Thanks so much for spending time with me today! Erica shares her history and passions and I feel her experiences and expertise overlap exactly with what this project is aiming for. Her program with laundry reminded me of Akbar Cook in New Jersey. Our concerns intersect at medical model of funding means pathologizing someone to get services, ie giving someone a label (which they may internalize) for issues that are environmental.
transcript
keevin bybee 0:00
Welcome to the one school podcast. I’m Dr. keevin Bybee, a family physician exploring how we can transform our local public schools into 20 473 165 safe havens for our children with robust co located social services and community integration by having conversations with the domain experts in the relevant fields. Today I’m speaking with Erika Torres, PhD, Director of behavioral health for the hospital system I currently work for. She comes from the Bay area where she worked with a healthcare integrated school program for underserved students. I’m excited today to have a behavioral health expert who’s experienced so well aligns with the needs I’m hoping to address talked about the importance of meeting basic needs. So children can be regulated at schools, as well as wraparound services for the families that the children live with, we got a little bit philosophical talking about how we’re going to need to change our mindset as a society. And I want to express my gratitude to her that this project seems like something that’s worth spending time on and is actually realizable, and that she was willing to share some time with me today to explore it. With that, I bring you Erica Torres.
You know, I’m burdened with the the knowledge of reading a lot of science fiction and being really into, you know, tech futurism. But the reason that I bring that up at all is that things are going to drastically change in the next, you know, couple of decades. And even if things don’t change, the point is still that,you know, we’re not doing a great enough job as a society at large to take care of our little kids who were born into any of the circumstances that they are. And I’ve been listening a lot to this gentleman who’s a educational philosopher, I guess, is how he describes himself. His name is Zack Stein. But basically, he has a vision to transform what we call schools into a community center with that’s very much flexible about how we approach learning and development, the the bell to bell industrial model of getting children out of their parents hair for eight hours a day really isn’t what’s going to help us. And just also thinking about having a place where children can have regulated adults help them co regulate, if they don’t have a regulated space at home. How can we wrap as many of those services into one easy to access co located place in a neighborhood? So that’s kind of the vision if that is something that resonates with you? Yeah, I mean, it definitely reminds me as I had mentioned before, like the work that we were doing in Oakland, yeah. And so there were different levels of it. So we had like it, you know, early childhood we had program
erica torres 2:50
in our division that was called Spark, and it was successful preschool adjustment and readiness for kindergarten, that’s what is the four, but really, what it was, was, um, we were working with, like the most underserved families, who were multi stressed the many of them were involved with the child welfare system, many of them had, were poverty stricken. And so there were so many stressors and then not to mention whatever home environment was impacting there, you know, like you intimate, intimate partner violence, you know, domestic violence that children were then coming, or young children were coming to preschool, and totally dysregulated understandably so.
And oftentimes hungry. Oftentimes, I’m not clothed or or not, you know, clothes in, in weather appropriate attire. And so what that program did was first of all, they had a washer and dryer in like in, in the building so that children who came and had clothes you know, dirty clothing, they would give them they also had like whole Donation Center so that people would donate clothes, so we had a ton of different size clothes. So you could change that child you could also parents could go and like quote unquote shop in at the Donation Center to pick clothes, clothes that you know, clean clothes. But if a child came to school, with
clothes needed to be washed, they were given a change of clothes and their clothes was washed while they were while they were in school.
