About Us

Our Vision: Healthy lives, whole communities.

Our Mission: We are a non-profit coalition bringing racial equity to mental health supports for people of color through innovative community collaborations.

CORE Racial Equity Statement

Core Mental Health acknowledges we have inherited, and are part of, a pervasive system of racial inequities.  We work to eliminate these inequities within our coalition and the communities we serve through providing resources and programs that illuminate stories and lived experiences. This work reflects our values and deepens relationships.

We strive to be a bridge for communication and understanding within the professional network of health providers and the communities they serve. We embrace the healing aspects of engaged activism for transforming racial inequalities and systems of oppression. We commit to bringing our optimism, curiosity and willingness to change to this never-ending work and to our collective liberation.

We are generously funded by the following institutions:

Membership

Participation in Core Mental Health is open to anyone interested in working with others to improve the health and well-being of local residents and communities. Click here to complete our membership form. For more information, contact Stacy Carruth, Core Mental Health Planning Director at director@core-mental-health.org.

Leadership

Core Mental Health’s activities are governed by the Steering Committee.

 

	Betty Burkes, Chair Chair, Cambridge Insight Meditation Center Betty Burkes is a life-long educator and activist. She is a meditation practitioner and currently chairs the Board of the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center (CIMC). She has been on the Core Mental Health steering committee since 2016.
	Pietra Check Technical Adviser, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pietra Check has been working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health over the past 10 years. At the CDC she has developed partnerships at the local, regional, and national level and worked with the Mexican government to develop materials and training to build capacity for occupational safety and health at Mexican consulates around the U.S. She is currently a DrPH candidate at Tufts University. She has been on the Core Mental Health steering committee since 2017.
	Mary DeCourcey Community Benefits Coordinator, Mount Auburn Hospital Mary works in the Community Health Department at Mount Auburn Hospital as the Community Benefits Coordinator. Her work involves developing community health priorities by listening to the needs of the community and responding to those needs. Programs or services are carried out which benefit the community and show quality outcomes. As the Community Benefits Program Coordinator she has led many initiatives, including community health education and outreach as well as community health assessments which inform the work. She also serves on the Board of Youth Services in Arlington, which oversees and supports The Arlington Youth Counseling Center. Mary has a Masters Degree in Health Care Administration from Simmons College.
	Shameka Gregory Treasurer Shameka is a west coast native and has spent her life studying people. She gained an early expertise by navigating the everyday complexities and personality quirks of growing up in a family of 9. She moved to Boston in 2004 to formalize her studies and holds degrees in psychology and clinical social work from Boston University and Boston College. She has been immersed in the human services field since 2008 and roots her work in the power of relationships. Shameka firmly believes that taking time to hear and understand others is the key to addressing every social ill. Shameka is a licensed independent clinical social worker (LICSW) and has served as the Community Liaison at Transition House for 5 years. She also owns and operates a private practice, Worth in Christ, LLC. Shameka takes every opportunity to learn from the people around her and greets life with practicality and joy. She is devoted to the continued growth, development and healing of her community and herself.
	Jill Harvey Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Coordinator Jill is currently the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Coordinator of the Town of Arlington. She coordinates and supports the work of Arlington’s Disability Commission, Human Rights Commission and LGBTQIA+ Rainbow Commission. Core Mental Health was one of the first resources she tapped into in starting her role, and after attending her first meeting, she was excited to continue to be involved with the group.
	Colleen Leger Director, Arlington Youth Counseling Center For the past 13 years, Colleen has worked to support the social and emotional health needs of youth and their families. In 2008, she received a Masters in Public Health from Boston University and subsequently began working for the Town of Arlington. As the Director of the Arlington Youth Health and Safety Coalition, Colleen led a community coalition in their efforts to prevent and reduce substance use and other risky behavior among youth in Arlington. She is currently the Director of AYCC, a licensed outpatient mental health agency dedicated to serving community youth and their families. Colleen has been on the Core Mental Health steering committee since 2012.
	Monica Luke Mental Health Advocate Monica Luke is a mental health advocate focusing on financial barriers to accessing mental health care. Activities include legislative advocacy, parity enforcement and creative approaches to expanding payment models and commercial insurance coverage.
	Takia Myers Clinician, Activated By Wellness Takia works as a Mental Health Therapist at Activated by Wellness where she serves Black girls, Black Womxn, and gender expansive individuals. She earned her Master of Social Work from Boston College, and remains committed to the process of enhancing lives through a Narrative approach. She has over 20 years of combined experience working with people, institutions, and the systems they navigate within the nonprofit sector, educational spaces, public policy, healthcare organizations, and various direct service initiatives. Takia’s passion has also led them to become trained in Somatic Abolitionism, Emotional Emancipation, and Mindful Resilience Yoga which they incorporate into both their personal life and their practice as a social worker. In Takia’s free time, they enjoy jumping double dutch, reading books centering Black femmes, and loving on their family and friends. Takia has been on the Core Mental Health Steering Committee since 2022.
	Lynn Rosenbaum Trainer and Curriculum Editor, Making Connections Lynn works for the Community Engagement Team in Cambridge where she is a trainer and curriculum editor for the Making Connections program and was the Managing Editor for the report “Shining a Light on the Racism facing American-born Black Families in Cambridge.” She has a Masters in Health Education from Boston University, and over the last 20 years has worked for many non-profits focused on education and community health. She lives in Arlington where she teaches sexuality education to teens and has coordinated meditation groups. She has been a member of Core Mental Health for over 5 years and joined the Steering Committee in 2018.
	Katie Teague Manager of Health Education + Access programs, Cambridge Health Alliance A local to the New England seacoast, Katie moved to Boston in 2016 to complete her master’s degree at Boston College School of Social Work. She currently develops and sustains the Health Education and Access programs at the Cambridge Health Alliance. Katie is a certified trainer for youth and adult Mental Health First Aid with the National Council for Behavioral Health. She spends her time learning from and training Community Health Workers (CHWs) to engage individuals and communities where they are at. Working closely with community and faith-based leaders, she provides culturally responsive health education and access workshops, training and events focused on wellness and prevention. She loves getting out of the city to explore the outdoors, visiting her friends and family back in her home state of NH, and spending quality time with her partner and their cat, Rue! Katie has been on the Core Mental Health Steering Committee since 2021.

Planning Director

The current Core Mental Health Planning Director

 

Stacy Carruth-Sesia Planning Director, CORE Stacy has been providing technical support to community coalitions for the past 10 years. As a community health specialist working with community coalitions, she has also led successful legislative advocacy initiatives. Prior to this, she coordinated research studies in youth substance use at JSI and Alzheimer’s caregivers at Boston Medical Center. Stacy was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Comoros Islands, and received a Masters in Public Health from Boston University. Stacy has been supporting Core Mental Health since 2015.

Interns and Consultants

The current CORE interns and consultants

 

	Ayşe Güvenilir Intern, CORE Ayşe is a master’s student in the Media Arts & Sciences program at MIT and a research assistant in the MIT Media Lab Biomechatronics Group. She received her B.S. in biological engineering with a minor in creative writing from MIT in May 2020. Ayşe is also a writer—she is one of six authors in the poetry anthology, Our Ancestors Did Not Breathe This Air, focused on pursuing social justice through art. Ayşe has worked as a graduate community fellow at the MIT Institute Community & Equity Office. She joined Core Mental Health in 2022.
	Min Ma Evaluator, CORE Min provides evaluation services, training, and technical assistance to a range of organizations. She is committed to promoting rights and inclusion of immigrants and refugees, and has worked for over 10 years on education, community health, migration, and youth development in the US, Asia, and Africa. Min holds a Master of Arts from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
	Amira Walton Leadership Fellow, CORE Amira came to Boston in 2020 to earn her Master’s in Social Work at Boston College. While in graduate school, she was introduced to CORE mental health through being a fellow in the graduate student program for Black mental health professionals. She graduated from Boston College with the Dean’s Leadership Award due to her dedication to creating a safe, inviting space for Black students and other racial and ethnic minorities. After graduation, she became a Licensed Certified Social Worker and works as a Mental Health Therapist in an integrative primary care setting (NEW Health Charlestown) with a passion for working with Black and Brown communities experiencing various mental health and substance use challenges. As the Leadership Fellow for the CORE Mental Health Supporters Program, she leads the project and integrates her desire to connect the Black community with resources and supports. .

Advisory Committee

The current members of Core Mental Health’s Advisory Committee

 

Elizabeth Aguilo Executive Director, Paine Senior Services Liz Aguilo, LICSW, received her Master’s Degree in Social Work from Simmons College School of Social Work. In 2000, she became the Executive Director of Paine Senior Services and in this role serves as the Board President of Somerville-Cambridge Elder Services and the co-facilitator of the Cambridge and Somerville Mental Health and Aging Coalition. She has been on the Core Mental Health steering committee since 2011.
Ronit Barkai Assistant Director, Transition House, Inc. Formerly a member of the Core Mental Health Steering Committee, Ronit has worked for over 25 years on the issues ​of domestic violence and sexual assault. She began working for Transition House in 2002, opening its first Transitional Living Program. Since then, she has been responsible for expanding Transition House’s programming and programs. She currently serves as the Assistant Director of the agency.
Melissa W. Bartholomew Associate Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Melissa W. Bartholomew is a racial justice and healing practitioner. She practiced public interest law for nearly tenyears before embracing her call to the ministry of racial justice and healing. Melissa received her MDiv from Harvard Divinity School, her MSW from Boston College, and is currently pursuing a PhD in social work at Boston College. Her research interests include the impact of racism and incarceration on the mental health of African Africans and the role of spirituality in their resilience. She facilitates racial justice and healing workshops utilizing her framework, Healers of the Wound: Healing Racism from the Inside Out.
Stacey King Director of Field Education and Practice Stacey, formerly of the Core Mental Health steering committee, works with graduate students at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health on their field practice experiences, which take place with public health organizations in metro-Boston and around the world. A former member of the Core Mental Health Steering Committee, Stacey worked for ten years at the Cambridge Public Health Department as Community Health Director, among other roles. She has a M.S. in Nutritional Biochemistry and Metabolism from the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and an A.B. in Psychology from Brown University.
Dr. Maria Madison Associate Dean for Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Dr. Maria Madison is an Associate Dean for Equity, Inclusion and Diversity, the first to hold this position, at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. Dr. Madison is an educator, and currently holds an adjunct faculty position at the University for Global Health Equity in Kigali, Rwanda. She is also the founder and president of the Robbins House, Inc., a historic home and nonprofit organization focused on raising awareness of African-American history in Concord, Mass. She feels that Core Mental Health helps her be grounded in her work, her passion and her future aspirations.
Natasha Pierre Clinician, Wayside Youth and Family Services For the past 6 years, Natasha has worked as a mental health clinician at Wayside Youth and Family Services. Prior to that, she was an advocate at Transition House and worked with people in the transitional living program. She is a certified trainer for Mental Health First Aid, and Youth Mental Health First Aid, is a lead trainer for the Street Smart Curriculum, and is Certified in the Child and Adolescent Needs Strengths Program. She has a M.Ed in Counseling Psychology. She has been on the Core Mental Health steering committee since 2017
Albert W. Pless, Jr. Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Albert is the Program Manager for the Men’s Health League at the Cambridge Public Health Department. Albert has over 20 years experience working in community-based programs in the Greater Boston area. Previously, he directed a nationally recognized community health worker program for Black and Latino men at the Boston Public Health Commission. Albert is on numerous boards and committee’s including the Men’s Health, and Black Health Care Workers Caucus’s of the American Public Health Association (APHA). Albert received his Master of Science degree in Community Economic Development from Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, NH.
Nancy Rihan Porter Executive Director, Welcome Project Coordinator, Injury & Violence Prevention Program, Cambridge Public Health Department. Nancy has over 10 years working with mental health related organizations, including Cushing House, Women’s Hope, Casa Myrna and now the Cambridge Health Department. She also oversees the Cambridge Community Response/Resilience Network and is an active member in the Domestic Violence Steering Committee, and is a member of the anti-oppression work group. She is certified in LADCII And CADAC through the Alcohol and Chemical Dependency Treatment Services Program at the University of Massachusetts and completed a residency in psychiatry. She has been on the Core Mental Health steering committee since 2017.
Shalini A. Tendulkar Senior Lecturer in the Department of Community Health at Tufts University Shalini is a Lecturer in the Department of Community Health at Tufts University. She has extensive experience conducting research, evaluation and needs assessment work in collaboration with community and academic partners using community-based participatory approaches. Shalini is also committed to working with partners to address racial, ethnic and other health disparities and has collaborated on various projects addressing health disparities, from men’s health disparities to mental health disparities in Asian populations. Dr. Tendulkar has published her research and evaluation work in peer-reviewed journals and presented her work in national and community-based settings, often in collaboration with her community partners. Given her commitment to teaching future generations of public and community health professionals, Shalini is also dedicated to mentoring and training students to support their involvement in community-based research and evaluation partnerships. Shalini received her undergraduate degree from Wellesley College and her Masters and Doctorate in Maternal and Child Health from the Harvard School of Public Health.