (CHOW). In addition to providing confidential, behavioral health counseling and medical services to the students, the Wellness Centers’ team also works to link students and their families to resources outside of school, and to bring community based organizations that serve youth onto campus. Wellness Centers’ core beliefs take a holistic view of a student, maintaining that a student whose health & wellness is considered has the best chance for academic and personal success.

One example of the many activities and services provided to students is the Wellness Newsletter.  This is created by the Wellness Team at School of the Arts/Academy Arts & Science, and contributed to by Behavioral Health Counselor Shana Averbach.  Previous newsletters were also profiled on this blog.  Click HERE for the latest newsletter.


Photo credit: desk by Robert S. Donovan

Yahoo! Employee Foundation (YEF) awarded a sizable grant to RAMS

We are extremely pleased to announce a $32,430 generous grant award from the Yahoo! Employee Foundation (YEF), a donor-advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, to RAMS.

The YEF funding will support the high school-based trauma/grief & loss counseling and outreach services RAMS provides through the Wellness Centers. Over the course of the past 10 years of providing bilingual & bicultural services at the high school-based Wellness Centers, RAMS has identified gaps in service delivery for interventions for trauma/grief & loss. Community linkages have proven challenging due to the severe lack of resources for students & families, especially for those living in poverty. In the 2010-2011 school year, about 200 students receiving services through RAMS Wellness Centers’ Behavioral Health Counselors reported being affected by community violence and 450 youth reported grief & loss as one of their main issues. As issues of community violence occur abruptly, having enhanced trauma/grief & loss counseling services greatly strengthen the capacity of schools and the community to intervene. By intervening early and helping students identify feelings and learn strategies to manage strong emotions, we can enable them to function academically and socially in their lives. Furthermore, by providing immediate intervention, we aim to prevent or lessen the biological responses to trauma that often create academic barriers that snowball to close off further education and/or vocational opportunities. In the long term, students are taught coping and de-escalation skills to ameliorate the effects of trauma/grief & loss. Through community building and teaching positive coping skills, we aim to reduce at-risk behaviors including isolation, substance use/abuse, violence and retaliation while increasing retention in school and promoting academic success.

With the YEF funding, there will be enhanced capacity and resources to meet these growing needs of adolescents who are impacted by trauma, grief, and loss issues. Speaking about this grant, Kristin Chun, LMFT, RAMS Director of Behavioral Health Services at Wellness Centers said, “We are truly honored to have the inspiring support of YEF. In a time when economic support for community services is compromised, it’s invaluable to have acknowledgement from the private sector that supporting students to succeed emotionally and academically in schools is a priority. “

Founded in 1999, YEF, one of Yahoo! Inc.’s social responsibility programs is a unique grassroots philanthropic organization that brings together the talents, time, and financial resources of Yahoo! employees to serve the needs of communities around the globe. YEF is a unique foundation that is entirely employee driven and all the money is donated by employees as well as all the activities are run by a volunteer committee of Yahoo! employees.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to RAMS Board of Director member and Yahoo! employee Ms. Pueng Vongs for championing this grant.

Supporting Immigrant Students

American classrooms have become increasingly diverse. Immigrants and refugees now comprise over 20 percent of the students in U.S. public schools, and this percentage is expected to grow to 30 percent by 2015. The number of English language learners has also increased, doubling in size from 1995 to 2005.*

Students who are first, second, third and even fourth generation immigrants may encounter (and continue to encounter) emotional, social and academic challenges.

Galileo High School’s Wellness Center team members Ulash Dunlap, LMFT (RAMS Behavioral Health Counselor) and Deborah Bryant, RN contributed to a publication titled “Strategies for Engaging Immigrant and Refugees Families.” This is a document produced by National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention and published by Education Development Center in July, 2011. The publication interviews individuals and schools across the country and is a wonderful resource for our school community. Below it is a summary of some of the educational, emotional and social lessons learned in working with immigrant students. Hope you find this information useful in your work!

