Voices fall 2014

Pacific Oaks’ culture-centered programs prepare graduates to serve the changing needs of today’s modern family.

Redefining FAMILY

FALL 2014

THE MAGAZINE OFPACIFIC OAKS COLLEGE& CHILDREN’S SCHOOL

INSIDE: A NEW PROVOST LATINA/LATINO FAMILY STUDIES CELEBRATES MILESTONE CHILDREN’S SCHOOL BENEFIT

fam.i.ly n., Household. A group of individuals living under one roof. A group of persons of common ancestry. A group of people united by certain convictions or a common affiliation. Spouse and children.

A Word from Pacific Oaks DR. EZAT PARNIA

FALL 2014

WHEN THINKING ABOUT THE MEANING OF THE WORD “FAMILY,” it’s important to put it into historical perspective. In the past, a family was a unit of socialization. It symbolized the beginning of when someone, as an individual, bonds and socializes with parents and siblings. As a result, it became the core of every society. And then, of course, the industrial revolution broke the fabric of the larger, extended family as we moved from an agricultural society to a more modern, industrialized one.

Today, “family” means many things. It is a place that we feel we have connection, a place where we have role models, and a place where we get to emulate our parents. Its value is very important, and as a result, there’s more need for family today than any other time. In this issue of Voices magazine, we examine the idea of family in many forms—from the family we are born with to the family we develop through friendship and making connections in our communities.

Here at Pacific Oaks, the notion of family and culture has been important since the beginning, nearly 70 years ago. The seven Pasadena families that established the Pacific Oaks Children's School in 1945 built a proud legacy on values of equality, social justice for families of all cultures, and a belief in the intrinsic worth of every human being. As society evolves and changes, these values are more critical than ever. We introduced the School of Cultural and Family Psychology to meet an exceptional need for culture-centered family psychology. You can read more about the significance of this in our Roundtable discussion on pages 10–13 and in the two feature articles that appear in this issue.

The role of family is also important as it relates to our first-generation students. We know how crucial higher education has become. The individual who earns a degree from Pacific Oaks College is important as a role model within their immediate family as well as their extended families. That’s where we come full circle. We not only value the family, but we also encourage our students through education to strengthen their families through role modeling.

Earlier this year, we had the largest graduating class in our history. I am proud to know that we here in the Pacific Oaks family are not only changing the lives of our students but also of their families and communities for years to come.

Dr. Ezat ParniaPresident

Pacific Oaks College &Children's School

PACIFICOAKS.EDU 1THE MAGAZINE OF PACIFIC OAKS COLLEGE & CHILDREN’S SCHOOL

3 AROUND THE OAK & IN THE YARDPacific Oaks welcomes Dr. Pat Breen as provost.

6 AROUND THE OAK & IN THE YARDPostcards from Pacific Oaks Children’s School’s spring benefit.

26 LIVING THE MISSIONAn alumna uses her Pacific Oaks experience to lead the way for inclusion in the classroom.

28 HOW WE PLAYChoosing the right book can make all the difference for a child.

FEATURESCOVER STORY

DEPARTMENTS

16 REDEFINING FAMILYPacific Oaks College continues its legacy of inclusion and social justice with culture-centered psychology programs and diverse specializations that are poised to serve the evolving 21st century family.

FALL 2014

FALL 2014

22 A QUINCEAÑERA Fifteen years ago, the Latina/Latino Family Studies specialization emerged to shine the spotlight on the complex challenges faced by modern Latina/Latino families while celebrating their unique strengths.

Please join us for a very special celebration on

Sunday, November 9, 2014 | 3 – 6 PM

RSVP by November 5, 2014 by visitingPacificOaks.edu/Events/2014/LFS

Pacific Oaks College45 Eureka Street, Pasadena, CA 91103

Pacific Oaks’School of Cultural & Family Psychology

is honored to announce the 15th Anniversary of ourLatina/Latino Family Studies program

For further information on the LFS program, please visit: pacificoaks.edu/Schools_Programs/School_of_Cultural_and_Family_Psychology

The Latina/o Family Studies Program opened its doors in 1999 to respond to the crises in mental health and the increasing needs of the Latina/o community for culturally relevant services. Through the years the LFS graduates have played a

major role in altering the landscape of bilingual culturally-centered mental health services throughout the southern California region and the Central Valley. The

response from agencies and the Latina/o communities continues to inspire us to bring the LFS program to the next generation of students.

FALL 2014 VOLUME 1 ISSUE 5

EDITOR

Sherry Thomas

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Peter Gianopulos

Meredith Vigil

DESIGN

Bates Creative

Ravi Sathia

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Urszula Jaskolka Beaudoin

Jocelyn Duran

Ankarino Lara

Sarah Mariel

German Oliva

Bob Paz

PACIFIC OAKS COLLEGE & CHILDREN'S SCHOOL

PresidentEzat Parnia, Ph.D.

Director of Advancement, Alumni and External Relations

Toni Arellanes-Miller

Voices magazine is published by the Department of Marketing at TCS Education System in

conjunction with the Department of Advancement at Pacific Oaks

College & Children’s School. It is mailed to alumni, faculty, teachers, staff, parents, and

friends. It is also available online at voicesmagazine.org.

Address changes and correspondence should be sent to:

[email protected]

ON THE COVER

Pacific Oaks’ culture-centered programs prepare graduates to serve the changing needs of today’s modern family.

Redefining FAMILY

FALL 2014

THE MAGAZINE OFPACIFIC OAKS COLLEGE& CHILDREN’S SCHOOL

INSIDE: A NEW PROVOST LATINA/LATINO FAMILY STUDIES CELEBRATES MILESTONE CHILDREN’S SCHOOL BENEFIT

Redefining family in the 21st Century

MIXED MEDIA COVER CREDITS:Bates Creative

Mixed media photography from Thinkstock

Please join us for a very special celebration on

Sunday, November 9, 2014 | 3 – 6 PM

RSVP by November 5, 2014 by visitingPacificOaks.edu/Events/2014/LFS

Pacific Oaks College45 Eureka Street, Pasadena, CA 91103

Pacific Oaks’School of Cultural & Family Psychology

is honored to announce the 15th Anniversary of ourLatina/Latino Family Studies program

For further information on the LFS program, please visit: pacificoaks.edu/Schools_Programs/School_of_Cultural_and_Family_Psychology

The Latina/o Family Studies Program opened its doors in 1999 to respond to the crises in mental health and the increasing needs of the Latina/o community for culturally relevant services. Through the years the LFS graduates have played a

major role in altering the landscape of bilingual culturally-centered mental health services throughout the southern California region and the Central Valley. The

response from agencies and the Latina/o communities continues to inspire us to bring the LFS program to the next generation of students.

PACIFICOAKS.EDU 3THE MAGAZINE OF PACIFIC OAKS COLLEGE & CHILDREN’S SCHOOL

Around the Oak & In the Yard

WITH MORE THAN 30 YEARS of experi-ence in higher education, Dr. Pat Breen, the new provost of Pacific Oaks College & Children’s School, has worked in an impressive array of different academic positions at a diverse mix of colleges. But when she recently spent six months helping Pacific Oaks prepare for a visit from the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), she couldn’t help but feeling a special connec-tion to the college, a sense that she’d found a place that reflected her own values and educational philosophies.

“It’s really hard not to fall in love with the college, and its heritage and its tradi-tions and the impact it has had,” says Dr. Breen. “Pacific Oaks is known for identi-fying a societal need and then finding not

just programming but people who can help respond to that need. Over the years, it’s been a very innovative and courageous institution.”

Born in Coronado, Calif., Dr. Breen was raised in a Navy family, which allowed her to interact with a diverse array of cultures from an early age. Dr. Breen’s Ph.D. is in human and organiza-tional development but she also holds an undergraduate degree in English litera-ture, a master’s degree in library science, and a master’s degree in business adminis-tration. Her library science studies fueled a fascination with the intense research and unique challenges of curriculum develop-ment, leaving her intent on building inno-vative — and sustainable — programs that helped students gain meaningful employ-ment right out of college.

Leveraging her project management skills, she then went to work at National College of Education (now National Louis University) helping to create and manage successful sat-ellite campuses. Work as dean of academic affairs at a richly multicultural campus for DeVry University then followed, as well as posts at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and the Santa Barbara & Ventura Colleges of Law that focused on executive edu-cation and accreditation needs.

