epcounty.com - Mental Health Support Services

Staff
Rita Ruelas, LCSW, Director
Ms. Rita Ruelas is the Director for the Mental Health Support Services and oversees a consortium of child-serving agencies in order to provide a comprehensive, family driven and youth guided approach to mental health within the County of El Paso, Texas. Ms. Ruelas was recently charged with the responsibility to coordinate communication, project implementation and recommendations for the Commissioners’ Court on any and all mental health concerns and strategic initiatives. In a community plagued by poverty and mental health professional shortages, Ms. Ruelas works with community organizations, state systems and private sector practitioners to ensure a continuum of care is present for youth suffering from Severe Emotional Disturbances.
In addition to the duties of a Department Director and public servant, Ms. Ruelas has worked towards amplifying the “wraparound” voice for El Paso, Texas in the mental health policy sector. Ms. Ruelas has provided support to the legislative process by working closely with the Texans for Children’s Mental Health Forum. As one of five cities in Texas that invests in a wraparound philosophy, Ms. Ruelas works with other leaders in Texas to ensure sustainability and fidelity for the model. Ms. Ruelas has maintained sustainability of the Mental Health Support Services, transitioning it from a grant funded project to a full-fledged County department. To offset the burden to taxpayers, Ms. Ruelas continues to find methods to financially sustain the department. She has directed and guided staff to write over $2.8 million dollars in grant acquisitions and nearly $30,000 of in-kind services within the last year.
Ms. Ruelas has nearly 30 years of experience in assessing and diagnosing youth, providing key assistance to several prominent child psychiatrists in the region. Ms. Ruelas has sat on the Board of Trustees for El Paso Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Centro De Salud Familiar La Fe and the County of El Paso Child Welfare Board. Besides her academic accolades, Ms. Ruelas has also been recognized by the community with esteemed awards such as the Volunteer of The Year for the State of Texas through the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services. Ms. Ruelas worked for the Domestic Relations Office before hired as the Director of Mental Halth Support Services in 2009.
Esteban Zubia, Parent Liaison
Mr. Zubia has worked for Mental Health Support Services since 2008 as the Parent Liaison. Mr. Zubia is responsible for the coordination of family education and the delivery of instructional courses focused on mental health during the Family Academy (link to Family Academy). His responsibility to the families and to BCMHC is to serve as a resource to the system of care on parenting skills, techniques, organizational change and cross cultural practices. He also serves as a bridge between system of care and cultural communities, resources, families and youth, providers, community agencies and other stakeholders. In addition Mr. Zubia creates mechanisms to receive parent input that informs the design and implementation of the system of care. Mr. Zubia has been instrumental in obtaining different grants to sustain the continuation of the Family Academy.
Like his co-workers, Mr. Zubia works with the Mental Health Support Services mission in mind and a passion to assist families in their growth and development. During enrollment, Mr. Zubia noted that a family, with 6 children ages 4 to 18, did not have certain basic needs met and would struggle to work together as a family in order to meet the challenges that lay ahead. The family used to eat together, crouched around the base of the fireplace and sleep on the floor of their home. Mr. Zubia worked with a network of community partners to acquire bed sets for the children, pots and pans to cook with and a dining room table to eat together as a family. This is but one example of his work to stabilize and assist families so they can focus on the goals set by their Care Management Team. To support the families in the BCMHC, click here to donate (link to a donation site).
Esteban Zubia earned his Bachelor’s degree in Family Studies from Texas Woman’s University. Mr. Zubia worked as a Project Manager for Cardon Healthcare where he directed and coordinated the daily operation for the company third party eligibility for underserved families lacking health insurance. Mr. Zubia also worked as an administrator for Centro De Salud Familiar La Fe where he managed and administered programmatic operations of assigned programs in a culturally sensitive manner. He was responsible for ensuring compliance with project goals and objectives, funding source requirements and organizational policies and procedures. He developed over 300 partnerships with organizations that included nine El Paso school districts, which formed the TexCare Collaborative for the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Vicki Maestas, BSW, Youth Engagement Specialist
Vicki Maestas is the Youth Engagement Specialist for the Mental Health Support Services since 2007. She assists in preparing individualized service plans for teens and families participating in the Collaborative, utilizing the wraparound system of care. She organizes and schedules leadership trainings, team building events, service learning and various educational field trips and positive recreational activities for the youth. Ms. Maestas assists in searching and preparing grant opportunities to help sustain the youth program. She provides professional youth leadership development through customized, age appropriate curriculum during the course of the BCMHC Family Academy. In addition, Ms. Maestas facilitates a weekly support group for youth involved in the Juvenile Drug Court, housed in the Juvenile Probation Department. The group focuses on self empowerment and self-esteem building and assists youth in identifying goals to reach positive youth development outcomes.
