Five-Part Training Series | | Building Cultural Responsiveness in Mobile Crisis Teams | | |
Dear Counties and Mobile Crisis Partners,
The M-TAC team is proud to launch a five-part training series that will support mobile crisis teams in delivering culturally appropriate care to California’s diverse communities. The series will run from January to May of 2025 and will build on the foundational concepts of cultural humility covered in M-TAC's Year 1 training. Each of these five trainings will focus on developing competencies for providing culturally responsive care to specific populations, including Asian American and Pacific Islander, Black and African American, Latin and Latinx, LGBTQIA+, youth as well as young adult populations.
These trainings are designed to support mobile crisis service providers with best-practice strategies for crisis intervention and culturally responsive services. By emphasizing social and clinical factors that influence behavioral health access, we aim to foster connections between individuals in crisis and culturally accessible services.
Intended Audience
Our target audience includes county mobile crisis teams operating under the Mobile Crisis Medi-Cal benefit, county-contracted providers, supervisors, and county behavioral health leaders. Participants may attend one session or the entire series.
Duration
Each session will last 60 minutes, inclusive of both didactic presentations and learning exercises. Immediately following each training session, participants may join a 30-minute discussion session allowing for the exchange of ideas and questions/answers.
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Series Learning Objectives | | |
Understand the Context
- Participants will review current statistics and trends affecting mobile crisis services, particularly those concerning suicide and risk rates in specific populations.
- Attendees will identify socio-economic and cultural factors that impact behavioral health challenges and help-seeking behaviors within these communities.
Enhance Cultural Responsiveness for Mobile Crisis Providers
- The training will cultivate an understanding of cultural beliefs and practices that may influence perceptions of behavioral health conditions and treatment.
- Participants will learn to recognize and address implicit biases and stereotypes that could impact their interactions with individuals in crisis.
Implement Appropriate and Effective Mobile Crisis Intervention Strategies
- Attendees will learn about culturally appropriate resources tailored to meet the unique needs of diverse individuals in crisis.
- Training will cover safe de-escalation methods and communication skills that respect cultural norms and foster trust.
By prioritizing cultural humility in mobile crisis response, we aim to improve engagement and achieve better outcomes for diverse populations. This training series will encourage mobile crisis teams to deliver the highest quality of care, ensuring that all individuals receive the support they need in their most vulnerable moments and foster a more inclusive approach to behavioral health care.
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Erin Zamora, LMFT, LPCC
Erin Zamora is a training and Technical Assistance Specialist with the Center for Applied Research Solutions (CARS). Erin has 15-years of experience in mobile crisis response and management and has made significant contributions to the behavioral health crisis response landscape in San Bernardino County. As a program manager, she played a pivotal role in creating a 24/7 crisis phone line for San Bernardino County, ensuring that individuals in distress have access to immediate support around the clock. Erin’s leadership extends to disaster response, where she has been instrumental in supporting the community’s behavioral health needs immediately following natural disasters and critical incidents. Her leadership is characterized by a commitment to training and development, which is further exemplified by her role as a POST-certified instructor, training with the San Bernardino Sheriff Academy and Crisis Intervention Team (CIT).
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SESSION 1
Culturally Responsive Crisis Care in Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities
JANUARY 22, 2025, 10-11:30 AM
PRESENTERS
Dr. DJ Ida, Senior Advisor and Executive Director Emeritus, National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association
Dr. DJ Ida has over 40 years of experience with Asian American/Pacific Islander communities and holds a doctorate in clinical psychology. She helped establish organizations such as the Asian Pacific Development Center and the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association. Dr. Ida has served on advisory boards including the US Dept HHS SAMHSA, Mental Health America, and the Hogg Foundation. She received the Robert Wood Johnson Award for Health Equity and authored the Office of Minority Health’s Integrated Care for AANHPIs: A Blueprint for Action (2012). She contributed to the Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health and the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. Dr. Ida developed initiatives like Growing Our Own to train culturally competent clinicians, Achieving Whole Health to train Wellness Coaches, and Mental Health Interpreters Training for immigrant and refugee populations.
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Dr. Sriya Bhattacharyya, Psychologist
Dr. Sriya Bhattacharyya is a psychologist and yogi working at the intersection of social transformation and creative healing. She is a diversity director and clinical medical psychology instructor at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and a member of the National Asian American Pacific Islander Empowerment Network. Her work focuses on resisting anti-Muslim violence, xenophobia, and caste-based oppression while engaging creative arts and fostering shared connection through yoga.
Dr. Bhattacharyya holds an MA and PhD in counseling psychology from Boston College, with training at Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Harvard Medical School. She is a certified yoga instructor and has received awards such as Columbia’s Outstanding First Year Course Award and APA’s Excellence in Campus Leadership Award. Guided by principles of anti-oppression and social liberation, her work emphasizes community collaboration and healing.
