Raquel Morris, LCSW is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and works as a Behavioral Health Unit Supervisor for Monterey County Behavioral Health. She is Native American (mostly Choctaw from her Paternal side, but also Navajo, Southern Paiute, and Yahi tribes on her Maternal side). She was born and raised in California to teen parents. Raquel was raised in the Central Valley of California where there are high rates of poverty, gangs, substance abuse, crime, and teen pregnancy. From high school, Raquel went straight to UC Santa Cruz, she was the first in her family to earn her BA in Psychology and minor in Education. She then pursued her Master’s in Social Work at CSU Stanislaus while working with Children and Family. Due to her upbringing and the disparities she has seen first-hand in her family, peers, and community, she is a strong advocate for social justice and health equity. Raquel enjoys bringing in trauma informed care, client-centered approaches, and cultural humility in her work as Supervisor. Raquel has a love of learning and teaching. She integrates her education training into her clinical work by providing trainings to address all learning styles. She is the Clinical Lead for Motivational Interviewing with Monterey County Behavioral Health and has collaborated with trainer, Kristen Dempsey, LCSW, as well as a few other colleagues to build and teach a curriculum to help staff deepen their knowledge of Motivational Interviewing. Raquel enjoys facilitating a learning environment that provokes reflection, understanding, and ideas of how to make advances to address inequity, stigma, and disparities in systems.