OUR TEAM
Program Coordinators
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Reynaldo Timosa Novicio Jr. (He/him/siYA)Co-coordinator at the Filipino Mental Health Initiative-San Francisco Languages Spoken: English, Tagalog
Reynaldo Timosa Novicio Jr. is a Coordinator for the Filipino Mental Health Initiative – San Francisco (FMHI-SF). In 2008, he coordinated and facilitated an after school program serving newly arrived Filipino immigrant youth in the South of Market neighborhood. With his contributions in Youth work, he later joined BEC (formerly Veterans Equity Center) as Community Service Worker, assisting senior clients through case management and counseling in affordable housing opportunity and health services. His fluency in Tagalog allows him to serve the unique client based of the Filipino community, contributing to a high success of meeting their specific needs. He believes that each of us holds the power of liberating and transforming the mental health of our community. I got connected to FMHI-SF through my own experience as a mental health consumer, as well as community; cultural worker with our Filipinx-American youth and senior population. The desire to understand the lack of resource on mental wellness for our people kept me in journey to want to get involved. And continue to be guidance with other folks who share this longing. This work important to me because I can't live knowing that our mental wellness, well being is threatened. I'm here for the liberation of our mental wellness. |
(e) verma@bayanihancc.org
Instagram: @hilotwithverma, @ginhawamarketplace Facebook: Hilot with Verma, Ginhawa Marketplace |
Verma Soria Zapanta, M.ed (she/her/siya)Co-coordinator at the Filipino Mental Health Initiative-San Francisco, Wellness Practitioner & Founder of Hilot with Verma, MSTCM Student at Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Sciences Languages Spoken: English, Basic Tagalog
Affiliations: Hilot with Verma, Pin@y Educational Partnerships, Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Sciences Verma Soria Zapanta is a Visayan educator, photographer, and healer born and raised in Yelamu, occupied Ramaytush Ohlone territory (San Francisco). She has served youth throughout San Francisco and Los Angeles as an Ethnic Studies teacher before fully immersing herself in holistic medicine and mental health advocacy work. She is a student of Hilot, an indigenous healing modality from the Philippines, which incorporates bodywork, energy healing, ritual, and plant medicine. Verma is currently working towards a Master's degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine to become a licensed acupuncturist at the Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Sciences in occupied Huichin territory (Oakland, CA). She also hosts knowledge exchanges, workshops, retreats, and bi-annual gatherings called "Ginhawa Marketplace" through her wellness practice Hilot with Verma. I connected to FMHI-SF two years ago through the "Kapwa Konnections" project as a featured artist for the community exhibition and consultant to develop the Kapwa Rising Mural in SOMA Pilipinas, guided by Bay Area artists Sami See and Monica Magtoto. FMHI-SF is beautiful in the sense that we can be creative in how to engage folks on the complex, difficult, and often times painful topics of mental health, which is very stigmatized in the Filipino community. My hope is for every community member we engage with feels they have the agency to tend to their mental health needs while finding a community to lean in. |
core Members
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Bernadette Sy (she,her,hers)Director at the Filipino-American Development Foundation Affiliations: Filipino-American Development Foundation
Languages Spoken: English Bernadette Sy has worked for Filipinos serving nonprofits since 1999. She helped to launch Filipino Mental Health Initiative San Francisco and works with community based mental-health programs at the Bayanihan Community Center. It's vital that a mental health component be a part of all community services serving the Filipino community. Awareness and reducing stigma about mental health in the Filipino community is the first step toward stabilizing families and individuals who struggle with mental illness. Mental health is an important aspect of being and feeling well. Understanding what to do to manage your mood and your outlook on life is a challenge that all people experience sometime in their life. Often times communities can find comfort, strength,and healing amongst each other. This is the basis for community based wellness. |
https://galingbata.org
(e) galingbata.fec@gmail.com Instagram: @galingbata Twitter: @galingbata Facebook:Galing Bata |
FEC Galing Bata Program (They/them)Affiliations: Filipino-American Development Foundation, SOMA Pilipinas, Bessie Carmichael/Filipino Education Center
Languages Spoken: English, Tagalog FEC GALING BATA PROGRAM provides vital linguistically sensitive and culturally responsive services and resources to the Transitional Kindergarten - 8th Grade students enrolled at Bessie Carmichael/FEC throughout the school year and the summer, to their families, and the community in SOMA Pilipinas, the Filipino Cultural Heritage District in San Francisco. Social-emotional learning, restorative practices and trauma-informed care are embedded in their programming. Their staff are also certified in Mental Health First Aid and are screeners for behavioral health challenges or crises. They are committed to fostering safe spaces through building intentional and trusting relationships with students and families; spaces such as a weekly middle school lunch club to celebrate Filipino culture and identity, enrichment on wellness & resilience for middle school students, weekly parent support group (GB Chikahang Good Vibes), etc. In their efforts to prioritize their students’ wellbeing, they work closely with school-day social workers, make student referrals to community