As provost of Pacific Oaks, she wants to help the college develop and integrate best practices that will provide different educa-tional opportunities for different kinds of learners, using both online and face-to-face educational opportunities to maximum effect.

“I believe it is our duty and honor to build the future of Pacific Oaks College upon the progressive spirit of our found-ers and of the thousands of alumna who have walked through our doors. This will take courage in determining what our global community now needs from our gradu-ates,” she says. “It will take creativity and discipline to assure that our graduates will have these competencies and the passion to use them. And it will take a commitment to each other and respect for the differing roles we play towards our goal. That said, my immediate priority for our college, now that we have regained our financial footing, is to build the academic infrastructure neces-sary for high quality, mission-distinctive aca-demic programs that serve the current and future needs of our communities.”

Dr. Breen, who moved to the Pasadena area with her husband, Bob, and Bad Dog, says what resonates with her about Pacific Oaks is that it’s filled with people who understand themselves so well that they are able to help others.

“Now, it’s time to take that courageous next step and redefine how we can deliver good quality programs for what they need, wherever they are,” she adds.

New provost confesses to falling in love with the college and its heritage.

Dr. Pat Breen Joins Pacific Oaks

4 FALL 2014

THERE WAS LITERALLY DANCING in the streets on Shady Lane earlier this year as Pacific Oaks Children’s School (POCS) wel-comed Dr. Pam McComas as its new exec-utive director and celebrated a milestone approval from the California Community Care Licensing Division.

“I’ve captured so many wonderful mem-ories in my short time here at the Children’s School, but one of my favorites among those is when we danced down Shady Lane in cel-ebration of the approval of our request to increase the license to 140 children,” wrote Dr. McComas in her Acorn newsletter to POCS friends and family. “It was a won-derful day for us all, and even the children could feel the excitement!”

McComas, an experienced school admin-istrator, college instructor, special educa-tion, and preschool/elementary classroom teacher, took over as executive director in March and has been hosting tours for pro-spective families as well as working with the teachers to enhance scholarship programs for students in need.

“I enjoy sharing the story of Pacific Oaks, its history and promise,” she says. “The vil-lage-like setting and the joyful noise of the children help visitors to understand that this is no ordinary place.”

Dr. McComas has a Ph.D. in Early Childhood Education, an M.S. in both Special Education and Counseling, and a B.A. in English. Her early childhood back-ground includes being the Head of the Beginning School in Oregon where she was responsible for all aspects of early educa-tion including supervising teachers, cur-riculum, program development, parent relations and education, budgeting and logistics. Most recently she was Director of the Elementary Division at Chadwick School, Palos Verdes Peninsula, California.

Throughout her career, she has taken pride in bringing best practices of education

to the programs she has worked on with a continuous respect for the ethos of the cul-ture in that community. In constructing the new visions, she has built solid relationships with parents and staff while honoring and respecting the past.

This reputation makes her an ideal fit for POCS. Dr. Ezat Parnia, president of Pacific Oaks College & Children’s School, says her “encouraging spirit can be felt all along Shady Lane.” Dr. Parnia also expressed gratitude and appreciation to Jayanti Tambe for her excel-lent work serving as interim executive director.

Tambe, who just returned from a summer trip to the Teach With Africa program in South Africa, will be continuing at Pacific Oaks as a member of the School of Education faculty.

Dr. McComas says it’s a “privilege and an honor” to be a school known for innova-tion and a vibrant sense of community. “It is remarkable to work in a school that is so clear about what matters and has been since its earliest days. Nurturing curiosity, creativ-ity, and social awareness – those are Pacific Oaks fundamentals. There is a special spirit and wisdom that lives here.”

Pacific Oaks Children’s School welcomes Dr. Pam McComas as executive director.

Happy Days on Shady Lane

Around the Oak & In the YardAround the Oak & In the Yard

4 FALL 2014 PACIFICOAKS.EDU 5THE MAGAZINE OF PACIFIC OAKS COLLEGE & CHILDREN’S SCHOOL

MEMBERS OF THE PACIFIC OAKS commu-nity gathered together in late April for the Second Annual Donor Scholarship recep-tion to honor and celebrate the Fall 2013 and Spring 2014 scholarship recipients and scholarship donors.

Tselane Gardner, M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy, shared her thoughts and gratitude for being a scholarship recipient over the course of her educa-tional journey at PO. Noel Ampel, M.A. in Education and Rachel Hall, B.A. in Human Development, also shared their

emotional stories about being the first in their respective families to attend and graduate from college, and thanked their donors for supporting them to make the dream of attending college a reality. Ampel assured the audience after a reflec-tion on his PO experience, “it is never too late to join the party!” Attendees included faculty and staff, student recipients and their guests, members of the Student Government Association, and PO leader-ship members and faculty who serve on the donor scholarship committee.

TOP: Marian Browning, director of Northern California Instructional Sites, congratulates Northern California scholarship recipient Lynda Annison. MIDDLE: Scholarship recipients Rachel Hall, Noel Ampel, and Tselane Gradner shared testimonials about what Pacific Oaks means to them. BOTTOM: Donors Dr. Ezat Parnia, Steve Marcussen, Olin Barrett, and Adelaide Hixon toast the success of the scholarship program and its student recipients.

Celebrating Scholarship Recipients and donors are honored with a reception.


6 FALL 2014

1

A Community TableParents, teachers, and staff of Pacific Oaks Children’s School gather for the annual Spring Benefit.

1 Parent Liesl Copland enjoys the live auction.

2 Pacific Oaks teacher Maya Haywood views a work of art with Helen Cooper.

3 Vibrant paintings by POCS students go home with the highest bidder.

4 Auctioneer Ankarino Lara gets the bidding started.

5 Dr. Ezat Parnia welcomes parents along Shady Lane.

6 An abstract work in shades of pink and purple with splashes of turquoise is an enticing addition.

7 Pacific Oaks Children’s School parent Carlos Schonfeld is set for the live auction bidding.

8 A group of Pacific Oaks Children’s School fathers converse over a delicious meal.

9 Pacific Oaks Children’s School benefit committee members Christina Suter, Ankarino Lara, Sydney Bennett-Gatins, Kirsten Poole, and Carie Salter come together for a night to remember.

10 Art teacher and Pacific Oaks College alumna Robin Bevan enjoys the festive evening.

IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL SPRING EVENING on Shady Lane when parents and guests came together to enjoy farm-to-table cuisine and bid on artwork created by children of the Pacific Oaks Children’s School—all to raise money for POCS scholarships. Hosted by the POCS Parents Association, the theme this year was Community Table with a live auction and delectable dining. The event was a success, with more than $10,000 raised to benefit future generations.

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STUDENTS WERE WELCOMED back to classes at Pacific Oaks this past winter with a new lounge within a new wing at the Pasadena campus to better serve their needs.

In an effort to enhance the student experience, a 9,000-square foot area on the campus known as Suite B was ren-ovated to bring together all key stu-dent services in one place as well as create a new student lounge with a fully equipped kitchen. The new wing includes the CARE office, student ser-vices, and financial services, as well as the student registrar’s office. An outdoor atrium and two additional computer labs were also added.

With these student service departments relocated to the new wing, more space became available to build additional class-rooms and a new faculty lounge—improv-ing life on campus for everyone.

Each of the computer labs has four work stations with desktops. The new classrooms are equipped with Eno Smart Boards pro-viding the most-up-to-date technology to our students and faculty. The four new classrooms are divided by partitions that open up providing a large multipurpose room for lectures and functions.

The new wing and other enhance-ments were unveiled in an open house held over the summer.

Welcoming Judge ChirlinA distinguished social justice advocate joins the Pacific Oaks College & Children’s School Board of Trustees.

JUDGE JUDITH C. CHIRLIN, executive direc-tor of the Western Justice Center in Pasadena and renowned social justice advocate, was welcomed as the newest member of the Pacific Oaks College & Children’s School Board of Trustees.

“We are delighted that Judge Chirlin has agreed to serve on our board,” says Dr. Ezat Parnia, president of Pacific Oaks College & Children's School. “Her extensive experience and efforts to significantly increase diversity in judicial appointments throughout the state of California will be a tremendous asset here at Pacific Oaks as we continue our work of pro-viding transformative education specifically tai-lored to adults and non-traditional students.”