We also had what was called the food pharmacy. So we had worked with the food banks in the area. And like all these, you know, grocery stores like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, and even Starbucks, all these places that typically would just throw away food that was that was like a old food, like bakeries, you know, day old bread that they would just like throw away, and instead of throwing it away, we would, they would drop it off to our center, so that parents could also, as they were dropping off their kids, for example, Starbucks, they have like day old pastries that they would just throw away, so we would just put it out. And like when parents would come to drop off their kids for preschool, they would help themselves to Starbucks, and it was, um, this way that they felt then taking care of, but um, then in the program, the the main purpose of the spark program was not only to kind of make sure that we were meeting those basic needs, you know, food, clothing, but then those kids who are really, really struggling with regulation, the we had a therapist who would be in the classroom, and would not like the typical model is like, you pull it out, right, you pull it out, and then you work with them, but you’re not really helping them learn how to regulate in a classroom environment. And more importantly, you’re not really teaching the teacher, how to engage in a trauma informed way. So the teacher gets to continue to be the way they are, you’re pulling this kid out, and then you’re bringing them back into the exact same environment. So instead of doing that, that the therapist would help co facilitate a circle time, for example, or they would sit next to that kid who was having trouble. And they would help, you know, teach the teacher like grounding techniques, teaches teacher how to get a kid engaged, and keeping in mind, the trauma history that’s kind of sitting with them, um, you know, or that not even history, right, that the current trauma that’s sitting with them, that makes it really, really hard for them to attend in class. And so that was at the very early like early childhood level, and then those same therapists would work. So this was all Medicaid funded, Medicaid funded services. And so those same therapists would then go and meet, do home based services. And so they would meet with the parents offer support to the parents meet, you know, offered Parent Child psychotherapy. And really, that work was around, it was twofold. It was you know, psychological services, but it was also social work, trying to assess like, what are the needs, parents are often navigating legal, you know, dependency court, all these different systems and really helping them access that the needed resources. So it was kind of this wraparound service. It, it fell short of the model that you’re talking about, which I think is like phenomenal to think about the school setting, being that community, safe space, you know, it fell short of that, because it was still within a school environment. It was still in pre K or in and, you know, early childhood development centers, or headstart, but but it that, you know, that’s my familiarity with like really thinking about how do we make use of the resources, we have to have greater week to a bigger impact?
keevin bybee 8:42
Yeah, that’s amazing. And the questions that come to mind is, you know, how, I guess how many, how big was your team relative to how big was the need? How many kids were you able to reach versus how many kids would you have liked to have been able to reach pretending resources weren’t an option, which they always are. But, you know, I, that part of the goal of this whole having these conversations is maybe we can drum up enough interest. And eventually one of the billionaires goes, Hey, this is a good idea. But you know, that’s a few years down the pipe dream, but pretending we did have the resources, like, given the number, the need, you have, like, how many of you would you have needed? I think that
erica torres 9:28
if we’re talking about schools, right, and we’re talking about, like schools in our community, I think every school should have a team that is focused on, you know, like your social determinants of health team, you know, like that team that includes all those areas of what’s going to create healthy children in order to then grow up to be healthy adults. And I think, you know, the team, we had was is a team of six licensed mental health providers. But we also grew capacity by having a psychology training program, and a social work training program. So we took students that were in their, you know, internship years that need hours, to get their doctoral degrees in psychology or are doing their postdocs. And so, we were able to double that size by really investing in the next generation of providers and caregivers. And so, and I can’t remember, because I was the division director, I wasn’t the manager of that program. But um, you know, and if you wanted to talk to her, she would, she’s so passionate about this, she would totally talk with you, that would be wonderful to totally talk with you about because she’s also a visionary. And she sees very, cuz she also is on the ground doing this work, and she sees the need, she, you know, that we started off by doing this work based on our Medicaid funds, we also had a health care for the homeless grant through samsa. And or I’m sorry, not samsa through hersa. And so that’s what allowed our whole division to be an F qH Si, which then allowed Children’s Hospital Oakland to be an F th see by way of this health care for the homeless grant federal grant that we had. But um, she also approached the school that one of the school districts in the Bay Area, because she saw there was significant need there, we didn’t have a contract to provide services there. And she pitched this idea of early childhood intervention and why it was important, and that this is what this is the model that we would offer. And they said they the school actually used or not the school, the school district used some of their funds to, to fund the program. And so they were able to then expand to some of these other schools, but really you’re talking about, it depends, because it depends on you know, if you’re working, we had the cases open by they were they they were patients of Children’s Hospital, Oakland, and so the children were our patients. And so that’s how we would enter into the classroom. So we weren’t like, it’s a little bit different, right? Because you could do it from the model of your therapist serving that whole classroom, and will serve in that whole school. Or, and you would have a therapist basically. And then when I say therapist, I mean someone who’s also doing that social work component. So it’s not just psychotherapy, but it’s like the Social Work component. So it could be one per classroom, but if you do it based on patient and patient needs, and you’re billing through the medical system, then that patient is your patient when you’re following that patient within whichever classroom, so the classroom benefits, and that teacher benefits, but you’re really that you’re really it’s basically billing Medicaid through that patient record through that one patient that you have, that you’re seeing and supporting you individually and also at you know,
in the good setting.
