RAMS Program Coordinators/Managers
LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT
President & Chief Executive Officer - Kavoos Ghane Bassiri, LMFT, CGP
Kavoos G. Bassiri is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a Certified Group Psychotherapist with over 20 years of clinical and administrative experience in the field of mental health. He is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UCSF School of Medicine and maintains a private psychotherapy & consultation practice. He is a current member of the Board of Directors at NICOS Chinese Health Coalition, Community Council for UCSF’s University Community Partnerships, Community Advisory Board for UCSF Depression Center, Community Advisory Committee for the SF Anthem Blue Cross-State Sponsored Business, Leadership Council for Mental Health Association of San Francisco, and Honorary Advisory Board at Community Healing Centers of San Francisco & Marin. He is the past President of the Association of San Francisco Mental Health Contractors and NICOS Chinese Health Coalition. Also, he is a recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award by the Academy of Medical Educators at UCSF (2009) and the Distinguished Service Award by San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis (2009).
Prior to the current position at RAMS, he served on the management team of the Department of Psychiatry at San Francisco General Hospital for eight years and was also the Co-Chair of the Cultural Consultation Service and Co-Director of the Psychopharmacology Seminar & Clinical Case Conference Series. Additionally, he served as an Adjunct Faculty with the Graduate Psychology Program at New College of California and has taught at UC Berkeley Extension. He has traveled to many countries in Asia and Southeast Asia, as an invited volunteer healthcare professional with Doctor to Doctor organization or as a consultant, participating in educational conferences & exchanges, providing assistance to other healthcare professionals.
He is a clinician, administrator, and teacher, who is known locally, nationally, and internationally for his expertise in community mental health, clinical cultural competence, group therapy, treatment planning & clinical documentation, psychosocial rehabilitation, organizational development, and outcome-oriented practice in psychotherapy. Furthermore, his areas of interest include working with the culturally diverse & seriously mentally ill population, health parity, and healthcare access as well as psychoanalytic theory & practice and applied psychoanalysis.
Chief Financial Officer - Ken Choi, MBA, CPA, CMA
Ken Choi has over 17 years of hands-on and management experience and
expertise in accounting, finance, and system administration in not-for-profit
healthcare organizations. Most recently, Mr. Choi was the
Fiscal Officer at On Lok SeniorHealth, a community-based program of
all-inclusive care for the elderly. He has also served as a Senior Technical
Financial Consultant at Kaiser Permanente, a Decision Support Analyst at
Catholic Healthcare West, and the Accounting Manager at Davies Medical Center.
Mr. Choi holds an MBA in Accounting, is a Certified Public
Accountant (CPA), a Certified Management Accountant (CMA), an IRS Enrolled Agent
(EA), and is a member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association.
He is recognized for consistently demonstrating diligence, effective leadership
style, management competence, and cooperative efforts with internal personnel
and external partners. Additionally, Mr. Choi is a long-standing resident of San Francisco and is
bilingual in Cantonese. He is highly committed to community-based healthcare
programs and services and is extremely familiar with healthcare and community
issues that impact the client population which RAMS serves.
Deputy Chief/Director of Clinical Services - Christina Shea, LMFT
Christina Shea is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and has been working in the mental health field for over two decades. She currently serves on the San Francisco Mental Health Services Act Advisory Committee and Evaluation Sub-committee, Health Care Services Master Plan Task Force, Integrated Delivery System Prevention Workgroup, and is the Co-Chair for Asian and Pacific Islander Health Parity Coalition. Prior to her appointment as Deputy Chief and Director of Clinical Services at RAMS, Ms. Shea served in the role of Director of Child, Youth & Family Services for three years providing leadership and effective clinical, administrative, and fiscal management for the department. During her tenure, the RAMS Department of Child, Youth & Family Services enhanced its service capacity to meet the ever-changing needs of the community, while strengthening funding sources. Ms. Shea has further developed and sustained strong partnerships with community organizations and public agencies leading to the expansion of our school-based services and outreach efforts. Prior to that, for six years she was instrumental in the successful planning, implementation, and management of the RAMS Fu Yau Project (collaborative project with Chinatown Child Development Center, Child, Youth and Family System of Care, CBHS-SFDPH); a prevention & early intervention mental health services program for the childcare community, which has grown dramatically since its inception.
