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Webinar | Equity-Grounded Leadership Fellow Program: A Co-Produced Approach to Behavioral Health System Transformation
March 16, 2023 @ 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm MDT
Leaders must embody equity as an operating principle – as a mindset – to transform behavioral health systems. But what does this mean, and how is it operationalized for leaders?
Significant gaps exist in advancing behavioral health equity, with underrepresented, marginalized, and oppressed groups continuing to have disparate outcomes. Major system-level changes are in progress that will require behavioral health leaders be prepared to disrupt the status quo by addressing the pervasive inequities that continue to plague communities across the country. It is essential to support, develop, and orient leaders to a new approach to systems transformation, one where leaders grow and acquire the confidence, skills, and knowledge necessary to disrupt the current harmful system practices, policies, and cultures. Without this co-produced intervention, we risk continuing to fail individuals, families, and communities who face these inequities every day.
The Equity-Grounded Leadership (EGL) Fellow Program, developed and piloted from 2022 to 2023, is designed to shift the focus of cross-sector behavioral health leaders to intersectionality, equity, and anti-racism for behavioral health systems transformation. In this webinar, we will share the journey to co-produce the EGL Fellow Program; explore the five Principles of Change for Equity-Grounded Leaders, including the knowledge, values and skills, and operational practice behaviors for each principle; and celebrate examples of equity-grounded leadership in action.
This event is open to all!
When: March 16 at 11:00am PT / 12:00pm MT / 1:00pm CT / 2:00pm ET
Speakers:
Dr. Jei Africa | Director, Marin County (CA) Behavioral Health and Recovery Services
David Auzenne, MPH | Senior Fellow for Health Equity, Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute
Brad Barfield, MBA | Vice President, Envision:You
Dr. Crystal L. Brandow | Principal, clb strategies, LLC
Ebony Chambers | Chief Family & Youth Partnership Officer, Stanford Sierra Youth and Families
Aly Feye, MPA | Director of Operations, The College for Behavioral Health Leadership
Dr. Michele Guzmán | Principal, TriWest Group
April Ludwig, LMFT | Business Consultant & Executive Coach, ALudwig Consulting Services
Marcy Melvin, MA, LPC | Deputy Director, The Hackett Center for Mental Health, Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute
B.J. Wagner, MS | Senior Vice President of Health and Public Safety, Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute
Thank You to Our Founding Funders!

Speakers Information

Dr. Jei Africa
Dr. Africa is an innovative thought-leader and clinician who is passionate about integrating effective culturally responsive practices into the core functioning of County health services. Dr. Africa has over two decades experience in the areas of behavioral health, trauma, health equity, and diversity. He is an activist and an advocate for the physical and emotional well-being of individuals and families, with an emphasis on improving health care equity for historically marginalized communities. He believes that love and justice are essential to transforming people’s lives.

David Auzenne, MPH
David Auzenne has nearly 20 years of experience designing, implementing, and evaluating public health programs. He employs a data-driven, partnership-building, community-centered, systems-based approach to advance health equity and reduce health disparities in vulnerable populations. David has served in leadership roles at the local and state level leading infectious disease prevention, community health, health promotion and chronic disease prevention, and health equity initiatives. David received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan, and a Master of Public Health degree Columbia University.

Brad Barfield, MBA
Brad Barfield (he/him) is a Program Manager with Envision:You, and as a queer biracial person in recovery himself, is passionate about creating culturally responsive and affirming resources for the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community focused on mental health and substance use. At Envision:You, he oversees programming for queer and questioning youth, LGBTQ+ folks living in rural Colorado, DEI initiatives, and all grantwriting efforts. He also recently participated in the LGBT Executive Leadership Institute hosted by Community Shares of Colorado. Prior to his role at Envision:You, Brad worked at the Office of eHealth Innovation under Lieutenant Governor Dianne Primavera’s portfolio, and also at Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics, a pediatric integrated care practice serving primarily Medicaid and uninsured youth. Before moving to Denver in 2013, he spent a decade in Washington, DC working with the Washington AIDS Partnership, Food & Friends, and The Advisory Board Company. Brad holds a Masters of Business Administration from George Washington University, and a Bachelors of Engineering from Vanderbilt University.