keevin bybee 13:19
Interesting that it’s you’re bringing up how it’s built to the medical system, which is is great that we’re doing that in some sense. And part of how I got interested in this topic at all is thankfully, with the expansion of Medicare, people get to show up to their primary care physician for basically anything, which to some degree is great. But at the same time, I am also not the best equipped to deal with a lot of the, you know, extra life circumstances that go into somebody not necessarily feeling well. And
because we as a society have also not decided to as robustly funded social services, my referrals to you know, our social worker, colleagues and our therapist, colleagues, even co located at peace health are already overwhelmed. And not sure where I’m going with that other than to say it’s interesting that we, we have to funnel all of this through a, quote, medical diagnosis, in some sense to get it done. So I’m just curious how that lands with you.
erica torres 14:29
With something, you know, our so our division was called the Center for the vulnerable child and one of our It was a division within Children’s Hospital Oakland, and one of our
core values was social justice. And so when we would hire any clinician that we would hire, we we were very, very deliberate about like This is you’re serving predominantly like an underserved, predominantly black and brown community. And this is the commitment, right. And when we had all of our questions, we’re so connected to the community and so committed to this work is to be in the community. So we constantly had struck stations about how you’d have to paddle or die someone that really they were impacted not because there was something that was internally wrong with them, but it was they were impacted by the social structure, right. And so we had to then pathologize someone to treat them for something that wasn’t really about them, but it was about their psychosocial environment. And, and you see, you’re pathologizing, a three year old or you’re pathologizing, a four year old, in order to get paid for the services in order to be able to provide the services yet. So it was this constant struggle like this constant moral struggle around this is the only way I can get these services for this family. And yet, I have to pathologize his three year old and say that they have major depressive disorder, in order for us to get funded in order for us to be able to do this. And yes, they do have major depressive disorder, but it isn’t, because it’s something internal to them, it’s because of their environment. Or it’s because of, you know, all of the other things that impacted their capacity to be a healthy, young, you know, young person. And because our division worked with to literally on birth to 22, you could really like see that trajectory, you could see how when we got in to support a family or to support a child in their adolescent years, and we weren’t, we didn’t have access to them for whatever reason, in their early years, you see that the cumulative effect of distress, like stressors and multi stressors, environmental stressors, you know, failed system to address it. And then you have now a 16 year old who’s pregnant, who is in foster care, Whose child is now in foster care, who doesn’t know how to parent because they never were parented because they grew up in the child welfare system. So you see, you see that cycle very, very clearly. And so, for us, we always, always felt so strongly that like early intervention, critical, getting in, you know, as soon as possible to really support young children and their parents, because their parents are often even if they’re not young in age, they’re young, because of the their circumstances and being also a victim of, you know, of the social, like our social system. And so, yeah, it’s a very long winded way of saying, it’s, it was always a struggle, like the way that we got funded. And we had to kind of justify, and, and constantly revisit that conversation as a whole group.
keevin bybee 18:22
What enters the society, as well, you know, you brought up how, like, early intervention, like ounces of prevention and pounds of cure, and we like the divisions and and just highlights how these divisions between, you know, quote, physiologic health, quote, mental health, social health, all of these areas of life aren’t really distinct areas, they’re just life. And if we want to make impacts in any one of them, we really need to be able to impact all of them simultaneously. And so I say this more as a call out to anybody who might be listening who isn’t, or just to raise the awareness that this all needs to be kind of funded simultaneously and universally. And then, even from a cold hearted investment point of view, if we want to save an emergency room, Bill and an ICU bill down the road, if we were taking care of these young people today, then they would cost us less than the future and I hate to take it to that level. But on some, you know, it’s still worth considering that that is a factor and how this all comes together, you know?
