Acknowledgements

One of the most sought after national and international consultants and speakers on mental health and substance use treatment, Dr. Mancini’s areas of expertise are cultural and linguistic competence, immigrant mental health and substance use treatment, social and racial justice, health equity and health disparities. He founded Georgia’s only Latino mental health and substance use treatment program in 1999 and has provided expert content to clients in the United States, Mexico, Italy, Colombia, Cuba and Kosovo. He led a project to train clinicians in Latin America for the 4 million displaced Venezuelans in the region. His work has won a combined six EMMY awards and has been named one of the 50 Most Influential Latinos in Georgia; honored with the NLPA Star Vega; the UnidosUS Helen Rodríguez-Trías; and the Mental Health America “Heroes in the Fight” Awards. He serves on the Mental Health America (MHA) Board and the boards of Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center and R.I. International.

Dr. Delgado-Romero’s research, teaching, training of psychologists, service and professional leadership centers on the culturally and linguistic competent provision of mental health and substance use treatment to minority populations, specifically Latinx people. He has created infrastructure for Latinx psychology as one of the founders of the Latinx Psychological Association, founder and Associate Editor of the Journal of Latinx Psychology and founder of La Clinica In Lak’ech, a community-based psychological clinic that provides bilingual psychological therapy, assessment and advocacy for Spanish speaking Latinx immigrants and their families. He is a licensed psychologist in Georgia and a sought-after presenter for continuing education and keynote presentations. Dr. Delgado-Romero has worked in partnership with Dr. Pierluigi Mancini for more than a decade and enjoys contributing to MCDI projects.

Carina Ordaz is a bicultural and bilingual practicing Latina therapist. She earned her Master’s Degree in clinical mental health counseling from Georgia State University and is currently working on her Ph.D. in counseling psychology at the University of Georgia. She is in her second appointment year with the American Psychological Association (APA) Minority Fellowship Program in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, funded by a grant from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Through her training, she has gained clinical experience in counseling centers, community mental health and hospital settings. She is also trained in bilingual play therapy, which creates spaces of healing and coping for children and families. As advocacy representative for the Georgia Psychological Association Graduate Student Committee (GPAGS), she has the opportunity to engage in advocacy efforts to center the needs of undergraduate and graduate psychology students. Her research interests focus on understanding complex trauma and post-traumatic growth within immigrant communities, specifically, the pre-, in-transit and post-immigration narratives of individuals and families in Georgia. Her lived identities and leadership roles have informed her work and she has seen first-hand the need to address social and racial injustices within mental health and recovery services. She continues to address and engage in critical dialogue around the need for culturally and linguistically competent mental health and substance use treatment services. Overall, she is dedicated to serving underrepresented and marginalized communities, and through her work, she hopes to fight the stigma around mental illness one day at a time.