Social and Emotional Challenges of Immigrant Students and Families

FAMILY 
• Many families have experienced separations for extended periods as children are sent ahead to live with relatives, or parents emigrate first in order to establish a life before sending for their families.
• There is the stress of moving to a new environment and culture. Immigrant families face the challenge of adapting to a new culture and learning new rules and roles.
• Families may experience conflict between generations as children and youth often acculturate more quickly than their parents.
• Many parents experience the stress of not being able to speak the language. They may experience adult and child role reversals when children learn English more quickly and need to act as interpreters and negotiators with health care and school officials.
• Lack of involvement in the immigration process: students not involved in the moving process may exhibit anger towards parents.

SCHOOL
• Most immigrant families deeply care about their children’s education and health. However, many immigrants often show respect for schools by keeping their distance; the unspoken norm in many countries outside of the United States is that it is the teacher’s job is to educate their children, and thus it is disrespectful to a teacher’s expertise for parents to participate.
• Other factors that may influence parental engagement are parent’s limited English language proficiency, parent’s negative perceptions of the school environment, work schedules, limited formal education, lack of resources and ability to help their children with homework.
• Social isolation from language/cultural barriers can lead to truancy, gang involvement, depression, and other mental health issues.
• Emphasis on high academic performance can cause anxiety and stress for the student.
• Lack of positive role models that can relate to immigrant youth’s unique up-bringing and experience; makes developing a positive self-identity and hope for the future more difficult.

CULTURE AND LANGUAGE
• Grief and loss issues: leaving family members, friends, and communities behind, losing previous socio-economic status, social or cultural identities, or transitioning from dominant to minority group consciousness, may create a sense of loss. Immigrant students may also experience resentment, stress, anxiety, discrimination, and hostility in their new communities.
• The notion of a healthy kid may be different from the Western idea of “healthy adolescent development.” For example, in some cultures, being a healthy kid means to not talk about problems outside the family.
• Language barriers: frustration in being misunderstood, teasing by peers can create loneliness and isolation.

Here Are Some Strategies Staff Might Find Helpful:
• Provide opportunities for immigrant students to tell their stories. Share those stories with the school community (during faculty or department meetings, postings on the school web site and/or G-House TV).
• Recognize that it may take five to seven years for students to learn how to read and write in English. Take this into account as you create and grade class work and tests.
• Mental health issues may arise as a result of exposure to war, dislocation, acculturation, and fear of deportation. To avoid stigma, don’t use the labels “mental health or “mental illness.” Refer students to the Wellness Program for counseling.
• Consider becoming a mentor. A mentoring relationship with an adult can help children to sustain hope and enhance engagement in school.

If you would like more information or get a downloadable copy, you can also visit the National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention web site at: http://sshs.promoteprevent.org/publications/pp-guides/strategies-engaging-immigrant-and-refugee-families.

Source * Morse, A. (2005, March). A look at immigrant youth: Prospects and promising practices. National Conference of State Legislatures, Children’s Policy Initiative.

Meet RAMS - Shana Averbach

The Wellness Centers is a collaboration with leadership from the SF Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF), Department of Public Health (DPH), San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), and RAMS. Confidential student services are provided on-site at 15 Wellness Centers located in SFUSD high schools, at which RAMS provides the integrated behavioral health services component (mental health & substance abuse). This includes confidential on-site Mental Health and Substance Abuse Assessments, Individual and Group Psychotherapy, Crisis Intervention/Consultation, Grief & Loss/Trauma Counseling, Referrals to community resources, and Consultation to school staff and community.

One Wellness Center serving two distinct communities under one roof is located at The Ruth Asawa School of the Arts and Academy of Arts & Sciences high schools. This Wellness Center is in its fifth year and serves a diverse student population of nearly 1000 students. Shana Averbach, the full-time Behavioral Health Counselor, in addition to providing direct services to students, consulting with parents and teachers, and collaborating with community resources, believes that educating the entire school community about holistic health topics is key to supporting youth and families. She, in collaboration with her wellness team and student advisers puts out five newsletters per year, addressing mental health issues, providing nutrition and physical health information, and providing a space for parent/student dialogue.