erica torres 19:36
Yeah, I totally agree. I think I say that all the time. We’re paying for it anyway. Like we’re paying for it anyway. And we’re not really getting a great return on our investment because it’s an afterthought, and it’s, we’re paying for it by way of, you know, chronic pulmonary disease by way of diabetes by way of like our society, our systems, our health care. systems, our legal system, you know, we’re paying for it and our taxpayers, you know, we’re paying for it anyway. And I think that the way that we’re paying for it is not effective. And if we were to be able to move toward prevention and early intervention, and invest, like mindfully invest, then I think the return on investment would be so great. Like, we would actually, we could actually see the impact of the billions of dollars that we’re spending already. Anyway, I was, you know, it was so funny, I was thinking, someone sent me like a meme. about, you know, this, the 16 year old kid, buys, you know, every year buys a pair of Nikes. And, you know, for 10 years straight every year buys a pair of Nikes. And that same, you know, 16 year old, or, you know, another 16 year old buys every year stock, and that with that same amount of money, they buy stock, and Nike, and at the end of those 10 years that, you know, there’s a 26 year old that has a bunch of Nikes, that they can’t wear that old and they don’t fit anymore, and then the other one has wealth. And I was thinking like, that’s exactly the same concept as our, our social, like, social welfare system and our whole like, health care system, that we’re spending the money anyway, but there’s nothing to show for it at the end, 10 years later, you know, there’s, there’s really nothing to show for it. And so why don’t we shift, you know, to be investment minded instead of expense minded?
keevin bybee 21:44
Indeed. And so the the project you have is kind of exactly the the logistical thing that we would want, you know, more diffusely, more robustly kind of everywhere, what struggles did you have in reaching your goals, or doing what you felt was the right thing? And if, you know, we were able to implement something like that in a, like a school with enough resources? What would you do differently? Or how would you kind of redesign what you had to make it even better? Yeah.
erica torres 22:24
I mean, there’s so many different things, I think, first for me, as a, you know, the director and really supporting the work, and mostly being the face with senior leaders or CFOs, or, you know, philanthropists, like being the voice of and I think that I often wasn’t, was always afraid to say, this is how much is needed to be to truly be successful in this, I would almost like under, under ask, because I felt like I need to just get in the door, I need to just like, let them give us a little and let us build so that they could see the return on investment, and then we can grow. And I think that there’s there was some benefit of that. But I think that the other side of that is that I would see how the burden then would really be on the those on the ground at the very beginning to do way more than they really could do to show that ROI. Because I we would try to do it at the with the smallest, the tiniest team to and to have the greatest reach. And I think that, um, if I had to do it again, I would probably present it differently. Like I would present it as this is this is our like, this is a this is like the gold standard like this is if you want to go all in this is what it’s going to take and be really transparent about this is what we could do with this much and and then also say now if we want to get our foot in the door, you know if we want to just get started but you have to understand that we were talking two classrooms or three classrooms we’re not talking the whole school or we’re not talking you know, the whole community and I think I think even though you know that that program still exists and they’re still doing amazing work I’ve since now I’m at peace health and i’ve you know, I’ve since left but I think they’re constant struggle is it’s it constantly feels like you have to justify the need for the funds and I We’re still in an environment where I don’t understand, I don’t understand why we can’t make that shift around the services needed. But I can tell you right now, like, you know, all the programs at the Center for the vulnerable child where I came from, I feel like they’re constantly on the chopping block, like they’re constantly worried about losing funding. And it’s, and I know what I talked to people here in the Pacific Northwest about, like, this is what we had in Oakland. They’re like, Wow, that’s amazing. And I’m like, Yeah, I wish we could have that here. But those in Oakland are like, and we constantly have to fight to stay alive, like just stay for programs to stay alive. And I think it’s mind boggling being in the Bay Area, right? Where you have the the, some of the wealthiest people, you have some of the biggest tech, you know, industries, you have the benioff’s who have, you know, donated millions of dollars to UCSF, and yet we have this very, what feels to me like this diamond, like this diamond that is that, you know, is there but you’re not unearthing that you you know, you know, you can do something really big with you know, that you can unearth it and, and really make use of it, but you’re you’re choosing not to? And I’m not sure, I’m not sure how to impact that part of it. But I think in hindsight, I probably would have gone bigger, you know, really pushed for, for a clear like, ask?