Judge Chirlin, a graduate of The George Washington University (B.A. in Political Science), Rutgers University (M.A. in Politics from the Eagleton Institute of Politics) and the USC Law School (JD), was appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court in 1985.

Throughout her career, Judge Chirlin has been involved in efforts to improve the legal system and the administration of jus-tice in California, throughout the nation and around the world. She has also served on numerous state and national commit-tees and boards, including past Chair of the Board of the American Judicature Society, the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, and the International Association of Women Judges.

Since retiring from the Los Angeles Superior Court in 2009, Judge Chirlin started a non-profit foundation to sup-port justice system improvement projects that enhance the rule of law. In 2011, she became Executive Director of the Western Justice Center in Pasadena, California, which designs and promulgates programs to foster alternative dispute resolution in the courts and peaceful resolution of conflicts in schools and communities.

New Student Center UnveiledA new lounge and classroom expansion enhances life on campus.

PACIFICOAKS.EDU 9THE MAGAZINE OF PACIFIC OAKS COLLEGE AND CHILDREN’S SCHOOL

Over the last 35 years, Cheryl Greer-Jarman, a core faculty member in the School of Human Development at Pacific Oaks College has worked tirelessly to foster — and maintain — a sense of community in her classroom and throughout the education system.

As an original member of the Pacific Oaks’ anti-bias task force and a contributing author to the Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children, Greer-Jarman has helped countless students dispel destructive stereotypes by creating a safe environment where they can question assumptions and think critically, as a group, on how to overturn them.

“ In order to have a community there needs to be a place/space for each individual — a tie/connection/commonality/culture that is willing to dialogue, welcome diversified spaces, disagreements, yet, be willing to collaborate to promote the health of the mission and the practices.”

Part of the appeal of Pacific Oaks for Greer-Jarman has been the institution’s commitment to creating an authentic, caring environment that reflects the school’s values. And thus she’s made it her next goal to raise funds for the construction of a pair of state-of-the-art lounges for students and faculty.

Because Pacific Oaks is a commuter college where so many of its students go to school straight from work, Greer-Jarman envisions a student activity center, where classmates can relax, cook a quick meal, surf the Net or simply decompress for a few minutes before class.

She also hopes to raise funds for a faculty lounge, where teachers can congregate for meals, relax on a sofa during breaks or simply socialize with their peers. And as the school grows, she hopes these rooms will provide a template for other activity centers, whether they be a study halls or exercise rooms.

“As I teach, I serve. I give and embrace what is given back to me. I love the reciprocity of teaching—it’s community building, in action."

For more information on how to support Pacific Oaks College & Children’s School, please visit pacificoaks.edu/giving or contact Toni Arellanes-Miller at 626.529.8091 or [email protected]

AT PACIFIC OAKSGiving Opportunities

10 FALL 2014

Why Culture MattersFOR NEARLY 70 YEARS, celebrating and appreciating cultural differences has been the touchstone of a Pacific Oaks education. But Pacific Oaks College took that legacy to the next level last year with the unveiling of the School of Cultural and Family Psychology, positioning the institution to meet what President Ezat Parnia called “an exceptional need for culture-centered family psychology programs across the nation.” We asked four Pacific Oaks College faculty, alumni, and staff members to share their thoughts about why it was more important than ever to understand cultural differences from a family perspective. The Roundtable dialogue included Dr. Trevor Dobbs, core faculty, School of Cultural and Family Psychology; Dr. Rebecca Rojas, core faculty, School of Cultural and Family Psychology; Isaac Carreon, assistant professor in the Marriage and Family Therapy program; and Dr. Donald Grant, Jr., Clinical Training Coordinator, Academic Affairs.

ROUNDTABLE

VOICES: WHAT IS CULTURE-CENTERED FAMILY PSYCHOLOGY AND WHY DOES IT MATTER?

DR. ROJAS: Every family has a culture, and every culture has their own practices and values as it relates to the family roles. Even what defines “family” can be cultural.

DR. GRANT: I think it’s also important that we understand that culture is defined beyond gender, ethnicity, and race. There’s a culture of poverty, a culture of LGBTQ. There’s a culture of urbanicity. And when we talk about culture in the world of psy-chology and in families in addition to individual family time in their own cul-ture and in their ethnic cultural heritage, there’s also a culture of their ecosystem and of their ecology that we have to take into account as well.

CARREON: In the context of culture and that being important in the field of psychol-ogy, I think that not only understanding the family’s culture but also understanding our own culture. Because we interact with the families, and how does that play out when we’re interacting with the different cultures that we work with?

DR. DOBBS: In my clinical experience, which is the focus of our program that we’re training future clinicians in, is that every family has a culture, and you need to know yours so that you can learn how to be cross-cultural. You need to learn how to communicate across “differentness” to be able to make a connection.

DR. ROJAS: Right. When you try to under-stand that culture is very important when

you’re looking at families and how they’re functioning, you need to start with your-self. And find clarity about your own cultural beliefs and ideas about everything that has to do with family—how children should be raised, the gender roles, and things like that.

VOICES: WHEN THE SCHOOL OF CULTURAL AND FAMILY PSYCHOLOGY DEBUTED LAST YEAR, DR. PARNIA SPOKE ABOUT THE NEED FOR PACIFIC OAKS TO LEAD THE CHARGE FOR CULTURE-CENTERED SOCIAL JUSTICE PROGRAMS. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU?

DR. ROJAS: You know, thinking about families and their ethnicity and culture, I think you have to look at the larger soci-ety, and every ethnicity, every cultural group, has a place within that society. And some are valued more than others. So I

Perspectives

10 FALL 2014 PACIFICOAKS.EDU 11THE MAGAZINE OF PACIFIC OAKS COLLEGE AND CHILDREN’S SCHOOL

think that looking at that question you have to recognize that there are families that experience discrimination and racism in different ways. So in professional work, to have this kind of awareness and address it in some way is critical.

DR. GRANT: I feel like when you look at social justice through a cultural lens, you have a more honest conversation regarding it. We see huge levels of dispro-portionality amongst ethnic minorities across almost all important domains—even when you stratify by income. So even with low income people, Latinos and African-Americans are still dispro-portionally represented in higher level incomes as well with substance abuse, heart disease, all of these different things. So when we talk about social jus-tice, we have to work with students and understand that there are significant dis-parities that we need to attend to when we talk about dominant culture privilege and the impact that has on the psyche of people is culturally specific on how that plays out. If we’re not aware of that, it makes it challenging for our students to fight the cause for our clients without understanding that as Rebecca said, the larger context of the world which they fit and how they experience racism, clas-sism, sexism, or whatever other “ism” you want to put there.

CARREON: When I think of your question, I think of the term “advocacy.” And our role as educators is to promote social jus-tice, but also advocacy—not only for our students but also for the clients that they’re going to be working with when they’re out there during their clinical training, their

internships, and when they become thera-pists. Advocacy for clinicians means a lot of things. It means being a social worker, being a case manager, advocating for our clients in order for them to get the respect that they deserve and the social justice that they deserve in the communities.

DR. DOBBS: I would say that cultural com-ponent of social justice addresses ignorance and assumption. The sort of typical resis-tance against really getting further down the road and making more progress in this area has been ignorance and assump-tion about why things are the way they are. And the cultural lens helps, I think, make the frame of reference bigger. So, basically those who are in this are able to see options that they couldn’t see before because they couldn’t see the larger picture. I think from the very pragmatic changes in society's pic-ture that the cultural understanding needs to lead political and policy changes.

VOICES: FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, PACIFIC OAKS CREATED THE LATINA/O FAMILY STUDIES PROGRAM. WHAT AS AN INSTITUTION HAVE WE LEARNED FROM THAT PRO-GRAM OVER THE YEARS AND HOW WILL THAT GUIDE FUTURE PROGRAMS THAT ARE MULTI-CULTURAL?

DR. ROJAS: I think we’ve learned that it’s a very effective and successful program. I teach as one of the founding members of the program, and, it’s important because in the past (looking at families from a

Latina/o perspective) hasn’t been done. For instance, when you look at what is val-ued in the socialization of children and the development of self, it’s the self in rela-tionship to family. It’s not an autonomous, individualistic self, so there’s the primary difference there in self developing in rela-tionship to a family or to others. Some of the theories and clinical practices that don’t take a Latino-centric perspective miss that, and there’s a risk of labeling behavior dys-functional when it’s not.