Ms. Maestas has gone beyond the role of engagement and facilitation for youth involved in the BCMHC as exemplified by her efforts to organize a Thanksgiving dinner for youth transitioning out of foster care (link to pictures) without any biological family to assist them into adulthood. Many youth do not know the comfort of a home-cooked meal, let alone the practice of families dining together and creating happy memories. Ms. Maestas utilized her rich network of resources to find a rental space (free of charge), traditional Thanksgiving food and volunteers to assist in serving in order to provide this vulnerable population an experience to remember.
Ms. Maestas comes to BCMHC with a varied mix of experience and education and has worked in youth development and coordination for over 20 years. Vicki Maestas earned her Associate’s Degree in Psychology from El Paso Community College and her Bachelor’s in Social Work from the University of Texas at El Paso. She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy at Liberty University. Ms. Maestas worked as the Director of Teen Leadership with the El Paso YWCA. She served as a Social Work Intern in Congressman Silvestre Reyes’ El Paso Office and was an Adolescent Advisor at AmeriCorps. Ms. Maestas is a member of several community organizations and serves on the board Collegial Ministry of El Paso and the State of Texas.
Daniel Chavez, MSW, Counselor
Daniel Chavez is the Family Skills Counselor for BCMHC. He provides intensive in-home individual, family and group counseling for youth and their respective families currently involved with the Juvenile Probation Department.
Daniel’s work with BCMHC began in 2004 when he was hired as part of the initial Care Management team. After receiving extensive training in Wraparound Services and Strength Based Approached treatment, Daniel worked with families whose children were in out of home placements in order to transition them back into their homes or prevent future out of home placements. In 2008, Mr. Chavez left BCMHC to work as a Court Investigator for Probate Court 1 under the Honorable Judge Yvonne Rodriguez. As a court investigator, he conducted the investigation for legal guardianships for incapacitated persons and also handled cases of abuse, neglect and exploitation of the elderly and incapacitated. In late 2010, Mr. Chavez made the move back to BCMHC as a counselor to follow his passion of working with youth and their families.
Mr. Chavez is a proud graduate from New Mexico University, where he earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Social Work. During his time in the Social Work program at New Mexico State University, Mr. Chavez spent the majority of his internship time with the Las Cruces Public Schools Special Education Department. In this role, he assisted with the Las Cruces High School Building Trades, S.T.A.Y Alternative School and HeadStart programs. In addition, he assisted in facilitating a M.E.N’s group for fathers, step-fathers, grandfathers, uncles and other significant males in the lives of HeadStart children. The M.E.N’s group was invited to present at the 2003 National HeadStart Conference in New York. During his time at New Mexico State University, Mr. Chavez also worked part time at the Child Crisis Center as a Child Care Provider for abused and neglected children.
Yolanda Uranga, Counselor
Yolanda Uranga is the Counselor assigned to assist in the development of services in the Mental Health Court of the Juvenile Probation Department at El Paso County. Ms. Uranga will provide assessments to youth and families and oversee the development and implementation of treatment and discharge planning, utilizing a system of care approach to develop a network of support services for the juvenile and family involved in the Mental Health Courts.
Ms. Uranga possesses an array of experiences with mental health services in the community. Ms. Uranga became a staff member at the El Paso County Department of Mental Health Support Services to assist the community of El Paso. She has fifteen years of experience in the mental health field ranging from direct care to administration.
Ms. Uranga earned her Master’s Degree in Counseling from Webster University. She is currently trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, and is a Certified Cognitive Processing Therapist.
Ms. Uranga is a dedicated worker for the well being of the community and wishes to continue an enhanced delivery of services by furthering her education seeking a Doctoral Degree in Philosophy in Industrial/ Organization Psychology.
Linda wiley, Mental Health Consultant
Linda Wiley is a Mental Health Consultant responsible for capacity building and providing a broad range of mental health prevention services including early childhood consultation, staff development, parent training, and other mental health prevention and referral services to identified children and their families to promote social/emotional development. Ms. Wiley provides indirect mental health services through screening, assessments, staff development, modeling and coaching and community outreach.
Ms. Wiley has a Master’s degree in Public Administration/Political Science and a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from Sul Ross State University in Alpine Texas.
Ms. Wiley worked with Texas Department of Family and Protective Services for 27 years gaining invaluable experience working with families, conducting investigations and assessments and referring families for appropriate services. As a Children’s Protective Service caseworker she investigated complaints of child abuse and neglect, specializing in sexual abuse investigations. She conducted forensic interviews of children who were victims of sexual abuse. She was an integral part of the committee that developed the protocol and procedures for establishing the Advocacy Center for the children of El Paso. While at the Advocacy Center, Ms. Wiley received the Team Excellence Award from the National Advocacy Centers for her commitment to working with the multidisciplinary team. Ms. Wiley also supervised an investigation unit. Prior to joining the El Paso County Mental Health Support Services team, she was a Program Director for the Investigation and Family Based Safety Services programs at CPS.