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SESSION 2
Culturally Responsive Crisis Care in LGBTQ Communities
MARCH 13, 2025, 10-11:30 AM
PRESENTERS
Alex Filippelli, Project Co-Director and TA Liaison, LGBTQ TA Center
Alex Filippelli is a queer and trans white settler and documented foreign worker who has dedicated their career to promoting health equity, racial, and gender justice. They bring deep knowledge of qualitative research and evaluation, including specific focus on transgender health needs and barriers. As a practitioner, Alex has developed and provided training and education on community needs assessments, program evaluations, harm reduction, trauma-informed, anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice frameworks.
Prior to joining CARS, Alex was part-time faculty with CSU Sacramento’s Division of Social Work. They also have extensive experience in non-profit management, program evaluation, and direct service, including having spent several years overseeing Gender Health Center, Sacramento’s Trans and LGBQ-affirming behavioral workforce development program as part of the California Reducing Disparities Project. Prior to immigrating to the US, Alex worked as a participatory action researcher using arts-based methods in the gender-based violence prevention field. Alex has also supported white people to unlearn racism and promote mutual aid initiatives as part of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ).
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SESSION 3
Culturally Responsive Crisis Care in Black and African American Communities
APRIL 15, 2025, 10-11:30 AM
PRESENTERS
Tansy McNulty, CEO of 1M4
Tansy McNulty is the Founder and CEO of 1 Million Madly Motivated Moms (1M4), a non-profit organization with a bold mission to eradicate police violence in the United States by 2038. Tansy's innovative approach to police accountability, mental health, and safety alternatives emphasizing public safety transformation and community-based
strategies distinguish her in the field. Tansy led 1M4 to create a first-of-its-kind online, national database of alternatives to police through The Right Response directory. In 2024, The Right Response platform helped over 3500 community members locate response teams in their local area, reducing reliance on law enforcement and promoting healthier outcomes. Tansy is a leading voice in the fight against police violence, advocating for innovative solutions that are data-proven to increase public safety and decriminalize mental illness. Tansy holds an MBA in Supply Chain Management from Tennessee State University and a bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Southern Mississippi. These qualifications and her experience in major corporations driving cost reduction, process improvement, and root cause analysis initiatives provide her with a strong foundation in strategic operations, project management, and risk mitigation, which she skillfully applies to her social justice work.
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SESSION 4
Culturally Responsive Crisis Care in Latino/a/x Communities
MAY 15, 2025, 10-11:30 AM
PRESENTERS
Angela Castellanos, LCSW, Center for Applied Research Solutions (CARS)
Angela Castellanos, LCSW, is a bilingual and bicultural mental health clinician with over 25 years of diverse and progressive experience in behavioral health. As a licensed clinical social worker, she has provided direct mental health services to the Latinx community, including newcomers. She has developed and delivered trainings for providers to support this population better. Angela specializes in administering mental health programs, mentoring professionals at local, state, and federal levels, and developing best practices in Trauma, Suicide Prevention, Crisis Response and Recovery, and School Mental Health. Her expertise also includes launching a mental health conference in El Salvador, further demonstrating her commitment to advancing mental health support globally.
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SESSION 5
Culturally Responsive Crisis Care in Youth & Young Adult Communities
MAY 27, 2025
PRESENTERS
Erin Hamilton, Associate Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Stanford Sierra Youth & Families
Erin Hamilton is a diversity, equity and inclusion strategist who also serves as the associate director of diversity, equity and inclusion at Stanford Sierra Youth & Families. Erin brings years of experience working alongside communities impacted by the largest burden of social and racial inequity. Spending much of her early professional career in the field of public health, she has passionately worked to tackle pressing social issues affecting communities of color, such as climate injustice, disproportionality in maternal health, chronic disease disparities, and the impact of laws and policies as drivers of inequity. She has an intimate understanding of the need for justice and repair to create whole communities.
Erin holds an undergraduate degree in political science and is a candidate for a master of arts degree in leadership with an emphasis on organizational innovation and change. She believes in the value of disrupting oppressive cultural norms and is committed to elevating voices that have been systemically silenced. Erin is a mother of two young children with whom she loves going on adventures.
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Sydney Gurrola-Bice, Family and Youth Partnership Program Manager, Stanford Sierra Youth & Families
Sydney Gurrola-Bice is a dedicated program manager with extensive experience supporting youth and families navigating crisis situations. With a strong background in advocacy, leadership, and training development, she has played a pivotal role in enhancing crisis response strategies and empowering communities through education. In her current role, Sydney oversees peer-certified staff with lived experience and maintains critical partnerships across El Dorado, Placer, and Sacramento Counties. Through her leadership, she has strengthened family and youth advocacy efforts, ensuring that lived experience remains central to crisis intervention and system transformation. Sydney holds a bachelor’s degree in family and consumer science from Sacramento State University and is currently pursuing a graduate degree in leadership to further her career in serving the behavioral health workforce. She remains committed to fostering resilience, empowerment, and systemic change by equipping communities with the knowledge and tools needed to effectively navigate crises.
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Register for this series below! | | |
Sign up for individual TA with the M-TAC Team!
If you have any questions or technical assistance needs, our team is still here to support you! You can email any questions to mobilecrisisinfo@cars-rp.org or you can submit a TA request using the link below.
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Toll-Free Number: (888) 712-7944
mobilecrisisinfo@cars-rp.org
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