Check out the first three newsletters by clicking HERE.

Photo credit - ydhsu on Flickr

RAMS at CAMFT 2011

We are pleased to announce that the RAMS Wellness Centers Program shall be represented at the upcoming 2011 California Association of Marriage & Family Therapists Annual Conference. The title of the presentation is “Lessons Learned: Providing Creative Tools for Working in School-Based Services to Meet the Needs of Diverse Youth”.

The annual conference, already in its 47th year, shall be held from May 12-15 in Burlingame, CA. RAMS Behavioral Health Counselors Ulash Thakore-Dunlap, MS, Shana Averbach, MS, Alissa Gunsberg, MA, Mia Gutfreund, MA, and Kin Leung, LMFT, as well as Program Director Kristin Chun, LMFT, shall be presenting Thursday May 12, on behalf of RAMS.

We are very proud and honored to have our work at the Wellness Centers recognized and showcased at such an esteemed event!

Recognitions well deserved!

On December 21, 2010, RAMS received three Certificates of Recognition from Sai-Ling Chan-Sew, LCSW, Director of the Child, Youth, & Family System of Care in the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

The RAMS Child, Youth, & Family Outpatient Services was recognized for

• Exceptional agency-wide compliance in providing a detailed picture of children, youth, and families served by completing the "Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths" assessment, and


• "For its commitment to the implementation of the Second Step program, a research based violence prevention curriculum that emphasizes the development of social and emotional skills to help students succeed in school and in life"

The RAMS Wellness Centers (Behavioral Health Services) program was recognized for

• "Its commitment to the implementation of Seeking Safety, an evidence-based, manual-guided cognitive behavioral therapy for co-occurring PTSD and substance abuse issues"

A huge CONGRATULATIONS to our program staff for all of their hard work and accomplishments!

Promoting Equality in Schools

The Wellness Centers program shall be featured in a presentation by RAMS Wellness Centers Behavioral Health Counselor Ulash Dunlap, MS, PPSC, at the 6th World Conference on the Promotion of Mental Health and Prevention of Mental and Behavioral Disorders. This will be held on November 17-19, 2010 in Washington DC.

The title of Ms. Dunlap’s presentation is “Promoting Equality in Schools: Lessons Learned in Working with Immigrant Youth”. Ulash Dunlap (Behavioral Health Counselor, RAMS, Inc.); Kavoos G. Bassiri (President & CEO RAMS, Inc.); Deborah Bryant (School District Nurse, San Francisco Unified School District - SFUSD); Kristin Chun (Director, Behavioral Health Services/Wellness Centers Program, RAMS, Inc.)

The presentation will explore how RAMS is successfully and collaboratively working on-site at the schools to support the mental health needs of immigrant students vital work which, in turn, helps to promote equality. RAMS provides the integrated behavioral health services component of school services, including mental health & substance abuse treatment. During RAMS tenure, students have been surveyed bi-annually by ETR & Associates (outside evaluator) to assess satisfaction with services. In the most recent survey of all Wellness Centers, results support that, as a result of meeting with a RAMS Counselor, there has been improved psychological well-being & skills around managing school & home life.

How can counselors and school-based mental health professionals serve immigrant youth in culturally appropriate ways? Grounded in both theory and practice in the schools, this presentation focuses on immigration trends, acculturation, stressors, mental health, language needs, health care, and challenges in working with immigrant youth in schools. Through case scenarios and lessons learned by RAMS and Wellness Centers staff, this presentation outlines the practical counseling, and collaborative and community interventions that culturally competent school counselors and mental health professionals may want to consider when working with immigrant youth.