CARREON: I’m an alumnus of the Latino Family Studies Program. I graduated in 2004 from Pacific Oaks and now I’m an assistant professor here in the School of Cultural and Family Psychology, so I can speak from it from two points—from two perspectives. One is from the student per-spective, and the other one is from the faculty perspective. From the student per-spective, what I’ve learned is that the learning that happens in the LFS program is vital to the education that students get here at Pacific Oaks. It’s vital because you learn about yourself, which has been talked about before. You learn about your culture. You learn about other cultures. You learn about the importance of family, family sys-tems, etc. in the context of culture. And that makes you a valuable clinician in the community to help those individuals who have not been given the attention that they need—that they so desperately need and

“ When you try to understand that culture is very important when you’re looking at families and how they’re functioning, you need to start with yourself.”

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want in the community. And, therefore, I think what I’ve learned now that I’m back as a faculty member is that the work that the pioneers of the program did was visionary. They really saw the future as being a culture-centered, clinical world out there. And I can say that without hes-itation in the teachings that I provide now as a faculty member that the education that they’re getting here is unlike any other out there, so I truly believe in the concept and I truly believe in the program, and I think that we’ve learned a lot throughout the years.

DR. ROJAS: A couple of years ago I came across a demographic reading that there are more than 30 percent of Latino/Latina children in California who are going to be raised in poverty. Talk about social justice. And you know the demographics in Los Angeles County are more than 50 percent Latino/Latina people, so how could we not address this? How could we not?

DR. GRANT: I first became affiliated with Pacific Oaks by being an advisory board member for the African-American Family Studies Program, and I remember thinking how innovative it was. As I became more and more involved I began to think that it was one of the most amazing things that I’d seen with these two specializa-tions. What I’ve found teaching in the program now—and in teaching in the traditional pro-gram—is it’s a kind of sense of ownership and knowledge base that you don’t get at standard MFT programs. Students who are working in

the African-American Family Studies Program in addition to learning about the injustices, the need for social justice, and the need for advocacy for families of color is this increased aware-ness of the self and what the self is in the space of the client. When we talk about disproportion-ality, we talk about the fact that little black and brown boys in schools are getting expelled for things that other boys are not getting suspended for. We talk about all the black and brown men in prison and the need for services in prison, but we don’t necessarily speak about a lot of the oppression and under-education that promotes the school-to-prison pipeline. With the Latino and African-American Family Studies Programs our students really get a passion for not just see-ing the statistic but engaging with the ideology of the statistics.

VOICES: PACIFIC OAKS COLLEGE WAS BUILT ON A CULTURE-CENTERED PHILOSOPHY THAT ENCOURAGES STUDENTS TO RECOGNIZE AND NURTURE THE INHERENT POTEN-TIAL THAT EACH ONE OF THEM BRING TO THE TABLE—TO USE THE DIVERSITY OF EXPERIENCE, HEREDITY, ABILITIES, AND PERSPECTIVE TO CREATE A COMMUNITY OF MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING IN RESPECT. THIS HAS CREATED A UTO-PIA, OF SORTS, BUT IT’S NOT REAL. HOW DO WE PREPARE STUDENTS TO NAVIGATE THE CHALLENGES OF A LESS-THAN-PERFECT REAL WORLD WHERE SOCIAL INJUSTICE AND DISCRIMINATION ARE PART OF THEIR DAILY LIVES? HOW DO THEY TAKE THE CULTURE-CENTERED BELIEFS AND VALUES THAT WERE INSTILLED IN THEM TO GO OUT AND MAKE A MEANINGFUL IMPACT IN THEIR COMMUNITIES?

DR. ROJAS: Well, I like to look at it one stu-dent at a time. I think Isaac is a good example of that. He was educated here, he went out, he was licensed, he’s a clinical supervisor, and he’s come back to us as faculty—and all but disser-tation to get his doctoral degree. So it’s true that all institutions may be different but I think as we educate students with this social justice, cultural lens and they go out there and get in positions to look at issues through this lens, that change happens slowly. I’m a big believer in that. And so that’s how I see the situation.

CARREON: There are situations that come about in the classroom that mirror what can

“ The more culturally competent, culture-centered clinicians that we get out into the world, the more research in the thought and the more thought leaders we have, the better prepared they can be to go out there and ask these questions to incite change and to incite the slow revolution that Rebecca’s referencing.”

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happen when students are out there in clini-cal training incidents or as a clinician. And some of those lessons that we provide for the students are process oriented, but there is also a transformational process that hap-pens. So from the moment that the student walks into the first classroom, from the very first course in the program to the moment they finish their last class, they have gone through a transformational process. And I believe that allowing the students to contrib-ute their family backgrounds, their expertise, their experiences in life, their problems, and all these different things they go through contribute to shaping who they are and who they’re going to be when they’re out there in the clinical world. So I think that all of that contributes to the success that some of the students and some of the alumni have once they’ve graduated.

DR. GRANT: I think that preparation is the key—and we’re looking at, as you said, put-ting our students out in systems that are flawed and that are tainted. Just the other day I gave an example in my class of a historic Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) test, which is a personality inventory. And when you look at one of the scales, the paranoia scale, historically when the test was first devised, African-American men were being patholo-gized as being paranoid because they peaked on the paranoia scale. And so I gave my stu-dents the example that this was happening until somebody said, “Hold up, wait a minute. Maybe that’s not pathological. Maybe these are in fact their real experiences?” And it turned out to be true. And so I try to inspire students to be thought leaders and to be armed with infor-mation, to sit at tables to ask those types of questions, to say well we’re pathologizing this, but maybe if we looked at this with a more ana-lytical lens or a more critical lens, it would have a different outcome. And I think in our spe-cializations, that’s kind of an underpinning to it whereby we’re looking at the standard his-tory of psychology, and we know that anything that has been considered normal has been due to a very Euro-centric lens and anything

that went beyond that or away from that was pathologized. The more culturally competent, culture-centered clinicians that we get out into the world, the more research in the thought and the more thought leaders we have, the bet-ter prepared they can be to go out there and ask these questions to incite change and to incite the slow revolution that Rebecca’s referencing.

VOICES: ONE OF THE NEW SPECIALIZATIONS WITHIN THE MFT PROGRAM IS ON TRAUMA STUDIES. HOW DO CUL-TURAL DIFFERENCES AND THE THINGS WE HAVE BEEN DISCUSSING PLAY INTO THE STUDY AND UNDERSTANDING OF TRAUMA—BOTH WITH VICTIMS AND PERPETRATORS?

DR. GRANT: Important question. I think when we talk about culture, the one thing I think of when you said that was that how when we look at the culture of discrimination and disparities, I’d like to re-frame victims of trauma to survivors of trauma. When you look from a culturally sensitive lens and we attempt to empower people, we understand that complex trauma is a direct result of multi-marginalization, meaning that individuals who are of different cultures, who are minor-ities, who are women, who are LGBTQ—all these different cultural pieces play a role not just in the types of traumas that they experi-ence, but also the numbers of traumas that they experience and how they compound on top of one another. I worked in foster care for L.A. County for many years, and we would watch black and brown children languish in foster care and age out through the age of 18 and 21, while little white children were being adopted and these are real life statistics. And so in order to appropriately understand the prevalence of trauma and understand how trauma plays itself out, we can’t not look at culture, we can’t not understand that these things play a critical role in not just the trau-mas that they’ll experience, but how those traumas will look, how they’ll play out. PTSD doesn’t always look the same in Beverly Hills as it does look in Compton nor does depres-sion, and so for us to really train, ethically prepare clinicians, you can’t talk about trauma without talking about culture.

Mary Ashdjian-Kandilian, associate director and credential coordinator for the School of Education, presented “The Struggles with Discipline” at the California School Age Consortium’s Annual East Los

Angeles Conference in March.

Dr. Elmida Baghdaserians, alumna and adjunct faculty for the School of Education, presented “Adult Learning Theory: Connecting Pedagogy and Andragogy in the field of Early Childhood Education” at the CAEYC Conference in Pasadena, Calif. Dr. Baghdaserians also presented “How to Promote Science in the Early Years,” at the first Early Childhood STEM Conference in Irvine, Calif. in February.