resources for mental health and wellness support, are an active member of the Bessie/FEC Wellness Team and Bessie/FEC Coordinated Care Team, and collaborate with other organizations to address the mental health issues within our community (MHC, FMHI-SF, Incredible Years/Filipino Family Health Initiative, etc). I got connected with FMHI-SF through my work at SFUSD with other Filipinx social workers and our work around serving the mental health needs of our students and families. Collaborating with FMHI-SF is an important part of our role as school social workers because they are connected to the community. FMHI-SF supports the community, provides safe spaces (virtually and in-person pre-COVID) for Filipinx to gather, build connections and learn from each other. Mental health is not too different from our physical health; as much as it’s necessary to take care of our physical health, it’s also important to care for our mental wellbeing. In Filipino/Filipino-American communities, mental health is not something that is talked about with families and friends because it’s something that is not physically seen and therefore not understood. This silence is making it more difficult especially for young adolescents to understand their own mental health. The intergenerational silence and stigma around mental health in our Filipino/Filipino-American culture continue to harm our youth and so as educators, mentors, and mental health experts it is our job to destigmatize this narrative of mental health, it is our job to prevent our youth from suicide ideation, and instead foster spaces that build resilience and encourage wellness. |
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Michelle Fortunado-Kewin (she/her/siya)School Social Work for San Francisco Unified School District, Doctoral Student at University at Buffalo Affiliations: San Francisco Unified School District, University at Buffalo
Languages Spoken: English, Basic Tagalog Michelle Fortunado-Kewin (she/her/siya) is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and works full-time as Clinical Supervisor and Program Coordinator at San Francisco Unified School District’s School Health Programs Department. She is also part-time Field Faculty Advisor (FFA for Smith College School for Social Work. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in in social work (DSW) at the University of Buffalo with a research focus on suicidality with Filipinx-American youth. I got connected with FMHI-SF through my work at SFUSD with other Filipinx social workers and our work around serving the mental health needs of our students and families. Collaborating with FMHI-SF is an important part of our role as school social workers because they are connected to the community. FMHI-SF supports the community, provides safe spaces (virtually and in-person pre-COVID) for Filipinx to gather, build connections and learn from each other. |
interns
(e) marcelleavaldez@gmail.com Instagram: @marcellev_ |
Marcelle Valdez (she/her/hers)Affiliations: University of Redlands
Languages Spoken: English, Tagalog I am a recent graduate from the University of Redlands, where I received my BA in Race & Ethnic Studies and Psychology. Throughout my time there, I took on many roles in a multicultural organization, which fostered a space for Women of Color in a PWI. The most important position I took on was Vice President of Development, where my duties were to work on the bonds and communication among, and emotional/mental wellness of each member. By the end of my time at Redlands, I had also completed a capstone titled “Decolonizing the Filipino Mind” which dove into the lasting psychological effects of colonization and colonialism and the journey I have started in my decolonization efforts. Being apart of FMHI-SF would allow me to put my passions and everything that I studied to get my degree in ethnic studies and psychology to good use. I aim to get my master's in social work or counseling in the near future and hopefully give back and help the community I grew up in. I recently got connected to FMHI-SF through a close friend in the community. I am extremely passionate about mental health and wellness outreach in marginalized communities because we receive the very brunt of it, but don't acknowledge it and aren't given the correct resources. Mental health and wellness is so stigmatized in our community but it's so important to talk about. We carry so much of what our people and culture have gone through and it continues to effect us mentally, emotionally, socially, economically, etc to this day and if we can't talk about it we'll never be able to break the cycles. |
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Nikie Abillano (She/Her/Siya)Affiliations: University of Redlands
Languages Spoken: English, Basic Tagalog I recently graduated from the University of Redlands with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Race and Ethnic Studies. Within my program I had the freedom to approach topics of race, ethnicity, and racism through interdisciplinary perspectives. I created an independent study course on Filipinx identity alongside my peers using academic resources as well as utilized the creative medium of podcasting for my senior capstone project. Through on-campus diversity groups and social justice organizations, I fostered and advocated for safe spaces for our BIPOC community. Like most of us in our community, I always sought to find my definition of what it means to be Filipinx in today’s contexts. With limited representation of Filipinx peoples in courses at my university, I dedicated my undergrad program to formally understand my community and present those findings to my department and cohort. FMHI-SF allows me to first-hand serve our own community’s mental health needs as it is vital to cultivate a sense of belonging and improve overall wellness. Their work allows me to combine my passions for community building, youth empowerment, and mental health awareness to thrive and grow. |