Mission & Goals

The main mission of this program is to provide advice, guidance, support, or counsel to Latinx students and early career professionals (ECP) in psychology in higher education institutions. Professional members will guide mentees/students/ecp to reach their educational and professional goals by sharing with mentees their knowledge, experiences, and professional expertise in their fields. 

Committee Members: Regina Jean-Van Hell, Ph.D., Rachel Reinders, Ph.D., Azara Santiago-Rivera, Ph.D.
Student Liason: Yuliana Fernandez, Gayla Olivera

If you would like to apply to be a MENTOR, please click here. If you would like to apply to be a MENTEE, please click here. It will ask for some information about yourself and your career goals.

If you have any questions about the program or application please contact us at [email protected]

Expectations for Mentee & Mentor

Mentoring relationships can take many different forms. At the beginning of the relationship, please take some time to set expectations about the frequency of contact, preferred methods of contact (email, phone, text, etc.), and what you each hope to get out of the relationship. The more open and honest you are able to be with your mentor or mentee, the more likely you will be able to successfully form and maintain a relationship.

Please respond to communications in a timely and considerate manner. If your partner cannot contact you for an extended period of time, you may be asked to withdraw from the program.

Please maintain the privacy of your relationship as much as possible. While the expectations of the relationship do not rise to the level of the confidentiality expectations held by clients, there may be information discussed in the course of the relationship that is meant to be kept within the relationship. Please respect those boundaries. See the NLPA and APA Ethical Principles and Code of Conduct for further information regarding professional relationships and confidentiality.

If you have any concerns or questions about the program, please feel free to contact the Mentoring Committee at [email protected] You can expect to receive communication from the mentoring committee at the beginning of the relationship to establish contact and reiterate hopes and expectations for your participation, bi-monthly or every three to six months emails to check in on the relationship and provide the opportunity for feedback, and annual in-person meetings at APA and/or NLPA conferences in order to connect in person with mentors or mentees.

Past Events

The NLPA Mentoring Program is facilitating a discussion with two graduate students on the topic:
How to Deal with Stressors while Completing a Degree
August 25, 2021 7:30 PM EST

Panelists

Taymy Josefa Caso, Ph.D., (they/them) is the Randi and Fred Ettner Postdoctoral Fellow in Transgender Health in the Institute for Sexual and Gender Health and a researcher at the National Center for Gender Spectrum Health at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Dr. Caso holds degrees in counseling and clinical psychology from New York University and Columbia University, Teachers College. Their research focuses on minority health disparities, intersectionality, identity-based marginalization within LGBTQ+ BIPOC communities, gender and sexual fluidity, and social determinants of health. Their advocacy work utilizes decolonizing pedagogy to deconstruct institutional and systemic barriers to equity and develop community-based interventions for underserved communities.

Jacqueline Fuentes is a 3rd-year doctoral student at the Counseling Psychology at the University of Georgia. Prior to attending UGA, she worked as a protective social worker in the San Francisco Bay Area after graduating with her MSW in Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley. She focuses on serving folks impacted by systems, with aims to improve mental health access and treatment delivery to BIPOC communities.

Charmaine Mora-Ozuna is a third-year doctoral student in Counseling Psychology at The University of Georgia. She is Mexicana, born in Los Angeles, and raised in Atlanta.  Charmaine's research interests are focused on understanding the impact of trauma on the Latinx communities. Her clinical interests are parallel, and she is passionate about providing services to underserved communities. Charmaine currently serves as the co-coordinator at La Clinica In LaK’ech, a bilingual and bicultural mental health clinic that provides counseling services to Latinxs. She recently began her advanced practicum placement with the Nia Project at Grady Hospital in Atlanta, which provides behavioral health services to African American/Black women survivors of abuse. Charmaine serves on the Student Committee for NLPA and as the liaison for the Georgia Psychological Association Graduate Student Committee. When Charmaine is not engaging in her academic and professional duties, she loves to spend time with family and friends, travel, dance, and eat (especially Mexican food)!  

Past Webinars:

Collectors, Nightlights, and Allies, Oh My! White Mentors in the Academy by Marisela Martinez-Cola 
Latinx Scholar Identity Development: Voces Por La Justicia

Developing Cultural Humility offers a unique look into the journeys of psychologists striving towards an integration of multiculturalism in their personal and professional lives. Contributing authors—representing a mix of "cultural backgrounds" but stereotypically identified as "White"—engage in thoughtful dialogue with psychologists from underrepresented communities who are identified as established and respected individuals within the multicultural field. The contributing authors discuss both the challenges and rewards they experienced in their own journeys and how they continue to engage in the process of staying connected to their cultural identity and to being culturally responsive. In addition, psychologists who represent historically disenfranchised communities have similarly reflected on their own journey, while offering commentary to the personal stories of White psychologists.

Click here to see Dr. Miguel Gallardo's presentation.

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