The Behavioral Health
Collaborative
of Alameda County
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Matthew Madaus
Executive Director
Matthew Madaus became the Executive Director of the Collaborative in April of 2020. He has been a consultant to behavioral health agencies, co-founded and led clinical software companies, and provided expert witness consultation and testimony to attorneys across the country.
Matthew was the CEO of Edgewood Center for Children and Families for over 5 years, leading more than 500 staff in their behavioral health services to children, young adults, and families in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties. Mr. Madaus oversaw all of Edgewood’s services and also led the Edgewood Institute, which developed innovative program models, provided training, and conducted research. Prior to Edgewood, Mr. Madaus was a regional Executive Director for Victor Community Support Services, Director of Residential Treatment at Chamberlain’s Children Center, and Clinical Director at The Home for Little Wanderers, the oldest child welfare agency in the United States. A Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Mr. Madaus received his Master of Social Work from San Diego State University and completed a post-graduate program in intensive family systems therapy from the Family Institute of Cambridge. Matthew has two inspiring adult sons and an amazing wife of almost 25 years.
Barbra Silver
President
Barbra Silver is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a proud Oakland resident. She has been with Family Paths since 1998 when she began as a clinician with the Families in Transition program and helped to develop the early documentation training for the then new EPSDT funded services. Barbra was then a Program Manager for the Oakland FIT team between 2000-2007. In 2008, Barbra was promoted to become Family Paths’ Clinical Director, during which time she grew the clinical training program to have a strong focus on the Strengthening Families Framework™ and Diversity-Informed and Trauma-Informed best practices. She has co-lead the organization’s Multicultural Organizational Development committee since 2013. In October 2015, Barbra became Family Paths’ interim Executive Director and then was hired by the Board in February 2016 to lead the organization.
Josh Leonard
Immediate Past President
Josh Leonard joined East Bay Agency for Children (EBAC) as Executive Director in 2013. Josh has more than 25 years of experience working at non-profit organizations providing child welfare and mental health services to vulnerable children, youth and families. He has previously worked as the Chief Program Officer at Sunny Hills Services and as Executive Director at Bay Area Youth Centers. Josh is widely recognized as a leader in developing an array of services available to youth transitioning out of foster care in Alameda County. He has a long history of advocacy including serving as the plaintiff in "Leonard v. Wagner" in which the San Francisco Superior Court held that the State of California was illegally discriminating against foster youth with disabilities.
Adriana Furuzawa
Vice President
Adriana Furuzawa is the Felton Institute's Early Psychosis Programs Division Director. She joined the Felton team in 2013, as Program Manager of the Felton Early Psychosis Programs San Joaquin County clinic in Stockton. Soon after, she engaged in projects at multiple Felton Early Psychosis Programs sites and became the Division Director in 2014. Prior to joining the Felton Institute, Adriana has been serving individuals diagnosed with severe and persistent mental illness for over 10 years, in community mental health settings in California and in Brazil.
Adriana, who is a native Brazilian, began her career as a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist in Brazil, specialized in psychology in general and psychiatric hospital settings. She also received training on organizational and school psychology. Her most memorable work experience in Brazil was as part of a multidisciplinary team implementing a low-cost social medicine project developed by the Universida de Federal de Alagoas. Her job was to go door-to-door with a public health nurse, a primary care doctor, a dentist, and a social worker and she provided individual and family psychotherapy as well as psychoeducation on mental health and substance abuse issues to disenfranchised populations. Talk about health care integration!
In 2005, Adriana became a Certified Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioner (CPRP) and she is passionate about community-based treatment and an avid advocate for Recovery as defined by the individual. In 2010, Adriana received her MA degree in Counseling Psychology with a major in Community Mental Health at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), San Francisco. As a part of the 1st CMH cohort at CIIS she also contributed to the design of this successful graduate program.
Adriana’s ultimate goal as a professional is to support individuals of all ages and ailments to remain resilient through difficult times, create conditions to let recovery find its way, and most of all, maintain independency and self-sufficiency. Adriana’s mission at the Felton Early Psychosis Programs is to work diligently so that ALL youth and young adults struggling with early signs of psychosis have access to specialized state-of-the-art treatment that will effectively stop the illness on its tracks and lead them towards the life they dreamed about for themselves.
Roger Daniels
At Large Member
Roger W. Daniels is a senior Director at Fred Finch Youth and Family Services. He is a Bay Area native who grew up in Berkeley, California. He attended Florida A&M University where he received a BA in Business Administration. After undergraduate school Roger worked in the private sector for 8 years before deciding to attend the School of Social Welfare at the University of California Berkeley where he received his M.S.W. in 1995. In 2000 Roger received his L.C.S.W. After graduate school Roger worked for a Foster Family Agency, Alternative Family Services, for approximately 11 years before taking a position at Fred Finch Youth Center in 2007 as a Program Director for two programs that serve Transition Age Youth in Alameda County.
In the fall of 2012 Fred Finch received a grant from Alameda County Vocational Services to pilot an evidenced based employment program that emphasized supporting clients with obtaining competitive employment within the county. Under Roger’s guidance the employment program received 2 awards: one from the Alameda County Mental Health Advisory Board, and a second, national one from Dartmouth’s IPS Learning Community. In addition to supervisory responsibility for IPS; Roger received a promotion in 2015 and is currently the new Senior Director of TAY Community Based Clinical Programs with responsibility for oversight of 3 outpatient mental health programs for TAY as well as the Rising Harte Wellness Center which services middle school students and TAY. In addition to being a Social Worker Roger has been married for over 20 years and together with his partner Greg Merrill is raising 2 boys ages 12 and 16 who are truly an inspiration to him.
Kao Seachao
At Large Member
Kao C. Saechao, LCSW, is the Specialty Mental Health Division Director at Asian Health Services in Oakland, California. Kao received his BA in Social Welfare with a double minor in Education and Ethnic Studies from University of California, Berkeley. Upon graduation, Kao worked with severely emotionally disturbed youth and was determined to further his education and career to better serve the community. Kao completed his MSW from San Jose State University focusing on mental health and received the distinguished SJSU MSW Field Internship Award and the Mental Health Stipend.
His professional career began at Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI) in San Jose, California, as a Children and Youth Counselor. He completed licensure and was promoted to Senior Quality Manager. After serving 8 years at AACI, Kao joined Asian Health Services as the Division Director overseeing the Specialty Mental Health program in 2017. Kao is currently an at-large member of the Executive Committee with Alameda County Behavioral Health Collaborative, serves on the Committee on Nominations and Leadership Identification (CNLI) for NASW CA, and field instructor with San Jose State University and UC Berkeley. With over 10 years of experiences working in the nonprofit industry, Kao continues to be passionate about serving our communities, developing leaders, and advocating for the mental health profession.
Joty Sikand
At Large Member
Dr. Sikand has been President of The Hume Center since 2004. Her clinical professional experience includes Re-entry Community Mental Health Services to Ex-Prison Offenders and Probationers, Jail Mental Health Outreach Services to Inmates, and comprehensive Community Behavioral Health Services including Specialty Prevention & Early Intervention Services to children and adults. She was part of a team of organizational development consultants working with world leaders of a well-established technology company. Dr. Sikand’s portfolio also includes organizing grassroots efforts into formal advocacy processes with various professional associations.
Dr. Sikand obtained her doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology from The Wright Institute, Berkeley. She also has two Masters degrees and two graduate certifications: one in Marriage, Family and Child Counseling and the second one in Organizational Development Consultation. Dr. Sikand has been recognized on numerous occasions for her contributions at the state and national level. She has positively impacted the delivery of community behavioral health services including formation of new service areas and transforming clinical practice approaches in systems of care.
Aaron Ortiz
At Large Member
Aaron Ortiz is the Chief Executive Officer of La Familia Counseling Services. He began his work experience with the Boys and Girls Club through the Job Training Partnership Act, presently known as the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). As a youth growing up in the streets of South Hayward, the experience with the Boys and Girls Club changed his life path forever, which led him to his current status of managing the same workforce development and re-entry programs for thousands of bay area youth and adults.
Since 1992, Aaron has dedicated his career to helping youth, adults, and families by providing public health, education, workforce development, youth development, mental health, family preservation and culturally competent programs in the Bay Area. Aaron’s career began at La Familia Counseling Service (LFCS) where he worked from 1992-1997 (Uniquely, 33 years ago his mother was the janitor for LFCS and takes pride in knowing that her son has risen to become CEO of La Familia). Aaron also served on the board of La Familia for 14 years collectively and was Chairman of the Board.
Aaron moved on to work for the State of California in 1997-2007 with the Employment Development Department. He was the youngest Employment Program Representative for the State and assisted in implementing the CalJOBS employment match system. Keeping to his passion of working with the hardest to serve, Aaron began work for California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation as the Employment Program Coordinator for the Parole Office in the East Bay for the State of California. Simultaneously, Aaron worked for Hayward Unified School District as a certificated teacher and Program Director of (WIOA) programs. During those 13 years, Aaron has been responsible for finding employment for thousands of Bay Area residents.
Aaron is the Founder and Executive Director of East Bay Community Services. He created the organization and brought to life with a new vision and strategic plan of serving the whole county. Aaron’s tenacity and organizational development expertise secured over 2.5 million dollars to develop programs for youth and families in just one year.
Aaron became the Chief Executive Officer of La Familia in July 2014. On day one, Aaron arrived concluding the merger of East Bay Community Services with La Familia creating a cross-pollination of services and a flagship organization in Alameda County. Since his arrival he has been responsible for growing the organization by $6 million dollars and expanded all six departments within the agency. With purposeful growth Aaron brokered the acquisition of The Latino Commission on Alcohol & Drugs Abuse of Alameda County (LCADAAC) in January 2015 bringing in an additional $1.3 million in funding and $3.6 million in real estate holdings. La Familia has truly become the place to be.
Aaron has become a leader in Alameda County by executing successful strategies for programs and economies in some of the most challenging communities in the East Bay. Aaron has been instrumental in creating groundbreaking community programs and initiatives such as: Co-Founder of the District Attorney's Justice Academy (DAJA) and founder of the Veterans Internship Program (VIP) for National Labs. He acquired a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice and a Master of Arts in Public Administration, as well as a teaching credential from San Jose State University. Over the years, he has gained significant career experiences while continuing to leave a body of work attending to the neediest in our communities.
Narges Dillon
At Large Member
Narges Zohoury Dillon is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and the Executive Director of Crisis Support Services of Alameda County (CSS). Her career started as a case manager in 2006 and has been focused on reducing barriers to access for communities that have been historically underserved or inappropriately served by the mental health system. Narges gravitated to suicide prevention as a clinician because of personal losses she has experienced and believes strongly in the stigma reduction power of openly talking about the topic. Since joining CSS, Narges has worked to expand non-English services at the agency and is also dedicated to using data to advocate for a stronger crisis continuum that is not reliant on law enforcement.
Stacey Katz
At Large Member
Dr. Stacey Katz has worked with youth in the child welfare system for 30 years as a direct service provider, organizational leader, and advocate. As CEO of WestCoast Children's Clinic, Katz leads the development of clinical practice, research, and policy to improve the well-being of children with histories of trauma and system involvement. WestCoast is recognized as an expert in delivering mental health services to children and youth, including short term stabilization, therapeutic collaborative assessment, outpatient therapy, and care coordination. In 2018, WestCoast published a clinical treatment guide for mental health professionals working with commercially sexually exploited youth. Dr. Katz serves on several local, state, and national bodies to address the mental health needs of youth who experience child sex trafficking, including the National Advisory Committee on Sex Trafficking of Children and Youth in the United States.
Katherine Schwartz
At Large Member
Katherine Schwartz has been the Executive Director of Alameda Family Services for over three years. She previously worked at Caminar, Aldea Counseling Services, and Seneca Family of Agencies accruing over 25 years of community-based behavioral health and child welfare experience. Ms. Schwartz is a dedicated leader with proven expertise in innovative agency improvement and growth that leads to exceptional client outcomes while delivering desired fiscal objectives. A trailblazer in the fields of Wraparound, Therapeutic Behavioral Services, Intensive Treatment Foster Care, Intensive Clinical Case Management, and evidenced-based practices, Ms. Schwartz is committed to creating community where the wellbeing of all is realized.