Dr. ReGena Booze, core faculty for the School of Human Development, presented a paper on “A Relational Model Fostering Academic Success for African Heritage Children” at the International RECE Conference held at Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya, November 2013. Co-authored with Pacific Oaks core faculty members Dr. Olga Winbush and Dr. Cheryl Greer Jarman, and alumna Ijumaa Jordan, the paper focused on developing best practices in early childhood education for collectivistic

learners. Their work has now been implemented through a Chad refugee camp school and several programs in South Africa.

Dr. Dionne Clabaugh, assistant professor for the School of Human Development, completed a two-year in-service training for a California preschool to improve program quality. Teacher training sessions were titled “Collaborative Teacher Workgroups” and “Cultural Competence Through Classroom Literacy.” In addition, Dr. Clabaugh provided organizational development services to revise hiring practices and performance review procedures to include teacher goal-setting and reflective practice strategies.

Dr. Bree E. Davis, assistant professor for the School of Cultural and Family Psychology, was a guest speaker at the monthly CASA/County Counsel Roundtable Discussion July 15. She addressed how stress, trauma, poverty, and homelessness have a negative impact on the wellbeing of the African-American community. In addition, she highlighted how the African-American Family Studies program at Pacific Oaks is working to empower communities.

Sharon Davisson, alumna and senior adjunct faculty for the Chico and Sacramento cohorts, Wilma Gold, alumna and adjunct faculty for the Bay Area cohort, and Cindy Santa-Cruz Reed alumna of Pacific Oaks– along with

other members of the Educators for Peaceful Classrooms and Communities—co-authored the article “Connecting Generations–Encouraging Grandparents and Other Elders to Share Their Values and Experiences” published in Exchange Magazine’s July/August issue.

Dr. Trevor Dobbs, core faculty for the School of Cultural and Family Psychology co-presented a poster-presentation on “Neurorelational Framework Applied to Working with Foster Family Court Teams in South-Central Los Angeles” at the World Association of Infant Mental Health Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland in June.

Dr. David Franklin, adjunct faculty for the School of Education, gave two presentations titled “Data Driven Decision Making” at the Association for California Administration’s Principal Institute in the past eight months. School administrators from across the Pacific Northwest, U.S. attended these events. Dr. Franklin is currently researching blended-learning models.

Ruth Anne Hammond, senior adjunct faculty and master teacher at Pacific Oaks Children’s School, trained teachers from Etonkids International Education Group and Greentree Montessori on the RIE Approach in Beijing, China, July 2013. In addition, she taught a RIE course sponsored by the Ministry of Education at the Asian International College in Singapore. She also presented “Easier Than

Perspectives

14 FALL 2014

A summary of faculty publications,

accomplishments, and research

Laurels

PACIFICOAKS.EDU 15THE MAGAZINE OF PACIFIC OAKS COLLEGE AND CHILDREN’S SCHOOL

it Sounds: Optimal Brain Development, Secure Attachment, and RIE—Applying Infant Mental Health Research to Child Care Practice” at the 2013 NAEYC Conference. In April, she presented at the 25th Annual RIE Conference in Los Angeles on the topic of Bowlby’s Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness.

Dr. Andrew Kami, adjunct faculty for the School of Cultural and Family Psychology, presented "Addressing Cognitive Symptoms in Schizophrenia," at the Mental Health

Association of Orange County’s Annual Meeting of the Minds Conference in May. In addition to teaching at Pacific Oaks, Dr. Kami trains California police departments on recognizing and working with people with mental illness. He hosted an eight-week session titled “Engaging Mental Illness in the Streets” to Santa Ana Police Department.

Dr. Niama Malachi, adjunct faculty for the School of Cultural and Family Psychology, published her first book A Hip Hop State

of Mind, which explores the psycho-sociological impact of hip-hop on the Black Community. She hosted a book release event and was a panelist discussing this topic at the Los Angeles Black Book Expo in September.

Jahan Naghshineh, newly hired adjunct faculty for the School of Education, received a second M.Ed.—graduating from Harvard University’s Mind, Brain, and Education program. For the last 14 years

he has taught elementary school. Prior to teaching in the U.S., he taught English in the Czech Republic and Brazil.

Dr. Marilyn K. Simon, online faculty at Pacific Oaks, was the keynote speaker and presented “Parenting, Mentoring, and Sailing the High C’s: Competency, Consistency, and Caring” at a University of the Rockies retreat for dissertation faculty in August.

Dr. Marsha Swindler, assistant professor for the School of Education, led two

seminars at Pacific Oaks titled “How Difficult Can This Be?” in the winter and spring of 2014. The format included a series of simulations for faculty and staff to experience and understand the frustration, anxiety, and tension a child with learning disabilities encounters at school. Dr. Swindler is currently developing a Pacific Oaks faculty resource guide listing suggested methods of communication for collaboration between the regular education and special education community of professors, administrators, and personnel.

Jayanti Tambe, assistant professor and director of the Institute for Community Outreach, Research, and Education (CORE) for the School of Education, presented “Supporting Dual Language Learners in a Multilingual Classroom” at the Southern Early Childhood Associations 64th Annual SECA Conference in Virginia in January, and then again in April at the 36th Annual Early Childhood Education Conference at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. In addition to teaching at Pacific Oaks, she is a fellow for Teach with Africa.

14 FALL 2014

In the spirit of gratitude and inspiration, let transformation continueNew graduates and alumni are encouraged to make a donation in an increment of “2014” during this calendar year. Whether it’s $20.14 or $2,014, your gift will help us transform the lives of our future students and faculty for years to come.

2014Your “2014” donation can be designated to benefit:

Faculty projects Scholarships Textbook Fund

*For more information about how to give online, go to pacificoaks.edu/giving

Redefining FAMILY

Redefining FAMILY

BY SHERRY THOMAS AND MEREDITH VIGIL

The ties we are born with are sometimes different than the ties that bind and hold us together as a community. Pacific Oaks College continues its legacy of inclusion and social

justice with culture-centered family psychology programs that are poised to serve the evolving 21st century family.

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he daughter of Mexican immigrants, Ramona Padilla grew up in the city of Lindsay, California—an 85 per-cent Hispanic farming town nestled at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in San Joaquin Valley. She watched her mother lead a family of 14 children, often putting the needs of others before her own. She watched her father as he marched with activist Cesar Chavez and other farm workers, demonstrating peace-fully for fair wages and better working conditions.

By the time Padilla began working as a case man-ager for Hispanic fathers in her community, it would seem she would know everything there is to know about the culture she grew up in, and served. But she says it wasn’t until she enrolled in the Pacific Oaks College Latina/Latino Family Studies (LFS) program that she began to understand the complexities of her own community and the impact it has on families.

“Pacific Oaks College changed my life,” says Padilla, who received her M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy with an LFS specialization in 2008. “It trans-formed me. Just being part of the program opened my eyes to each level of the culture.”

At a time where the concept of family is being rede-fined and reexamined, Pacific Oaks College and its School of Cultural and Family Psychology is leading the way on social justice issues for families of all cul-tures and descriptions.

“The 21st century is the century of the ever-chang-ing family,” explained Connie Destito, associate dean of the Marriage and Family Therapy program and founder of the LFS program 15 years ago. “The school is poised to serve 21st century families and mental health needs because we have broadened the landscape for understanding the needs of family.”

The question of how to define the modern family is one that politicians have been debating since this last century started. What is family, exactly? Is the way we define families today different from generations before?

Dr. Bree Davis, an assistant professor in the Pacific Oaks MFT program and one of the pioneers of the African-American Family Studies (AAFS) specializa-tion, says the underlying message for all Pacific Oaks programs is that every family is unique.

“I believe that families today are definitely more diverse in the structure. No longer is it husband, wife and two kids—that white picket fence,” adds Dr. Davis. “I definitely think there are a lot more families

that include non-married couples. I know in the African-American community there’s a stereotype of the single mom but that doesn’t account for the fact that people may not be married but the father is still present in the child’s life.”

Since 2005, the AAFS specialization has utilized the UJIMA model of collective work and responsibil-ity, with the goal of developing marriage and family therapists who are highly competent in serving and advocating for the mental health needs of African-American families.

“We have so many stereotypes about black people and African-Americans; some that even exist in our own com-munities,” Dr. Davis explains. “This program does an awesome job of breaking down those stereotypes with a focus on shared values and shared experiences.”

However, as Padilla knows from her experiences in her Latina/Latino community, sometimes the shared experiences are the ones that are hidden—the ones that some families feel the need to keep to themselves.

Today, Padilla is not only Lindsay’s first Latina mayor, but she is also pursuing a Psy.D. at The Chicago School of Cultural Psychology with a disser-tation about the underutilization of psychotherapy for immigrant Latina women.

With the training she received at Pacific Oaks and now The Chicago School, Padilla understands

At a time where the concept of family is being redefined and reexamined, Pacific Oaks College and its School of Cultural and Family Psychology is leading the way on social justice issues for families of all cultures and descriptions.


that she probably witnessed issues of depression with her own mother.

“My guess is my mom had experienced depression. My mother has now passed but I have done a lot of self-reflection, and when I recall past memories with my brothers and sisters, we now realize that there were signs of depression.”

In Latina/Latino families, mothers are reared to be “wonder women,” she says.

They are strong. They hold families together. So while language is often a barrier for Latina women to receive needed therapy, Padilla says the “invisible obstacle” is that they are raised to believe they don’t need it.

As part of her applied clinical psychology studies, she is currently completing a pre-doctoral internship as a mental health clinician in a County of Tulare school with students from Kindergarten to 12th grade. The majority of students are Latina/Latino but Ramona has a diverse population and case load. Her Pacific Oaks training has been instrumental in her success.

“Being a Latina and going through the Pacific Oaks College program, people can relate to me and I’m approachable,” Padilla adds. “My community is under-served for mental health services for adults. I have a special niche working with adults in not only the Latino population but other populations too. I hope I can develop a nonprofit agency that offers mental health ser-vices within the community and surrounding areas. Mental health is hard to find and there are so many barri-ers to obtaining it that I hope I can help address.”

Destito says today’s families need more support than ever. While some are thriving in their own way, others are in crisis.

Unemployment is high, particularly in underserved communities. Access to quality education is a pressing need for communities of all socioeconomic levels. Add to that the threat of gun violence and other forms of domestic trauma and these are trying times indeed.

Pacific Oaks President Dr. Ezat Parnia has said that the time is now to address these needs. Over the last year, the School of Cultural and Family Psychology has built on a legacy of culture-centered social justice to serve communities of all descriptions.

“Our school is based on a social justice model, and the programs address the needs of families,”

Destito says. “For example, the new trauma studies specialization focuses on the beginning of life and the forces of trauma that impact both mother and child across one’s life span such as violence, immi-gration trauma, and stress.”

Immigration reform is one of the nation’s most pressing issues—one that affects Latina/Latino fam-ilies in ways that those outside of the community don’t understand.

Isaac Carreon, an assistant professor in the MFT program who studied with Destito in the LFS cohort, says this is why the work that Pacific Oaks is doing is serving a critical need in our society.

“As clinicians and as educators, it’s important that we have an understanding of how immigration

20 FALL 2014

reform impacts the families that we’re working with because it not only impacts the children themselves, but also impacts the parent who was deported, the spouse who has stayed behind, and the extended families,” he adds. “How does the family adjust to such a separation? What does it do to the attach-ment of the children?”

However, Destito says there is much to admire in how these families learn to cope—a “fire and gusto” similar to the pioneering spirit that built this nation.

While these families are forced to fight harder to protect the ties that bind them, it could be said that the impulse to protect and preserve family is one that tran-scends cultures. Something, perhaps, that is rooted in our origins as human beings.

The very notion of “family”—whether it is real or an aspirational fantasy—is the commonality that binds us all together, regardless of ethnic background, race or economics.

As human beings, we all want to belong. As par-ents, most of us instinctively want to protect and nurture our children. But today’s family expands far beyond biological boundaries. After all, love is love.

Victor Soto, a Pacific Oaks alumnus and master teacher at Pacific Oaks Children’s School, believes that family is a connection that is rooted deep inside us all.

“Family is the beginning of your birth and creation. For many people it means being connected to another human being. It shapes who we are as individuals,” says Soto, who received a bachelor’s degree in human develop-ment with an early childhood specialization in 2002.

“Pacific Oaks is now part of my family. While studying early childhood education at the college, I recall sitting under trees that casted a shade as I engaged other peers in conversations about Piaget and

Erickson. Thinking about those memories reminded me of sitting with my brother under a tree sharing fruit my mother had brought us.”

Dr. Davis says it’s important for us as a society to be willing to redefine the concept of family—to take it beyond culture and beyond stereotypes.

In her professional life, Dr. Davis has published exten-sively about the AAFS program and “living the principles of NGUZO SABA.” She has also volunteered at libraries and schools throughout the area, working with children and families from all backgrounds.

“I definitely think the extended family is huge today,” says Dr. Davis. “Not just with grandparents liv-ing in the home but also grandkids living in the home. There are a lot of grandparents raising their grandkids. There are a lot of single parents who rely on extended families. As a single mom, I also rely on cousins and aunts and uncles. Everybody’s involved.”

The concept of extended family goes back to pre-vious generations but one thing that’s new in the 21st century family is the increased role of friends, teach-ers and community members. Remember that adage, “it takes a village to raise a child?” With families dis-persed across the country and blood relatives living further away, neighborhoods and communities are forming their own form of family.

“I think that when you say family today, you will no longer be able to make the assumption that it’s a blood relative. Family will be people who are close to you, geographically, or people you rely on for sup-port and care,” says Dr. Davis. “I laugh and say that my son has about 10 aunties, but I don’t have any biological sisters. Our kids are growing up together. They are spending time together. These are people they can rely on.”

And that’s what matters most—having someone to rely on.

Remember that adage,“it takes a village to raise a child?” With families dispersed across the country and blood relatives living further away, neighborhoods and communities are forming their own form of family.

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From a historical perspective, Dr. Davis notes that African-American families have always “looked dif-ferent” in the sense that the definition of family was extended to the community at large—whether it be aunts and uncles or the local church. “Blacks in this country have been creating families differently in this country for hundreds of years. It’s always been more culturally diverse, but that’s what it’s looking like for a lot more people now.”

Building strong and inclusive communities has been a part of the Pacific Oaks mission since it was founded almost 70 years ago. Today, as the modern family evolves and changes, the importance of these commu-nities is more important than ever. As they have from the beginning, Pacific Oaks faculty and alumni are leading the way with thought leadership and education.

“We believe our diverse faculty is committed to social justice and community mental health programs that are very responsive to the mental health problems are ever changing forces impacting the wellbeing of families,” says Destito. “So that’s why we think we are poised. We are ready, but we are never finished.”

How African principles of work and collaboration develop marriage and family therapists to serve and advocate on behalf of African-American families.

Since 2005, Pacific Oaks College has offered a master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy with an African-American Family Studies (AAFS) specialization—a culture-centered curriculum informed by the UJIMA model of collective work and responsibility.

Utilizing these African principles, the program prepares students to better serve and advocate for the mental health needs of African-American families. The program also provides a historical lens on the learning style that will help individuals, couples, and families of African descent build on their strengths, improve their relationships, and generate solutions to relational problems.

UJIMA, one of the seven principles of Nguzo Saba (or Kwanzaa), means to "collective work and responsibility," to build and maintain a community together, make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems, and solve them together.

Graduates of the M.A. MFT program with an African-American Family Studies specialization are trained to make an impact in their communities. Dr. Bree Davis, one of the pioneers of the AAFS program, says several of her students are now starting businesses to better serve parents and children.

“One wants to start a nonprofit focused on providing empowerment and self-esteem building for black and brown girls in Pasadena,” she says. “Another one started out as a parenting coach in the African-American community but realized the disconnect between mental health services and parenting support. She is working to make sure that when they are coming in for parenting support, their mental health needs can be met.”

Dr. Davis says the entrepreneurial spirit of the AAFS graduates gives her hope for future generations.

“They see where there’s a lack of support, and they are trying to fill it. They are trying to solve problems. And they are being creative about it.”

Project UJIMA

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W hen Pacific Oaks College launched a Marriage and Family Therapy specializa-tion in Latina/Latino Family

Studies (LFS) in 1999, there was little to model the program after.

While the Latina/Latino population was the fastest growing in the nation, it was also among the most misunderstood by mental health practitioners. It was a community with diverse and complex needs, but it was also a community with strengths and extended family bonds that extended back for genera-tions—past language barriers and borders.

Given Pacific Oaks’ proud legacy for inclusion and social justice, it’s no surprise that the college would be one of the first to equip graduates with broad preparation in marriage and family therapy as well as spe-cial educational emphasis on the diverse mental health needs of Latina/Latino chil-dren and families.

Fifteen years later, the LFS program con-tinues to innovate and lead the way for other multicultural programs around the country.

“There are so many needs and yet there are so many strengths. What we do in our program is focus on the strengths and inte-grates them to practice mental health theory for students to serve the Latino Community in ways that are not scripted for a general

population,” explains Connie Destito, associ-ate dean of the Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) program and one of the founders of the LFS specialization.

One of the unique features of the LFS program is its ability to harness the dynamic Comadre/Compadre system that extends the concept of “family” to include a wider community.

“The LFS program took this family-cen-teredness approach—responsibility, love, and connection to our model of education—to support our students,” Destito says. “We encourage them not to learn through com-petition, but to learn through connection, relationship building, and accountability for each other.”

This family-centered model of education not only builds bonds among students, but teaches them how to go out and build bonds in the Latina/Latino communities. Destito says the result is a generation of leaders who are making an impact—a true success story.

“For 15 years, the Latino Family Studies program has been working closely with stu-dents who are passionate about working within this community and who have a very in-depth cultural perspective understand-ing—an understanding of the strengths of multiple cultures within Latino groups and are able to serve them in innovative ways.”

A QuinceañeraPacific Oaks’ groundbreaking Latina/Latino Family

Studies program celebrates a 15th birthday.

24 FALL 2014

Three alumna of the Latina/Latino Family Studies program share their stories and their vision for bringing social justice to their communities.

Sonia Torres (M.A. MFT, ’04)It could be said that Sonia Torres’ journey from teacher to licensed therapist has come full-circle. While working in an urban Los Angeles school, Sonia realized her true passion “to serve the underserved and marginalized Latino population,” leading her to a career change. “I wanted to continue on this journey at a different capacity; treating one family at a time as opposed to 30 kids in a classroom.”

While enrolled in the Latina/Latino Family Studies program, Sonia reflected on her family’s experience as immigrants from El Salvador. “We had to recog-nize our similarities and our differences to those we may work with as clients. It’s better to know ourselves so we can be authentic and genuine in the room with each family.”

Sonia now applies her graduate education to owning a private practice and working with Latino foster children at the nonprofit Counseling4Kids. Not only does she balance two therapist roles, Sonia is also an adjunct faculty member in Pacific Oaks Marital Family Therapy program and Latina/Latino Family Stud-ies specialization—where she says she has gained the most personal fulfillment.

Teaching the next generation of Pacific Oaks graduates is a constant reminder to Sonia of why she pursued a second career as a therapist. She has been able to identify with her inner student—constantly growing and learning from her class.

“Working with students fuels my work with families. I love the students’ energy, anticipation, and excitement about going out and practicing with real life clients.” Sharing examples of her work with Latino families in the classroom helps validate the need for working therapists who are culturally competent. “It’s an ongoing beautiful cycle of learning; being able to teach and practice is very fulfilling.”


From top, clockwise: Teresa Delgado, Alicia Esparza, and Sonia Torres

Alicia Esparza (M.A. MFT, ’13)A second generation Mexican-American, Alicia Esparza enrolled in the Latina/Latino Family Studies program to learn more about the culture as a whole. “I could only speak of my own experience, but the com-munity encompasses all different countries, customs, viewpoints, and traditions and I wanted to understand the struggles Latinos face.”

After graduation, Alicia became a bilingual therapist at Childnet Youth and Family Services where she combats the stigma of mental health that is prevalent within the Latino community.

Working with disadvantaged youth and their families, Alicia encoun-ters resistance to therapy daily. “A lot of older Latino men will say to me ‘oh I don’t need the help; I’m not crazy; I don’t want to talk about my feelings.’” Referencing her cultured-centered training, Alicia identi-fies trigger points from each family’s past that they continue to struggle, because as she explains, “history in the Latino community repeats itself.”

Additionally, Alicia relies on her specialization to help her colleagues understand the historical trauma Latino clients struggle with. “I am able to share my insight as a Latina with my team. My colleagues may not be able to identify where trauma stems from for their second or third gener-ation clients.”

For immigrants the experience of leaving their own country in pur-suit of a better life in the U.S. can be very traumatic and that trauma can transfer from one generation to the next. “The language itself can be enough of a barrier to feel discouraged, but also feeling unwelcome will make you want to go back to a country where the situation is not great, but at least there you will not be put down.”

Alicia envisions her future continuing to work with families and establishing a private practice to provide therapy at an affordable rate. “I want to help families heal who may not have the opportunity to due to financial, socio-economic, or cultural obstacles.”

After working in the child development field for 15 years, Teresa Delgado was inspired to enroll at Pacific Oaks. “I felt there was so much more I needed to learn to help children who are experiencing neglect, social anxiety, or mental health issues.” Teresa now uses her education to become a voice for those who can’t ask for help.

A recent grad of Pacific Oaks, Teresa is compelled to establish a nonprofit agency to address the prob-lems arising from Mexican and Central American undocumented minors entering the U.S. unaccompanied. The situation is dire; within the last year more than 30,000 children have entered the U.S. without their fam-ilies. “Either their parents allowed them to leave or asked them to leave. Perhaps they left their own country because of cartel, gang violence, severe poverty, or an abusive home,” states Teresa. Unaccompanied children not only struggle to obtain food and shelter, but also deal with abandonment and mental health issues.

“Sometimes children can be so paralyzed and scared they can’t do anything but cry or just shut down,” states Teresa. “They are unable to cognitively express how it has affected them internally. There is no one talking for them when it comes to unaccompanied children.”

The issues impacting these neglected children are so severe that only those who understand the Latino culture and its connection to family can help them. “My family comes from immigrant roots and I am now prepared to create and build something that can provide the resources to make a difference.”

Teresa is pursuing the necessary steps to establish this nonprofit by establishing a board and writing grants to receive funding. “This is where my passion lies right now and I think part of that has been fed by the Latino culture at Pacific Oaks and its’ mission of social justice."

Teresa Delgado (M.A. MFT, ’14)

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Living the Mission

1 | REALIZATIONEmigrating from El Sal-vador to Los Angeles at age of 11 wasn’t easy for Ana Ramos. At school, she worked to learn Eng-lish, and on her days off, she volunteered at a local preschool where her mom worked as a teach-er’s assistant. Initially, she bridled at her extra responsibilities, but soon found herself connecting deeply with the children. She cultivated her Eng-lish by reading to them and relieved her stress by helping them play dress-up. She felt liberated in their presence and decided she wanted to be a preschool teacher.

2 | EXPLORATIONAfter high school, Ramos juggled full-time work with her studies at a local community col-lege, intent on becoming the first in her family to earn a college degree. When she matriculated into Pacific Oaks, the school’s emphasis on anti-bias curriculum struck a chord. “It changed my life, both personally and professionally,” Ramos says. “I learned how to help people recognize their differences in a safe and dignified manner.” In short order, Ramos was implementing those phi-losophies at an agency for special-needs children called Step by Step.

3 | KNOWLEDGEAt Step by Step, Ramos helped special-needs children develop safe play strategies and social-emotional skills, often utilizing exercises with dolls that incor-porated wheelchairs, hearing aids and glasses. “It was my way of help-ing the children to value the uniqueness of every-one around them,” says Ramos. She quickly rose through the ranks, work-ing on early intervention strategies for toddlers and adolescents alike before becoming the director of the school’s social skills intervention program in 2010.

4 | ACTIONAs director, Ramos launched new evidence-based social-emotional curricula based on prin-ciples she’d learned at Pacific Oaks. Children no longer relied solely on books and worksheets; they now conducted role-playing exercises that displayed appropri-ate and inappropriate behavior. Photographs of the exercise were taken and used to create personalized textbooks, which fueled improved dialogue among the stu-dents. As a result of Ramos’ changes, staff morale improved, parent engagement was visible and the program grew.

5 | ACTUALIZATIONAfter earning her degree in 2012, Ramos became the director for the agency’s inclusionary collaborative preschool program, which seeks to integrate disabled and non-disabled students into single classrooms. Emphasizing non-bias principles, Ramos helped foster multicultural sing-along concerts and community outings. “For me, it’s all about meet-ing children where they are,” says Ramos, “getting down to their level and taking the time to facili-tating truly meaningful connections.”

Journey 5 Steps to a Transformation

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ANA RAMOS ‘12 B.A. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT WITH SPECIALIZATION IN DEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATION


MONA FRANCO KNOWS she’s one of the lucky ones. As a young girl, Franco enjoyed all the benefits of growing up under the watchful eyes of a loving two-parent house-hold, a doting grandmother and succession of caring Montessori teachers — a luxury that many of her peers in West Los Angeles didn’t possess.

She felt both happy and secure going to school and decided, from an early age, that she wanted to devote her life to providing other children those same comforts.

Finding the right career path, however, proved elusive until she took a psychology course at her local community college. Fas-cinated by the way childhood experiences affect adult behavior, she quickly applied for — and earned — a job as a teacher’s aid at UCLA’s University Village Center, a nation-ally recognized center specializing in anti-bias, social-emotional education as well as its innovative science-based curriculum.

Although her career was coming into focus, she still felt she was missing some-thing in terms of her educational develop-ment. Her community college classes were interesting but also didactic and impersonal, so she took a chance and attended an alumni conference at Pacific Oaks.

The moment she walked in the door, she knew she’d found an ideal fit.

“When I was going to my commu-nity college, you just sat down and lis-tened to what the teacher told you,” says Franco, who earned her bachelor’s degree in Human Development from Pacific Oaks in 2008 and her master’s degree in 2012. “At Pacific Oaks, I felt like I had a voice. There was a lot of dialogue, and we all shared some strong personal emotions that made us all feel connected to each other as individuals.”

Back at UCLA, she quickly applied those principles to her own classroom, helping her

children, who ranged from two months to 6 years old, feel secure in her presence. She worked diligently to carry babies and inter-act with them in the same way their parents did at home, all while encouraging her tod-dlers and young students to explore and play as freely as possible.

“As a teacher, I am there to give them qual-ity care, by meeting their needs and provid-ing them the safety to explore,” says Franco.

In time, Franco rose up the ranks at UCLA to her current position as a child development center manager. It’s now her responsibility to ensure that the center’s pro-gressive philosophies and values are alive and perpetually evolving, not only in the classroom but also in the hearts and minds of every teacher that she supervises.

Using the latest research in brain devel-opment, Franco and her team create curri-cula that foster creative thinking as well as build self-esteem and multicultural aware-ness, aims she developed while studying at Pacific Oaks.

She began her tenure by transform-ing the structure of her internal meetings, encouraging teachers to suggest topics for discussion instead of simply dictating themes. Conversations blossomed. And by bracketing off time for everyone to convey their personal histories, teachers connected on a much more personal level.

Because the village is located adjacent to student housing, Franco also worked to strengthen parental involvement. She cham-pioned multicultural potluck dinners, out-ings to local restaurants and community-based resource workshops, which fostered tightknit relationships between the teachers, parents and the children themselves.

“Ultimately, parents are the most important people in their children’s lives,” says Franco. “Every parent has to do what they feel com-fortable with, but I think it’s so important for parents to find time to simply play and talk with their children. Children respond to that kind of attention and the bonds made in those moments can last a lifetime.”

Mona Franco, B.A., M.A., Human Development

Forging The Ties That Bind

How We Play PEDAGOGY IN ACTION

FRIENDS BY HELEN OXENBURYAGES: 0–18 MONTHSThere are no words in this 1981 classic, just pictures of a young baby who befriends various ani-mals. Because the main charac-ter is a cutely drawn baby, little ones can see themselves in the character, while parents will have fun pointing to various ani-mals and teaching their children simple names. The elegant illus-trations capture the love between animals and babies, a wonder-ful lesson about empathy and compassion. “Plus, the book is cardboard; it’s chewable,” says Schiller. “All children at that age learn with their senses — all of their senses.”

BOO AND BAA ON A CLEANING SPREE BY OLOF LANDSTROMAGES: 18 MONTHS– 3 YEARS OLDSSchiller says that children’s books from different cultures can pro-vide young ones unique per-spectives on the world. Japanese books, for example, tend to be very frank about body func-tions, like the classic Everyone Poops, but Swedish books tend to be tender and adventur-ous. Landstrom’s books illus-trate normal children’s behavior, including Boo and Baa sheep get-ting really dirty by opening up a vacuum cleaner and then magi-cally getting clean via a wind tunnel. At Pacific Oaks, Schiller encourages children to be a bit messy with their books, bring-ing over great big unruly piles of the books — children love a little mess — so that toddlers can begin to get excited about reading.

ADVENTURES OF POLO BY REGIS FALLERAGES: 3–4 YEARS OLD Schiller advocates parents to choose new and adventurous places to read with their chil-dren. At Pacific Oaks, for exam-ple, students pile on couches, sit on benches under trees, and set up chairs in places of nat-ural beauty. Such settings are perfect for Rogis Faller’s book, which sends a cute beagle on a wordless adventure filled with plenty of perilous cliffhangers. The book, composed of comic-book-like panels, helps children learn to read from left to right, while its many mini mysteries encourages playful discussions about what each cryptic illus-tration might be.

MADELINE’S RESCUE BY LUDWIG BEMELMANSDOCTOR DESOTO BY WILLIAM STEIGAGES 4–5 YEARS OLD Bemelmans' classic Madeline series, which offers young girls a plucky female protagonist to root for, is of special importance to Schiller, bringing back mem-ories of reading it with her own mother. She encourages parents to rediscover their own child-hood favorites as well. On the other hand, Steig’s book about a mouse dentist helping a fox with a bad tooth offers great illustra-tions of pulleys and wenches that encourages kids and their parents to make silly sound effects and creative noises. “When you read a great book aloud,” she says, “everyone should get great joy from the experience.”

28 FALL 2014

Read All About It Anne Schiller, a Pacific Oaks Children's School master teacher who’s spent the last 19 years carefully curating reading materials for her students, doesn’t mind judging a book by its cover. While the ideas found within a children’s book are critical, Schiller says we often overlook how important the look, feel and sound of a book can be as well. “I look for a great marriage of illustration and text, the timing of the words and how humorous the story is,” says Schiller. “I think a good book is one that a child will want to read and that an adult will find great pleasure in reading as well.” Over the years, Schiller has discovered countless books that have cast a spell over her students, but here are some of her favorites, each offering a unique opportunity for students to explore, giggle, and forge a sense of their own identity.


Warmth. Support. Connection. Trust. For me, the notion of family extends beyond the simplicity of bloodlines and is more so about the attributes that endear people to me. Over the years as I have moved around and

settled in various parts of the country, my definition of family has evolved with my need to cultivate new communities and social networks. I

embrace others as family based on the shared values, dependability, and friendship we are able to exchange. And at the end of the day, that

equates to love. Family is love.Gabriella Chapman ’13 (M.A. HD) (Adjunct faculty)

My personal life lessons have taught me that family goes deeper than just biology. I think it has more to do with the social-emotional domain.

Family is the group of relatives and dear friends that you choose (and who choose you) to hold close to you. It’s about being a part of an

unconditional, reciprocal system of nurture, compassion, and support. With the occasional argument thrown in for good measure!

Gary Huff ‘12 (B.A. HD) and ‘14 (M.A. HD)

A group of loving people that support you no matter what. Laura Fierro ‘02 (M.A. MFT)

For me, family comes down to those who have added parts of themselves into the building of who you are. Parents, family, community, friends, and

teachers all have a piece of the magical puzzle that is you.Andrew Kami ’08 (M.A. MFT) (Instructor, MFT/Trauma Specialization)

I define family as my tribe, friends, and blood relatives who I connect with often and not-so often about and during the nodal points in my life.

Karen Merchant-Yates ’02 (M.A. HD)

Those I consider family are not blood relatives they are the people I have chosen to spend my life with—people who love and care for each

other through good times and bad. To me that's more powerful than anything else.

Elmida Baghdaserians ’97 (B.A. HD) (Faculty, School of Education)

Sound OffAlumni and faculty share what the concept

of “family” means to them.

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Voices fall 2014

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