Dr. Crystal Brandow
Crystal L. Brandow, PhD, has been working in the fields of behavioral and community health for over a decade, including efforts related to well-being and wellness; trauma, healing, and resilience; identity, culture, and bias; and social justice. Dr. Brandow’s interests include broader, interdisciplinary topics related to public health communication, population health, and health disparities. Applying these interests, her portfolio and expertise includes training, facilitation, technical and academic writing, curriculum development, and product development on interdisciplinary topics related to public health and disparities. Dr. Brandow strives to integrate an equity lens to all the projects she engages in. Dr. Brandow centers her work around Wellness First, and aims to bring an authentic, impactful, innovative voice to the behavioral health space.

Ebony Chambers
Ebony Chambers, Chief Family & Youth Partnership Officer at Stanford Sierra Youth and Families, has over 18 years of experience working with issues of social justice, equity, education, mental health and diversity. Ebony brings both professional and personal life experiences to her work and provides the oversight of advocacy and support to youth and families in the Northern California Region.
She is a speaker, educator, and workshop leader who has worked extensively throughout the United States and has served nationally and locally as an advocate and activist for access to care and the elimination of the stigma of mental illness for underserved and unserved communities. Chambers has provided extensive training in cultural competence and culturally responsive practices to schools, universities, social service and mental health agencies through her work in non-profit and for UC Davis Center for Family Focused Practice. Through her classes and trainings, she covers a wide range of topics including examining issues of privilege, power and the role of leaders and educators in a multicultural society.

Dr. Michele Guzmán
Michele Guzmán, Ph.D., provides consultation, technical assistance, and evaluation services to foundations, government agencies, and other organizations that are primarily in the human services and mental health field. She brings 20 years of experience in diversity and multicultural counseling, mental health policy and services, integrated health care, workforce development, and evaluation to help organizations better serve their clients. As described above, she is co-leading the race equity in juvenile justice project in Santa Clara, California, and working with the American Association of Colleges & Universities to support evaluation of over 30 Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation campus centers. Early in her career, Michele was Assistant Vice President for Diversity Education Initiatives at the University of Texas at Austin and has deep knowledge of effective diversity curricula. Using these skills, she works with leaders to design, implement, and evaluate equity-based initiatives.

April Ludwig, LMFT
April Ludwig has served as a critical member of business practices in the behavioral health field for over 20 years. She is an industry leader who integrates practice improvement techniques with systems restructuring. Her work as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist has given her the advantage of understanding the value of assessment, evaluation, and action-oriented planning. She leads from the framework of purpose-driven accountability and resilience. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of California, at Davis and her graduate degree from the University of Phoenix. April is the Founder and Principal Consultant for ALudwig Consulting, developed from her passion for streamlining and strengthening organizational practices, which has been paramount to her professional success. Under ALudwig Consulting, April provides professional life coaching and development mapping, tactical frameworks to effectively move business systems forward, and problem solving and coaching techniques for successful resolutions

Marcy Melvin, MA, LPC
Marcy Melvin, MA, LPC, is the Deputy Director of The Hackett Center and Health Equity Strategy Lead at the Meadows Institute. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Texas with over 25 years of experience in providing direct clinical and supervisory services to children, youth, parents, and young adults in various clinical settings including residential, in-home, outpatient, private practice, primary, secondary, and post-secondary locations. Marcy is extremely passionate about advancing health equity and reducing disparities and disproportionality this has been a culmination of her life’s work in various clinical, organizational and systems settings. Marcy Melvin has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Xavier University of Louisiana and a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology from Fisk University.

B.J. Wagner, MS
B.J. Wagner, MS, joined the Meadows Institute in the fall of 2015. In her current role, B.J. works to expand the Institute’s efforts in health and public safety, managing multifaceted law enforcement and first responder projects focused on mental health emergency response, first responder health and wellness, and more. B.J. possesses a unique blend of first-hand law enforcement experience and deep knowledge of police policy and operating procedures, program evaluation, and technical advising. She has developed curriculum for disciplines across the criminal justice system on mental health awareness, symptom recognition, and verbal de-escalation techniques. Her work has lead to the creation of national and international award winning programs. B.J. has worked across projects focused on the intersection of behavioral health and justice systems with a specific focus on emergency response models. Since 2019 B.J. has served as the Executive Director of the Caruth Police Institute at the University of North Texas at Dallas (CPI) through a unique collaboration with the Meadows Institute and UNTD and has transformed CPI from a Dallas area police training institute to a nationally recognized leader in police policy, training, and consultation