Meet Lucrecia and Her Perspective on The Importance of Mental Health

To help us pursue our Ready for Kindergarten goal to ensure that all children in the Portland metro area are prepared for kindergarten, we have built a Goal Strategy Team to plot our best course. The team will inform SVP’s investment process by providing a detailed understanding and high-level perspective on Portland’s early childhood landscape. Lucrecia Suárez, LCSW, is a Director at Western Conexiones, a Center for Multicultural Counseling and Trauma Healing at Western Psychological and Counseling Services, and this is why she joined the Goal Strategy Team with SVP.

Since 1992, I have dedicated my career to opening opportunities for Latinos and other underserved communities to access culturally and linguistically appropriate Mental Health services. I have done this by helping organizations set up adequate programs, providing different kinds of trainings, and working with academic institutions to train culturally and trauma informed mental health professionals. I am currently an adjunct faculty at the School of Social Work at Portland State University, and continue to train master level students through Western Conexiones’s Training Program. In March 2010, I received the Social Work of the Year Award by the National Association of Social Workers, Oregon Chapter.

I accepted the invitation to participate in the Goal Strategy Team at Social Venture Partners because of the SVP model and their decision and passion for the Ready for Kindergarten goal.

The more I work in mental health, the more I understand the process of healing, and my direct experience parenting my now 10-year-old son has taught me how important it is to wisely invest in child/parent mental health! I believe in the power of multigenerational healing. Putting money in improving the integrated care of 0-5 children and their parents is one important way to make needed cultural changes toward a more equitable, inclusive and integrated society.

I have to say that I have been in awe with the strategic planning process offered by SVP. I am learning a lot! I am also impressed with what I have already learned about the Ready to Kindergarten system's complexities and challenges. I love the learning we are all doing as a team and the careful care we are using to assure we create clear, focused strategy for the investments to come at SVP.