keevin bybee 26:47
Well, I think that’s, that’s great, because, like I said, if we talked about the universalism of it, it doesn’t help to try to plug 20 different holes in the dam with each of your digits, you got to rebuild the dam all at once. I don’t know if that analogy works. And you know, you it’s the humanities, I guess I’ve on the side, I’ve been trying to do a lot of reading about what makes us tick as people, the more I’ve gotten into medicine, the more confused I get, like, the more I understand, the more I anticipate, the less I anticipate, the bigger the blackbox gets. And so I’ve been trying to understand that, you know, the human brain is mostly detects what it thinks is salient or important, but that may not necessarily be what’s relevant. And so if we are able to take a step back from ourselves, recognize that we’re no longer on the African savannas and our instincts are not well tuned to 21st century living, hopefully, we can begin to be a little bit more deliberate about the things we pay attention to and why. And then therefore, we can redirect our attention to different things that may not be as flashy. So I bring that up, again, mostly is a to an at large asked for people to consider that salient is not necessarily relevant. And if we’re going to change how we do things, you got to change how we think about them. So if anybody’s interested, I recommend a YouTube series by this guy named john Verve a key the awakening from the meaning crisis, you can Google it, and it’ll, it’s mind blowing. One thing I really like to jump back to you mentioned, how you increase your capacity by bringing students or post grads in to be a part of the team. And the Zachary Stein guy talks about that as well how learning and teaching needs to be more of a continuous spectrum with a lot of bleed through. And so as a society if we want to show how much we care, even if we don’t believe in something like universal basic income, which I do all cards on the table, but why wouldn’t we fund and pay for people to go into these educational programs, so that we as a society will show where we actually care about things? So I’m sure I would I could only imagine you to agree with that statement. But I’m just curious how you feel or how you would think about funding more educational programs for the therapists for the social workers, so that we’re actually paying them to be a part of the working community while they’re completing their training.
erica torres 29:44
Totally. I mean, I’m such a huge believer in that. And I think it’s not only I think it’s not only beneficial to the community, right, that you’re raising, you’re raising the community on You’re using, you’re literally investing, you know, that’s like, moving us from, like, I feel like it’s the other side of this model, where the model we’re talking about is moving us moving our community from survival to like, living, right. And then this, this is moving us from living to thriving, that, you know, you’re investing in that the education and the advancement of individuals in the community, but at the same time, there is something that those in the workforce get from that, I think, one thing I miss incredibly, and I’m really committed to bringing it to our behavioral health service, signup. peacehealth is a training program, because when you have students and you have recent, you know, you know, interns and postdocs, they’re the ones that are coming with the most recent information, the most modern, you know, evidence based interventions, and they’re how they can help someone who’s been out of school for years, you know, stay fresh on actually the thought how we’re doing things this way, or that’s, that actually, I can see how you would think that are that that theory has informed your work, but now there’s this new, new research that really is changing the way we’re thinking about that. And so it keeps, it’s not just something that’s, you know, we’re giving to at student and to the community, but we’re also gaining something from it in terms of our own workforce, and keeping us really, at the forefront of knowledge and, and, you know, continuing to work towards being the best that we can be. And so I feel like it’s a win win. situation. I think everybody wins. And I think it there’s something about being in a constant learning environment that also I think feeds not only feeds us intellectually, but feeds center in other ways to stay, and aged men to stay committed, you know, I think there’s something really, really strong there’s something that happens when you’re in a constant learning environment that that keeps you in, you know, that quote, unquote, learning brain that keeps you active, and that keeps you engaged.
keevin bybee 32:28
Absolutely. I sound like a broken record, I’m sure but again, I just been reading this guy’s Eckstein, and like, everything he says, is like this quotable. Like, yeah, nugget. But he relates in the intergenerational of information, what is education, the intergenerational transfer of information and they are inseparable, and just talked about how we feel more alive. We’re learning and teaching environment like simultaneously back then because we’re in touch with again, what we are as humans most directly, and that’s the intergenerational transfer of information and so being an active deliberate participant in that only pays dividends.