As a first-generation immigrant from Hong Kong and mother of two adolescents, Ms. Shea is personally and professionally aware of the assimilation, acculturation, integration and developmental issues that are prevalent in the population in which RAMS serves. She is a strong advocate for the underserved communities, continuously raises awareness about mental health issues, diligently works on efforts to address barriers of access to services, and is passionate about mentoring and promoting the next generation of bilingual and bicultural clinicians. She was instrumental in securing funding from MHSA WDET to develop & implement the “Summer Bridge” project, a mentorship program for under-represented high school students to foster their interest in the health and behavioral health field as a career choice. She brings a wealth of experience and expertise in providing culturally competent and consumer-driven mental health services, with a unique specialty in working with the Asian & Pacific Islander American population. Ms. Shea is also regularly sought-after by the community, including various media, to provide expert commentary and training on mental health issues and related current events.
Ms. Shea received her BS degree in Human Development from University of California at Davis and her MS in Clinical Counseling with an emphasis on Marriage, Family and Child Counseling from California State University at Hayward. She has worked with diverse populations - African Americans, Asian Americans, Chinese immigrants and refugees from South East Asia, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, severely emotionally disabled adults, adolescents, children, and families. She is especially passionate in serving the low income and underserved young children and families. Ms. Shea integrates psychodynamic, systems, and behavioral theories in her clinical approach and is especially interested in group dynamics and play therapy.
Director of Operations - Angela Tang, LCSW
Angela Tang is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and has been working in the social services community for over 10 years. Ms. Tang joined RAMS in 2004 and, as Director of Operations, works within management on activities relating to the agency’s day-to-day operation, development & planning, and evaluation & quality assurance. In addition, she oversees the Billing Information Systems unit for outpatient services; represents RAMS on community coalitions & committees such as the Asian Alliance Against Domestic Violence; and provides clinical supervision to MSW interns. Ms. Tang had previously provided oversight of the Safety Network Program, the agency’s community organizing component until its funding was discontinued in 2008, citywide. She is also a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Smith College School for Social Work and formerly a Field Instructor at Yeshiva University.
Prior to joining RAMS, Ms. Tang provided direct services to diverse populations and conducted an array of administration projects in various community-based and public government settings including Hamilton-Madison House (NYC), an employee assistance program for a union of sheet metal workers (NYC), NYC Human Resources Administration/Dept. of Social Services - Office of Program Reporting, Analysis & Accountability, Asian Women's Shelter (SF), and Balboa Teen Health Clinic (SF). Currently, Ms Tang also actively serves on Friends of Roots which is a steering committee to support the continued success of the In Search of Roots program, a year-long family genealogy internship for young Chinese Americans to researching their family history and searching for and visiting their ancestral villages in Guangdong Province, China.
Ms. Tang received her Master's of Science in Social Work from Columbia University with a concentration on Social Administration and earned her Bachelor of Social Work degree at San Francisco State University. Her areas of interest include macro-level, systems, and strengths-based theories & practices; organizational development; and program evaluation.
Director of Adult
Outpatient Services Clinic - Sachi Inoue, PhD
Dr. Sachi Inoue is a bilingual &
bicultural licensed clinical psychologist, who has been serving culturally &
linguistically diverse clients in community settings in the San Francisco Bay
Area since 1990. She is committed to and advocates for providing
culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate services to the underserved
communities. Dr. Inoue is also a candidate in analytic training at the San
Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis. She is committed to creating a bridge
between the psychoanalytic community and public mental health arena so that
analytic treatment can be more accessible for broader populations and
analytically trained clinicians can provide high quality services to community
mental health clients. Prior to joining RAMS as the Director of Adult
Outpatient Services Clinic, Dr. Inoue worked at Asian Community Mental Health
Services for five years as a Clinical Supervisor providing direct services,
facilitating clinical training, program management, and quality care assurance. She was
also a Project Coordinator at California School of Professional Psychology in
Alameda (CSPP-Alameda) and had conducted a needs assessment focusing on
relationship abuse among teenagers as well as program evaluations for domestic
violence shelters and prevention agencies. Additionally Dr. Inoue has
taught as an adjunct faculty at CSPP-Alameda and served on the dissertation
committee for graduate students. She maintains a private practice in
Berkeley and San Francisco where she provides psychotherapy and consultation for
adults and families.
