Elisa Meza Ed.D., Asw, Ppsc Email & Phone Number

I am currently a therapist for adolescents in a short-term residential treatment program in the County of San Mateo in Redwood City, CA. In my role, I provide individual therapy, family therapy, and facilitate groups focused on DBT, CBT, and culturally responsive practices. I support teens and families to strengthen their relationships through a motivational interviewing, strengths-based, healing-centered, and trauma-informed lens. I genuinely appreciate how much I learn from teens and their families as a therapist who is guided by their hopes, dreams, and aspirations. I allow their narratives and experiences to lead their own work toward a deeper understanding of their identity, their healing journey, and what it means to have agency to make change in their homes and lives. I completed my Educational Leadership Doctorate program at San Francisco State University in March of 2020 where I conducted a qualitative study on the experiences of Practitioners of Color that included both teachers and school social workers who identified as Women of Color. Through this study, I was able to engage with practitioners across one school district in the Bay Area to understand their experiences and visions around racial equity for Black and Latinx students. My doctorate research provided me with a systemic approach to understanding district-wide mechanisms that could potentially support the development of Practitioners of Color and sustain their practice to impact racial equity meaningfully and sustainably. I would love to continue this work in a consulting capacity to support departments in school districts to consider changes that they can engage with by centering the experiences of Practitioners of Color, which includes mental health practitioners and educators. Previously from 2013 through 2020, I was a school social worker at an elementary school in San Francisco Unified School District. As a School Social Worker, I provided culturally-responsive services with a particular focus on supporting the educational experiences of Latinx and Black students through a racial-equity-based lens. I supported Students of Color through healing-informed teacher consultation and advocating for systems-level change for students impacted by historical trauma. I believe strongly in radical healing to contextualize a student’s educational experience through a historical and social justice framework of practice.

Listed skills include Community Based Participatory Research, Teaching, Curriculum Development, Curriculum Design, and 10 others.