erica torres 33:29
Totally, I think that that and I think I’m not just like in our in our health care, like, you know, settings, but again, in as we’re thinking about these models, and these innovative ways to impact, you know, inequities, that having growing folks from within the community, there’s also something that can’t be taught, I think that is like you when you’re growing, raising someone from within the community, that there’s a drive and a passion and a grit that can’t be taught that is that is so valuable. That again, the you know, when you think about like the return on investment of raising people up from within is so much greater than bringing in quote unquote experts from outside, you know, from the outside to, to impact a community. And so it there’s so much to be sad about, you know, edge, you know, having trainees having interns having students really be at the side of this work, I think is so valuable.
keevin bybee 34:46
Yeah, I I’ve had the privilege of working with medical students and residents in my current job, and I can definitely say that they helped keep me on my toes and stay honest and force me to consider why am I doing something that I’ve been doing mindlessly And so thinking about, you know how we could make this happen, given the premise that I’ve laid out or that you’ve understood, what would be some hurdles you think that come to mind something that you know, I may not have anticipated or something that I mentioned that you said, ooh, did you think about that? Like, what what might catch me from my blindside in this process? Do you think?
erica torres 35:34
I mean, I think the biggest one that you are already thinking about is the the financial aspects of that. And that, aside from having, you know, philanthropists, or a group of philanthropists fund, this type of program, that our systems, all of our social systems operate in silos. So when I think about, you know, what are the systems? What are the systems that are responsible for the human experience, you know, we’re talking about our educational system, we’re talking about our health system. So the, you know, social services like child welfare system, juvenile justice system, or just, you know, criminal justice, them, none of these systems, all of these systems get funding, right, that there’s funding, there’s public funding to operate. And yet, none of these systems work together, none of these systems collaborate. So every single system is working in a silo. And each of these areas, I think, touch one another. And I think that if we truly wanted to impact this, like, you know, from a public funding standpoint, it’s like getting all these systems to talk to one another, to say, instead of being like, this is my money, or this is mine. And this is for this particular work that I’m doing, how do we pull our funds together to build something like this? Because it touches every area of every, you know, one of our areas? I think the other piece is the level of what’s the word? I feel like, there’s so much red tape in all these processes around? How do you how do you even how do you even you know, step into a school environment, like, you know, I think about that process for us and thinking about the agreements and the like, the liability coverage and the, like, everything that needed to be considered just to literally step foot into a school setting. So those are the things that I think about that make it that can be daunting, that isn’t just, like, let’s put this idea to, you know, we all have the skills, let’s come together. And let’s put this to work. That there’s all of these processes that each of these systems have that would require you to navigate in order to even just step in, like step into the door.
keevin bybee 38:28
Yeah, very real, very daunting. I mean, part of the whole process is talk to, like I said, people in each of these domains, so that there’s foot in the door, on some level, and hopefully that will lead to, you know, a crack that the flood can no longer hold back. I’ve also been blessed with the confidence of a mediocre white guy and a lot of blind optimism. So I’m gonna ride that horse pretty hard, even to my desk. I love it. I’m trying to be I’m trying to I’m trying to be self aware. Emphasis on try. And so I want to be mindful of your time, I would love to chat forever. I kind of dove into this without really giving you a chance to introduce who you are and how you got to the other side of an internet microphone with me if you feel like sharing anything about how you got how you gathered your expertise and found this project interesting.
