Presenters

Jei Africa, PsyD, MSCP, CATC-V, Director of Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (BHRS) at the County of Marin, is an innovative thought-leader, strategist and clinician. For over a decade, Dr. Africa served as the Director of the Office of Diversity and Equity with the San Mateo County Health System where he led agency-wide efforts addressing health equity. Jei Africa holds a Post-doctoral M.S. degree in Clinical Psychopharmacology, a Doctorate of Psychology in Clinical Psychology.  Dr. Africa is the first openly transgender county behavioral health director in the US.

Shaylah Anderson received her master's in Clinical Counseling at Grand Canyon University and is certified in Mediation and Couple’s Counseling. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in performance psychology. Shaylah is a licensed professional clinical counselor serving adolescents and adults in the bay area. She is currently a member of the Faculty Diversity Internship Program (FDIP) at College of Marin.

Jason Bell is an adjunct professor in the Department of Criminal Justice, Sociology and Counseling at SFSU. He served as Executive Director at SF of SF State Project Rebound and Director of Programs for the CSU Project Rebound Consortium, comprising 15 campuses. With an extensive history of working with the prison and jail population, Bell – himself formerly incarcerated for nearly 10 years – has worked with the community beyond campus borders, helped establish the San Francisco Safe Communities Reentry Council, among other projects. He earned his M.S. degree in counseling from SF State University.

Steve Berringer is the Head Baseball coach at College of Marin, leading the team for over two decades Steve has coached his team to win 7 Bay Valley Conference Championships, and has earned 16 State Playoff Appearances. A total 167 student-athletes from the program have transferred to a 4-year university to pursue their academic and athletic careers, and 42 Mariners have been drafted or signed to play Major League Baseball.

Jaimeo Brown (pronounced jah-mayo) has established himself as one of the preeminent drummers, producers and educators on the NY music scene and has worked with artists such as Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, Q-Tip, Bobby Hutcherson, and Wynton Marsalis.

Don Carney has championed marginalized youth his entire career. He has directed group homes and educational services for wards of the court. He produced the Anne Frank: No More Scapegoats Exhibit which provided diversity instruction to over ten thousand Bay Area youth. Don has been at the forefront of disrupting the “school to prison pipeline” by deploying trauma-informed restorative practices.

Gerald Chambers is a licensed Marriage and Family therapist who focuses on interpersonal conflict, domestic violence, substance abuse, and 12-Step recovery. He leads a 52-week domestic violence psycho-education group for court-mandated spousal batterers and frequently speaks to lawyers, psychologists, and social workers, as well as middle school and elementary school children. He is well known for his innovative strategies to reduce domestic violence.

Tara Collins, MD, MPH, is a psychiatrist with Marin County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services and has a part-time integrative psychiatry practice, Tala Integrative Psychiatry. Dr. Collins completed her adult psychiatry and forensic psychiatry training at UCSF, where she served on the faculty for almost 10 years. Dr. Collins is a registered yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance, and also completed the Ayurveda Wellness Counselor program at the Kerala Ayurveda Academy.

Craig Coss is a Bay Area fine artist, illustrator, and storyteller who has exhibited in several northern California museums and galleries, and illustrated the tarot deck for HBO’s Game of Thrones. For over thirty years, Craig has also worked in public schools as a volunteer, artist in residence, certificated teacher, curriculum designer, and instructional consultant. Today, he teaches drawing and painting courses at the College of Marin.

Dr. Gina Davis (she/her) is a licensed clinical psychologist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Dr. Davis is the author of After the Acceptance Letter: Seven Healthy Mindsets for Emotional Wellness in College, a mental health guide for current and incoming college students. She identifies as African American and Chinese American, as well as a person who stutters.

Ashley Davis-Carter is a Mindset Coach, international public speaker, and founder and owner of LeadHERship Athletics. Ashley was a former Division 1 student-athlete at Grambling State University, and a former junior college, Division II, and Division I assistant and head softball coach.

Dr. Marie de la Paz (she/her/hers) is a licensed clinical psychologist in the Bay area who has a passion for working with Asian/Pacific Islander and BIPOC women. She has developed a somatic-based mindfulness approach that incorporates decolonization of this practice as well as ACT (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy).

Raj Escondo (she/they) is a Filipinx and South-Asian/Indian personal development facilitator and yoga instructor. Her movement practice strengthens one's interception skills supporting folks with histories of trauma, overwork, and stress to decompress and look within. Raj believes in a life of interdependent abundance, compassion, and ease as the path towards liberatory justice.

Ismael Lara is an educator, scholar, poet, mental health, and educational equity advocate who blends theory and praxis. He teaches with cariño, compassion, and respect. His own mental health experiences sparked a new path, which includes working to reduce stigmas. Professor Lara teaches at College of Marin, San Francisco State University, City College of San Francisco, Laney College, and Merritt College.

Oshalla D. Marcus

Oshalla D. Marcus is a certified Holistic Health Educator, a professional performing artist, and director of Marin City-MC-Arts and Culture. Throughout her career she has trained and guided hundreds of individuals on their path towards optimal wellness through holistic health and creative expression through the arts. Her experience in the area of mental health is personally rooted and culturally focused.

Cary (she/her) is the founder and executive director of Art With Impact and a firm believer that art is the answer (and it doesn’t even matter what the question is). She considers mental health to be the foundation of all social justice and, through Art With Impact, works to create learning environments that explore this rich subject through the power of art and creativity.

Educator and author Eva Joe Meyers provides facilitation and training to community-based organizations, K-12, and post-secondary institutions. Her book, Raise the Room: A Practical Guide to Participant-Centered Facilitation and Spark Decks toolkits are sought after supports for leaders seeking to inspire positive and supportive environments. Eva has previous served as a bilingual (Spanish) classroom teacher and a Fulbright Scholar in Thailand.

In 2014, Maureen registered for Barefoot Movement’s yoga teacher training program, where she learned that yoga was so much more than physical postures: yoga, or “union” is a way of life. Black to Yoga allows Maureen to share this way of life with her Black and Brown brothers and sisters. Teaching yoga is her calling in life, and she intends to answer this call to the best of her ability each and every time she teaches.

Derek Morgan is a former College of Marin student-athlete. He held a successful academic and athletic career as a member of the men's basketball team, and transferred to Union College where he competed for consecutive conference championships.

adrienne danyelle oliver is a poet-educator, hip-hop scholar from Little Rock, AR currently living in the SF Bay Area. Her work has appeared in Storytelling, Self & Society (Wayne State University Press, 2018), Patrice Lumumba: An Anthology of Writers on Black Liberation (Nomadic Press, 2021) and Write Now! SF Bay’s Anthology Essential Truths: The Bay Area in Color (Pease Press, 2021). adrienne enjoys writing about intergenerational healing. She leads healing writing circles for Black writers.

Teresa Reiko Perales (she/they/elle) also known as Tea, is College of Marin’s Equity and Activities Coordinator for the Office of Student Activities & Advocacy and the Chair of the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Action Committee (IDEA). Their intersectional identities, including their Japanese and Mexican heritage, being a queer non-binary person of color, and growing up in a racially and socioeconomically diverse extended family, shaped their passion and commitment to creating equitable, just, and healing communities.

Jahmeer Reynolds is the Executive Director for the Marin County Cooperation Team (MCCT) and the architect of the Marin City Public Safety Initiative (MCPSI), the Frederick Leon Marcus Youth Academy, and the School to Life Mentor Project. In 2021 Reynolds was awarded the Marin County Office of Education’s Golden Bell award for contributions to the Sausalito Marin City School District during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Emily Schaefer is the Head Women's Basketball Coach at College of Marin. She is a former Division II women's basketball coach and student-athlete. Emily is also a certified yoga instructor and mindset coach.

Sadika Sulaiman Hara (she/her) is an educator in higher education who creates learning environments that hold, uplift, and encourage students, while centering racial justice and dismantling white supremacy. Sulaiman Hara has deep professional roots in multicultural affairs, and currently leads the Office of Student Activities and Advocacy, including, student conduct and behavior intervention, at the College of Marin.

Bonaru Richardson was born February 7, 1973, in East Los Angeles California. At 10 years old he was arrested and now has more than thirty-five years’ experience in the California penal system. Prior to joining Mount Tamalpais College as its Communications Associate, he was the inside MTC clerk and managed as editor-in-chief of a small newspaper, San Quentin News. He earned his AA degree from MTC and hopes to educate the public about failures, solutions and how to disseminate life changing information across 35 prisons in the state of California.

LyRyan Russell is the Head Men's Basketball Coach at College of Marin. He is a former Division 1 student-athlete at University of San Francisco. LyRyan played professionally and had a decorated career overseas, before moving into the coaching ranks.

Elaine Tannous is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Bilingual Mental Health Clinician at Canal Alliance, providing direct therapy and reducing barriers to access of mental health services in the Latinx community in Marin County. She is rostered as a Child- Parent Psychotherapy provider at the UCSF Child Trauma Research Program, and specializes in treating acute and complex trauma in young children, adults and families.

Batul True Heart (they/them/aapo) is a 2Spirit Yaqui, Mexican, & Panamanian traditional medicine practitioner, community herbalist, death doula, & hospice volunteer. Batul’s community project Maaso Medicina: Flower Medicine for Ancestral, Generational, & Personal Pain offers mostly “homegrown’ herbal remedies as well as other traditional healing treatments with low cost, sliding scale, ‘pay what you can’ and ‘giveaway’ community care options. .

Larry Woodland is the Chief Program Officer at Side by Side and oversees clinical compliance, program development and clinical outcomes. In his over 20 years of practice, he has worked as a therapist, program director, and clinical director in a variety of settings including psychiatric emergency services, HIV/AIDS service organizations, substance abuse programs, and medical and legal settings. Larry is an advocate for mental health in BIPOC communities and LGBTQIA+ communities.

Wendy Zepeda (she, her, ella), cisgender/female is the daughter of immigrants from El Salvador and Guatemala. As a Behavioral Health professional her passion is to bring healing to communities and individuals who have been through traumatic/stressful emotional experiences and those impacted by chronic medical conditions. She works with a variety of treatment modalities including Solution Focused Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Mindfulness work.