Dr. Inoue received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from CSPP-Alameda, and was a former pre-doctoral intern of the National Asian American Psychology Training Center at RAMS. Dr. Inoue obtained a M.S. degree in Counseling, with an emphasis on Marriage, Family, & Child Counseling from San Francisco State University. She also received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Textiles from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. Originally from Japan, Dr. Inoue received her bachelor's degree in product design from Musashino Art University in Tokyo.
Director of
Asian Family Institute - Eddie Chiu, PhD
Dr. Eddie Yu-Wai
Chiu received his Ph.D. from California School of Professional Psychology, Los
Angeles. He is a licensed Chinese American psychologist with many years of
clinical experience working with culturally diverse mental health consumers.
Dr. Chiu has been the Director of Asian Family Institute (AFI) since 1998, and
previously the Director of the Adult Outpatient Clinic as well. Under his
leadership, AFI has flourished to become a highly respected clinic providing
culturally competent psychological services for Chinese and other Asian ethnic
minority populations in the Bay Area, while expanding its services to include
the Problem Gambling Prevention and Treatment Project, CalWORKs Project, and
Fee-for-Services Program. He has completed research on Asian
adolescent gambling behaviors. At AFI, Dr. Chiu supervises interns/trainees and staff
and provides training on multicultural mental health issues. He is a well-known
teacher/speaker on and an active advocate for Asian-American mental health, and
is sought out by media (including radio, TV, newspapers) to provide commentary
on various mental health topics. In addition, Dr. Chiu provides
psycho-educational workshops to the Asian communities, as well as conducts
seminars and colloquiums at national conferences on Asian mental health.
Dr. Chiu is a part-time core faculty at the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University in San Francisco. He teaches courses such as family therapy, Asian American psychology, psychological testing, intelligence assessment, brief therapy, law and ethics, and clinical supervision. He mentors doctoral student’s dissertation on Asian mental health, child and family, addictions, and other cross cultural issues.
Dr. Chiu's research interests include Asian mental health issues, personality in multicultural setting, problem gambling, cultural formulation of assessment and treatment, and child and family issues. Recently he has published two book chapters on Asian mental health (Negy, C., 2008). The titles of the book chapters are Cultural Bereavement and Sense of Coherence: Its Implications for Psychotherapy with Southeast Asian Refugees and Assessment and Psychotherapy with Asian Americans. He is particularly interested in the integration of family systems, Ericksonian, psychodynamic methods, and other useful approaches in psychotherapy with individuals, couples, and families. Also, Dr. Chiu maintains a private practice in the Bay Area.
Administrator of Broderick Street Adult Residential
Facility -
Michael Badolato, LMFT
Michael Badolato is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and has worked with dual and triple diagnosed
individuals in residential settings for over 10 years. Prior to coming to RAMS,
he was Coordinator of the Residential Treatment Program at Westside Lodge. There
he utilized the Social Rehabilitation Model to foster recovery from addictions
as well as assisting individuals to gain an increased sense of self-awareness
and promote enhanced independent living skills. In New York, Mr. Badolato worked
for the Partnership for the Homeless for four years as a Vocational Specialist.
Additionally, he also developed and facilitated a life transition
workshop as part of the federally funded Senior
Aides Project. His workshop
assisted senior citizens living at the poverty level who desired to re-enter the
work force with making the transition to subsidized and un-subsidized employment. He
also developed and co-authored "Seniors on the Move" a monthly newsletter
designed to provide information and recognition to the programs participants as
well as function as a vehicle for a sense of connectedness and belonging.