erica torres 39:34
Yeah, I mean, I feel like the work that you’re doing is so closely connected to my heart and like my heart work. I think for me growing up as a first generation, you know, Chicano Mexican American, who’s had no one before me, even know how to navigate it. You know, college. My father’s highest level of education was third grade, and my mom did graduate from high school. But for me growing up in an environment where the majority of people around me, were poverty stricken, and seen, I went, I went to a school that was really unique. And that half the school was the public, you know, the public school and the other half was also public, but it was a magnet school app. And it was very clearly, there was a very, very clear segregation of like, the black and brown poor kids went to the public school. And the kids with more affluent who happened to be white and Asian, went to the magnet side. And you could clearly see in the same school, the delineation of access, access to, you know, materials, access to books, access, you could clearly see the difference. And as a young kid, I thought it was because I was brown, I wasn’t white, or I was an Asian, so I couldn’t, I wouldn’t, I wasn’t smart enough, or I couldn’t access, you know, these things in life. And I think that I internalized a lot of that, like black and brown kids were had broken homes, or had there was a way in which I had internalized it instead of thinking about how are, you know, society is contributing to the intergenerational transmission of trauma, I, I had internalized it and it took a long time for me to really look at it, it actually wasn’t until I was in my first year of college and I had to take a ethnic studies course, and was like, not even happy about having to take the ethnic studies course, I was like, why do we have to do this, like, this is so ridiculous. And and I had to take it as part of my like, my, my eighth draft requirement, and I took it was called Chicanos in education. And it basically really documented or really provided a historical context to Mexican Americans and the educational system, and this whole concept of tracking and this whole concept of how Mexicans especially in, you know, California, Colorado, Arizona, Texas, like just the history of how education shifted for, for Mexicans prior to, you know, being those states being part of Mexico then transitioning to one day, you were a citizen of Mexico, and the next day, you were an illegal in the US and really understanding how that contributed to a system of oppression. And so all of that really led to my deep interest in social justice and deep interest in psychology and social psychology. And then I that’s what really led to my passion in this work. And I’ve always I’ve always worked with underserved underrepresented communities have always been eager to kind of figure out how do we improve and, and provide and really impact equity. And in every aspect to you know, like, in our, again, in our, you know, social welfare system in our educational system in our medical, you know, system like really looking at how do we really implement equity into these into these systems that have been historically not equitable?
keevin bybee 43:59
Yeah, inspiring stuff. And definitely, I feel honored to, you know, work in an institution that allows me to be only an email away from you.
erica torres 44:10
So, likewise, likewise, I’m so happy that I met you because I think it’s so helpful to it, I feel like it feeds my soul to know that there are, you know, providers who are really committed to this and we’re passionate about this and who are interested in thinking about a different way to do this. You know, we’re really eager to impact change, and I feel like that’s, that’s what I’ve always that’s always been like my driving force. And so it’s great it’s it feeds my soul and I need someone who’s who’s equally passionate about this work. Yeah, yeah, I’m definitely losing plenty of sleep at night over it and to my wife does concernment but you know also thankfully because of her, you
keevin bybee 45:00
You know, she did a lot of work in transracial adoption, prior to her undergrad in psychology and really opened my eyes to things that I just, you know, growing up and, you know, cookie cutter, homogenous Iowa did not just wasn’t on my radar. And so I, you know, ashamedly, slowly come come round to realizing that there are, you know, how much luck is where anybody ends up and I, yeah. And, you know, coming from a place where it’s easy to be libertarian bootstrapping kind of mentality, recognizing that none of us chose to whom or when or where we were born. And as Muhammad Ali said, you know, the taxes you pay are the rent for living where you live. And if we want to be in a spot where there is less total suffering and less total violence, then we’ve got to make the investment and I’m seeing it firsthand, and it’s not okay. And I, you know, I went into family medicine because I thought, Oh, good family medicine, primary care, preventative care, but it’s unfortunate, how little too late, it ends up being even under with the best of intentions, I guess, is that what I was rambling towards? Totally, totally hear you and, and thanks to your wife, for for the work that she’s done. It sounds like she’s done really awesome. Awesome work. Yeah, she she’s done really great work. She was a violence prevention advocate and educator and undergrad. And so I, I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned from her. And so shout out to you, Sylvia.
erica torres 47:02
So, let’s see here. Moving forward. You mentioned a contact who is still in Oakland, I would love to be put in contact or you can give me those in details offline. Just so that she’s not or they are not obliged. You know, what was that movie was Star Trek where Spock says I vouched for you Captain didn’t want to do that. We don’t want to do that to her is my point. Yeah. I will definitely send you her information and I’ll reach out to her and just, you know, confirm that she’d be open to it. I, I’m sure she will. She’s very passionate about this work and about the program that she really has grown.And it’s the program I was talking to you about today.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai