Diversity Panel: Supporting Our Immigrant Clients in Times of ICE
This panel brings together clinicians and community advocates to explore how we can best support our undocumented and immigrant clients at this time of great peril and uncertainty. Many of our clients, loved ones, and community members are facing the constant threat, or the devastating reality, of an apprehension by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Many, too, are coping with immense loss, grief, and trauma, persistent terror and anxiety, alongside racially discriminative narratives. Our panelists will be sharing their lived experiences, tools, and perspectives through a culturally-responsive, liberation-focused lens. This discussion is intended to help mental health professionals respond with compassion, resilience, and culturally-sensitive care — both inside and out of the therapy room. Please note that there will be time for questions, and that this event will not be recorded given the need for safety and sensitivity around this topic.
Who: SBCAMFT members and Non-SBCAMFT members
Where: Zoom (link will be sent in registration confirmation email)
When: August 11, 2025 12:00 PM Pacific Time
Cost: FREE
Our Panelists:
Ali Cortes, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (she/ella):
Ali is a first-generation, trauma-informed, and bilingual Latina therapist whose work centers on trauma-informed care, cultural healing, and community empowerment. Ali has spent over a decade serving diverse communities through direct therapy services, clinical supervision, teaching as an adjunct professor, community crisis responses, community leadership, and mental health education. She has worked with youth, families, couples, college students, and first responders. Through this diverse experience, Ali has cultivated a deep understanding of systemic trauma, trauma response and recovery, intergenerational healing, and the power of culturally grounded care. She founded Bienestar Counseling, Coaching, and Consulting (formerly Bienestar Latinx), a transformative mental health platform that centers the wellness and leadership development of BIPOC and Latine communities. Bienestar offers bilingual psychotherapy, healing-centered workshops, and culturally responsive consulting services that challenge oppressive systems while fostering individual and collective resilience. Rooted in her own lived experiences as a first-generation daughter of immigrants, Ali leads with authenticity, compassion, and cultural integrity.
Contact:
Instagram: @bienestar_latinatherapist @bienestarccc
Website: www.bienestarccc.com
Email: alicortes@bienestarccc.com
Mariela Marin, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (they/them/elle):
Mariela, alongside their role as therapist, is Teaching Faculty and Director of the Latinx Mental Health Concentration at Antioch University and is currently the Clinical Director of Community Counseling and Education Center (CCEC). They also are part of the leadership team of the national organization, Latinx Therapists Action Network, that supports the work of organizers, activists and movement leaders and works directly with local non-profit organizations in efforts to protect and support local undocumented communities. They are a first-generation, bilingual Latinx person, and are dedicated to the work of honoring, healing, empowering and celebrating community through the promotion of mental health and wellness.
Email: mariela@ccecsb.org
Sarah Marin, Nonprofit Operations Director (she/her)
Sarah serves as the Director of Operations at CCEC, a nonprofit mental health clinic that has served the community for over 40 years. She approaches her work with a commitment to collective care, striving to build systems that nourish clinicians, sustain access to healing, and center liberatory models of practice to affirm dignity, mutuality, and belonging. Beyond the clinic, she is a deeply concerned community member who has witnessed the harm caused by immigration injustice. Alongside her spouse, she is supporting a youth with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, and brings to this panel a perspective shaped by personal responsibility, accountability, and solidarity with migrant communities.
Email: sarah.marin@ccecsb.org
Panel Facilitator: Vincent Gonzales, Santa Barbara CAMFT CEU Events Director and Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (he/his)
Additional Information:
*This webinar will be available by Zoom. If you do not already have a free Zoom account, sign up for it today. The Zoom link will be emailed in advance of the webinar. The webinar will be a mixture of discussion and Q&A.