Mr. Badolato received his B.A. from Fordham University in New York and an M.A. in Integral Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. He is also trained in Psychodynamic, Gestalt, and Transpersonal therapies & approaches, healing with a holistic viewpoint that seeks to integrate Mind, Body, and Spirit. He is deeply committed to creating environments that uphold humanistic principles as the foundation for true growth and healing.
Director of Child, Youth & Family Outpatient Services Clinic - Nira Singh, PsyD
Nira Singh is a licensed clinical psychologist, with over 14 years of experience providing dedicated & culturally competent services to underserved communities. She has a strong interest in working with immigrant and refugee populations, with issues of domestic violence, and with school-based populations, conducting advocacy, treatment, supervision, consultation and facilitating psycho-educational presentations. As a second generation South Asian herself, Dr. Singh is particularly interested in outreach and engagement of South Asian communities. At Narika, an agency that addresses domestic violence in the South Asian community, Dr. Singh was instrumental in creating & implementing outreach plans to increase awareness, providing training and supervision to volunteers and service providers, and facilitating community forums.
Dr. Singh is also a former Pre-Doctoral Intern of the National Asian American Psychological Training Center and clinical staff member at RAMS CYF Outpatient Services, Adult Outpatient Services program, and Asian Family Institute. As such, she is familiar with RAMS operations and has had hands-on experience with the populations RAMS serves. While at California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University, Dr. Singh served as Co-coordinator for the Teen Relationship Abuse Project, adjunct faculty member for the Intercultural Awareness Development, and as a dissertation committee member. She continues to serve as a dissertation committee member, Consultant/Lecturer for Multicultural Psychology and Family Violence issues, and enjoys supervising and supporting up and coming culturally competent, multicultural, multilingual clinicians.
Recognizing the diverse and unique needs of children, youth, and families, Dr. Singh integrates strengths-based, psychodynamic, systems, and behavioral theories in her clinical approach. In addition to leading her multi-disciplinary team, she enjoys working with RAMS Youth Council and caregivers of youth to strengthen services and promote outreach and education. Dr. Singh is especially interested in play therapy and as a dancer strongly values incorporating artistic approaches and activities in her clinical/therapeutic work.
While Dr. Sneed has worked primarily with young children and families, she is also trained and has professional work experiences with college students, chronically mentally ill adults, and geriatric clients. She has worked as an individual and group psychotherapist, provided case management services, and has conducted psychological testing. Dr. Sneed also provided group and individual clinical supervision to doctoral and master level psychology trainees. Her academic interest has been focused on the connection between multiple minority identities and socio-economic status.
Dr. Sneed received a B.A. in Psychology at DePaul University in Chicago. She received a M.A. and Psy.D. from Alliant University, California School of Professional Psychology.
Director of Hire-Ability Vocational Services – Hasian Sinaga
Ms. Sinaga comes to RAMS with substantial hands-on and management experience & expertise in the human services and vocational services sector, particularly in community not-for-profit settings. She has worked with diverse underserved populations in the San Francisco Bay Area who are facing multiple barriers, by providing & coordinating supportive vocational services so that individuals can effectively utilize their strengths, be empowered, and obtain & sustain employment which can lead to improved quality of life.
In her over 16 years of community services, with approximately a decade being in management roles, Ms. Sinaga possesses considerable experience in many realms of vocational services, including training & employment support and case management as well as fostering partnerships for businesses development. Prior to RAMS, Ms. Sinaga was the Director of Employment Services at Toolworks, Inc. (San Francisco) holding responsibility for the overall quality and delivery of employment services, supporting individuals with disabilities, low income, and/or formerly homeless as well as new immigrants. She has also held positions at Kainos Home & Training Center in Redwood City and Family Housing & Adult Resources in San Bruno. Furthermore, Ms. Sinaga is an alumnus of the Leadership San Francisco, an affiliate of the SF Chamber of Commerce, which aims to strengthen the leadership, communications, and collaborative skills of its participants.
Director of PAES Counseling & Pre-Vocational Services - Shyamsundar Kotagal, PsyD, MBA
Dr. Shyamsundar Kotagal is a licensed clinical psychologist, with supervisory & management and direct services experience & expertise in the community behavioral health and human services sector. Dr. Kotagal is bicultural and speaks several Indian dialects. Most recently, he was the Clinical Supervisor at PAES Counseling & Pre-Vocational Services, serving on the program’s management team and holding responsibility for clinical supervision and monitoring service quality of care as well as providing consultation & education/training.
Dr. Kotagal received his Doctorate in Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) and also holds a Masters in Business Administration. He was also formerly a Behavioral Health Counselor at RAMS-PAES, joining the program in 2008. All his clinical training & experience has been in the San Francisco Community Behavioral Health Services systems-of-care, including the APA accredited pre-doctoral internship at RAMS National Asian American Psychological Training Center (NAAPTC), SFDPH South of Market Mental Health Services, and UCSF Citywide Case Management. Additionally, he has over 10 years of experience working in the human resource development field.
Dr. Kotagal’s clinical interests include working with the severely mentally ill comprising a range of Axis I, Axis II, and substance abuse diagnoses in the community mental health settings, multi-cultural issues in counseling, and GLBTQQ issues. In his clinical work, he incorporates insights derived from the psychodynamic framework in conceptualizing clients and the therapeutic relationship into a wide range of interventions to promote their goals in the context of being in a vocational rehabilitation program.
Director of Training &
National Asian American Psychology Training Center
- Alla Volovich, PhD
Dr. Alla Volovich received her Ph.D. in
psychology from Moscow State University and completed her postdoctoral clinical
training at the UCSF/Mt. Zion Medical Center in San Francisco. In her 20 years as a psychologist, both in the USA and in Russia, Dr.
Volovich has published a number of professional papers;
conducted several large-scale research projects on cross-cultural psychology;
and
taught classes to university students and supervised their research and clinical
work. Before her relocation to the USA, Dr. Volovich worked as a
psychotherapist, lecturer, and researcher in Moscow. She was one of the founding
members of the Division of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy of the Russian
Association of Practicing Psychologists, and served as the Division's Secretary.
Two research projects she co-authored were awarded USSR Academy of Sciences
sponsorship, and she served as the Chief Investigator on these projects. Having
started her work in the USA as a Visiting Professor at the University of the
Pacific in Stockton, and having worked as a psychotherapist in primary medical
and community mental health settings in San Francisco, Dr. Volovich continues to
combine clinical work with teaching and supervision.
In addition to her work as the Training Center Director, Dr. Volovich serves as a member of Doctoral Dissertation Committees for several local schools and maintains a private practice in San Francisco that emphasizes psychotherapy with adults, children, and families, as well as clinical and cultural consultations. Her clinical orientation combines psychoanalysis, predominantly, object relations, with theoretical ideas from the cultural-historical approach (Lev Vygotsky, Alexander Luria). Her areas of interest and expertise include therapy with severely troubled and fragile clients, particularly those with childhood traumas; cultural issues in child development; and issues related to cross-cultural communication in psychotherapy and clinical training. Her own contributions to the field of cross-cultural mental health include studies of perceived gender roles and sex-role socialization of children vis-a-vie Russian cultural orientation; study of socio-cultural norms reflected in children's books; research on specifics of psychotherapy with Russian clients; as well as her current work as a member of the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association Executive Committee for the Workforce Training Project-the first effort to develop a core curriculum for training clinicians on providing culturally competent services to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (nation-wide research supported by a grant from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration).
Director of Behavioral Health
Services,
Wellness Centers Program - Kristin Chun, LMFT
Kristin Chun is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, born and raised in San
Francisco. As the Director of Behavioral Health Services of the Wellness Centers
Program at RAMS, she manages the behavioral health services that are provided
on-site at the 15
high school-based Wellness Centers located throughout San Francisco. Her
interest in coordinating care for adolescents stems from working as a clinician
for the past six years through RAMS school-based services at George Washington
High School and the Wellness Center at John O'Connell High School. Since
joining RAMS in 2000, she has provided services to severely mentally ill adults
as a trainee, provided consultation to the pre-school community through the Fu-Yau Project, and
currently serves as a Change Agent responsible for facilitating the integration
of mental health and substance abuse services within the agency. As a former
student of the public school system in San Francisco, she remains committed to
serving at-risk youth in the community. She completed her graduate degree in
Clinical Psychology at New College of California.
Medical Director of RAMS
Adult Outpatient Clinic - Ravi Chandra, MD
Dr. Ravi
Chandra is the Medical Director for the Adult Outpatient Clinic, and manages the
psychiatric evaluation & medication support services that are being provided to
clients of the clinic. Dr. Chandra received his Sc.B. in Biology from Brown
University and an M.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine. He completed
his residency in General Adult Psychiatry at UCSF. Along the way, he has
pursued work in health policy, bioethics, and family medicine. During an
internship in Family Medicine, his interest in psychiatry was kindled by working
with survivors of war trauma.
Dr. Chandra is highly dedicated to serving the community through RAMS; he has also served as the Attending Psychiatrist at the Adult Outpatient Clinic and PAES Counseling & Pre-Vocational Services programs of RAMS. He continues to further explore a diverse range of interests, including cross cultural issues, film, psychology, spirituality, and politics. He writes occasional articles for such publications as Nha Magazine and Hyphen Magazine. Dr. Chandra has conducted presentations for the public (on themes such as relationships and mental illness), and local & national audiences of psychiatrists (e.g. spiritual and psychological aspects of film). He also maintains a private practice in San Francisco, which is primarily devoted to psychotherapy.
Medical Director of RAMS
Child, Youth & Family Services
- Helena Chan, MD
Dr. Helena Chan is a bilingual and bicultural Child, Adolescent, and Adult psychiatrist who joined RAMS in 2007 as a staff psychiatrist at Asian Family Institute. Beginning in August 2010, she expanded her role at RAMS by working full-time divided between multiple programs both in adult/older adult and child, youth & family services, and in September 2011, she was promoted to the Medical Director position. Dr. Chan was born in Hong Kong and moved to the Boston area with her family when she was seven years old. Growing up in a traditional Chinese home while being one of only a handful of Asian families in the community, she had first hand experience of acculturation and assimilation issues. Dr. Chan’s background and experiences have strengthened her interest in working with minority and immigrant populations, especially in the realm of intergenerational and intercultural issues. All of this led her to San Francisco and now working at RAMS.
Dr. Chan graduated, magna cum laude with a major in biology, from Amherst College in Massachusetts. She then spent a year in Guangdong, China teaching English to kindergarten children at a boarding school. Dr. Chan graduated from George Washington University Medical School in 2005, with distinction. During her last year of medical school, she completed a 6-week rotation on the Adult Psychiatric Consult Liaison team and with the Child Psychiatry department at Queen Mary Hospital, University of Hong Kong. She completed her Adult Psychiatry Residency and Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at University of California, San Francisco.
Dr. Chan has received awards for her services to the community, including the UCSF Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute Public & Community Service Award (2009). Additionally, as a member of the Chinese American Psychoanalytic Alliance (CAPA), she conducts long-term weekly psychodynamic psychotherapy via Skype.