While at CPS, Ms. Wiley was the regional Domestic Violence liaison. She was a member of the Domestic Violence Fatality review team. Ms. Wiley was also a board member for the Advocacy Center for the Children of El Paso. Ms. Wiley is an active member of the Campus Education Improvement Committee at J.M. Hanks High School.
Rebecca O. Melendez, Mental Health Consultant
Rebecca O. Melendez is a mental health consultant responsible for providing capacity-building to early childhood programs, staff and families to promote young children’s healthy social/emotional development and address challenging or troubling behaviors. Ms. Melendez provides indirect mental health services through screening and assessment, staff development, modeling and coaching and community linkage.
Ms. Melendez has a Master in Education in Counseling from Sul Ross State University and is a Licensed Professional Counselor Intern. She obtained her Bachelor in Social Work from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1996 and has work with at risk populations in various settings.
Ms. Melendez has over 17 years of experience in the field of social services. Her previous experience includes providing counseling services to survivors of domestic violence. These services included individual, group and family therapy to adults and children. In addition, Ms. Melendez supervised the therapy department and was as a field instructor for the University of Texas at El Paso's Undergraduate Social Work Department and the Master's in Education in Counseling Department. Part of her duties included assisting the El Paso District Attorney’s office as an expert witness for victims of domestic violence. In addition, Ms. Melendez has provided social services to medical patients to remove obstacles in their healthcare and disease management to persons living with HIV/AIDS. Ms. Melendez has also worked in the public schools setting through Communities in Schools to identify at-risk youth and increase their academic success.
Jessica Andrews, LMSW, Care Manager
Jessica Andrews is currently the Family Skills Care Manager at BCMHC providing intensive in-home individual, family and group counseling to adolescents and their family members involved with the Juvenile Probation Department.
Jessica has a real interest in the military population. She has initiated furthering her education on the military population and culture by attending many military related seminars, trainings, and oversight committees. She would eventually like to focus her work on active duty military members and their dependents.
Jessica is a recent graduate who earned her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the University of Texas at El Paso in 2008. She then attended New Mexico State University where she earned her Master’s degree in Social Work as well as a minor in Alcohol and Other Drugs. Jessica became a Licensed Master’s Social Worker (LMSW) one month post-graduation. She is currently working towards becoming a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) as well as a Licensed Chemical Dependence Counselor (LCDC). Throughout her educational career, Jessica has done field work at El Paso Center for Children, the Domestic Relations Office and Probate Court No. 2. Other areas of interests are kinship, foster and adoptive parent home studies.
Carmen Atkins, BSW, Care Manager
Carmen Atkins is the Care Manager at BCMHC providing services to youth involved with the Juvenile Probation Department. Carmen works with the Deferred Prosecution Program (DP), a voluntary program for first time juvenile offenders aimed at preventing further delinquent conduct or involvement in the Juvenile Justice System. Carmen works closely with the JPD Judge, DP Officer, Youth Coordinator, and Parent Liaison in providing care management for identified youth and family in the household.
Before coming to BCMHC, Carmen was employed with Centro De Salud Familiar La Fe as a Social Worker. As a Social Worker, she provided comprehensive social services to clients in a medical clinic setting. In addition, she was responsible for conducting Bilingual/Bicultural interview assessments, crisis intervention, casework and case management, planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of psychosocial and financial needs of clients.
Carmen earned her Associate of Arts degree from El Paso Community College and her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the University of Texas at El Paso. Throughout her educational career, Carmen has done field work at The YWCA Sara McKnight Transitional Living Center and the Domestic Relations Office. Her main interest is working with people in the community with mental health disorders and collaborating with different organizations to seek solutions for providing better services for them and their families.
Carmen made the decision to continue her education and is set to begin the Master of Social Work program at UTEP this summer and is excited about having the opportunity to further her education so she may continue to serve the community of El Paso.
Claudia O. Arreola, BSW, Care Manager
Claudia O. Arreola is a Care Manager with the Mental Health Support Services Interception Program. Ms. Arreola provides services to the community involved with the Juvenile Probation Department to build a safer and more positive environment for the youth in El Paso County. The target population is juveniles between the ages of 10 to 17 who are first time offenders, currently under a voluntary program, Deferred Prosecution 180 Program (DP). Ms. Arreola will work closely with staff members from BCMHC along with the DP officer from JPD to provide a wraparound service for the indentified youth and their family.
As part of Ms. Arreola’s background, she has worked for other agencies focused on serving the elder, disabled, indigent, low-income and disadvantaged community within the El Paso County. She is an El Paso Native with a strong interest in the flow of immigration into US and that of adolescents with substance abuse.
Ms. Arreola is a recent graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso with a Bachelor’s in Social Work Degree (2009) and has an Associates of Applied Sciences Degree in Social Work, option: Alcohol and Substance Abuse Counseling (2005) from El Paso Community College. Claudia O. Arreola has had two research practicums outside the United States focusing on Hispanic Health Disparities in Chihuahua, Mexico (2009) and Quito, Ecuador (2010) and has worked diligently to stay focused for her social work passion to assist others.