Presenting aplenty at AAPA and APA

The Asian American Psychological Association (AAPA) 2010 Annual Convention, "Expanding Our Horizons: The Next Decade in AAPI Psychology", took place on August 11 at University of San Diego, California. RAMS was well-represented at this illustrious annual event, with presentations from:

Dr. Katherine Eng, Psychologist at the Adult/Older Adult Outpatient Clinic:
"The Future in the Field: Effective Techniques and Programs in the Clinical Training of API serving clinicians", a panel presentation together with Helen Hsu & Jennifer Lee. The symposium presented best practice techniques and programs in the training of clinicians to work effectively with Asian American Pacific Islander populations.

Ulash Dunlap, Behavioral Health Counselor at the Wellness Centers program:
"Post-partum Depression Among Asian and Asian American Women: Cultural Considerations and Treatment", a panel presentation together with Juli Fraga and Denise Kwok. This session explored ways that mental health providers can provide better screening, early intervention, and clinical support for Postpartum Depression (PPD) among Asian and Asian American women.
and
"Creative and Culturally Responsive Outreach with South Asian American Populations" – DoSAA-sponsored, a panel presentation together with Nima Patel, Anjuli Amin and Razia Kosi. Therapists facilitated a discussion focused on building bridges to South Asian (SA) communities through the use of outreach services.

Poster sessions were also featured at the convention, including a presentation from RAMS and Alliant International University-CSPP, represented by Drs. Eddie Chiu, Director of Asian Family Institute, and Tai Chang from CSPP: "Training Asian American psychologists for the real world: Integrating program evaluation and clinical training in a community mental health setting" Chiu, E. Y., Ph.D., Chang, T., Ph.D., Okubo, Y., Ph.D., Adams, L. A., MA., Bassiri, K. G., MS., Kwan, K., Ph.D., Shea, C., MS.

The American Psychological Association (APA) 2010 Annual Convention took place immediately following the AAPA, August 12-15. RAMS staff Ulash Dunlap, together with co-presenters Anjuli Amin and Daisy Singla, gave a talk titled "South Asian Women through Multiple Lens: Health, School, and Religion/Culture". In an attempt to understand and shed light on the various acculturative processes that South Asian women encounter in their daily life, this symposium addressed three important areas for counselors to consider: school, health, and religion.

Let's give a round of applause to our distinguished presenters!

Photo credit: seretuaccidente on Flickr

Meet RAMS - Brooke Miller, MFTi

Brooke Miller, MFTi, who is a Behavioral Health Counselor in the school-based Wellness Centers Program, recently published her piece “The Thing About The InBetween” in the CAMFT April 2010 newsletter. She also presented a workshop titled “Language of Body Image: Working With Women & Girls From Inside Out In Culturally Diverse San Francisco” at CBHS 1380 Howard on March 9, organized by the San Francisco Mental Health Board and GABHS (Gender Appropriate Behavioral Health Services) For Gals.

Brooke is also the intrepid blogger behind http://www.soapboxtherapy.com/. Go check it out!

The Wellness Centers Program is funded by the San Francisco Wellness Centers Initiative, which provides on-site medical/mental health & substance abuse counseling services & community resources to youth at San Francisco high schools & middle schools.

Meet RAMS - Ulash Dunlap, MFTi

Ulash Dunlap, MFTi, a RAMS Behavioral Health Counselor at the Wellness Centers Program, presented two programs – “Lessons Learned in Urban Schools: Conducting Groups With Latino and Asian Youth” on March 20, “Fearing the Knock of La Migra: Counseling Latino Immigrant Children in Schools” on March 21 – at the American Counselor Association Conference in Pittsburgh, PA.

Ulash shall also be presenting at the upcoming American Psychology Association conference in August, on “South Asian Women Through Multiple Lens: Health, School, and Religion/Culture”, and will be collaborating with RAMS staff on another proposal to present at the conference.

The Wellness Centers Program is funded by the San Francisco Wellness Centers Initiative, which provides on-site medical/mental health & substance abuse counseling services & community resources to youth at San Francisco high schools & middle schools.