Program Coordinator of Summer Bridge – Stephanie Z. Chen, PhD
Dr. Stephanie Chen is a licensed clinical psychologist who has a passion and commitment in providing mental health services to children, youth and families from multicultural and underserved communities. Prior to RAMS, Dr. Chen completed her pre-doctoral internship at California Pacific Medical Center, Adult and Child Outpatient clinic followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Children’s Hospital and Research Center Oakland, Department of Psychiatry. At RAMS, she started as a mental health consultant for the Fu Yau Project and has transitioned to several roles in the Child, Youth and Family Outpatient Services. Currently, Dr. Chen serves as Program Manager for Summer Bridge, co-advisor for the RAMS Youth Council and psychologist for CYF (including Mental Health ED Partnerships at Galileo High School and Marina Middle School). In addition to clinical work, Dr. Chen finds immense satisfaction in teaching and has taught at the Department of Counseling at SF State University and the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program at JFK University, Pleasant Hill Campus. Dr. Chen’s research interests include issues of acculturation, ethnic identity formation and sexual attitudes and behaviors among minority women.
Dr. Chen graduated from Wellesley College with a double major in Psychology and Asian American Studies and received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from California School of Professional Psychology/Alliant International University, San Francisco Bay campus.
Manager of School-Based Mental Health Partnerships Services - Sharif Okasha, PsyD
Dr. Sharif Okasha is a licensed clinical psychologist, and has been providing counseling and assessment services in the Bay Area for the past 8 years. He is a graduate from the California School of Professional Psychology, San Francisco Bay Campus, where he earned his doctorate in clinical psychology. As an undergraduate, he earned a B.A. in Psychology from Boston College.
Dr. Okasha has extensive clinical experience working in the San Francisco community. In 2007, he completed an APA-accredited internship at Richmond Area-Multi Services (RAMS)-National Asian American Psychology Training Center. During this time, he worked with clients in multiple capacities, providing testing and assessment services as well as individual and group psychotherapy. He also completed a clinical rotation at San Francisco General Hospital’s Psychiatric Emergency Services where he performed assessments in a crisis milieu. Prior to his work at RAMS, Dr. Okasha spent two years working at OMI Family Center providing outpatient mental health services to a diverse client population.
Following his pre-doctoral internship training, Dr. Okasha remained at RAMS as a staff psychologist working on-site at various middle and high schools in San Francisco. After 4 years of working directly with students he took on the position of managing the various school based mental health services at RAMS. Additionally, he provides individual therapy, parental consultation, and supervision in the Child, Youth, and Family Outpatient Services division of RAMS. Dr. Okasha has a strong interest in relational psychodynamic theory, and its application in cross-cultural or alternative environments. In addition to his work at RAMS, he also maintains a private practice where he works with children and adults in individual and family therapy.
Coordinator of Triage Unit at PAES/CAAP - Shoshana Raiber-Kornfeld, PhD
Dr. Shoshana Raiber-Kornfeld is a licensed clinical psychologist working at RAMS PAES Counseling & Pre-vocational Services since 2008. She oversees the Triage Unit at the County Adult Assistance Program (CAAP) in San Francisco, which provides clinical assessment services to clients with mental health and medical complaints to determine their employability. Dr. Raiber-Kornfeld has extensive clinical experience working with children, adolescents and adults in a variety of outpatient community mental health and medical settings throughout the Bay Area. In addition to her clinical work, she has supervised & trained doctorate and master level clinicians as well as conducted psychological testing. Dr. Raiber-Kornfeld integrates relational psychodynamic and systems theories in her clinical approach and is particularly interested in its applications to cross-cultural settings.
Dr. Raiber-Kornfeld received her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology, San Francisco Bay campus. She received her Master of Science from the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley and her Bachelor of Science from the University of Parma, Italy.
Program Coordinator of Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate - Christine Tam, MA
Christine Tam is a bilingual & bicultural clinical social worker with many years of experience providing dedicated & culturally competent services to underserved communities as well as demonstrating exceptional organizational skills. Ms. Tam is currently serving in various roles at RAMS – Program Coordinator of the Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate and a Behavioral Health Counselor at the Wellness Centers Program. She has been working in the social service field for nearly ten years at various local community settings, and has unique expertise in working in school settings and with immigrant communities, including the Asian & Pacific Islander American population. Ms. Tam has also served in roles of Mental Health Counselor and clinical consultant for Asian Pacific Islander Family Resources Network's case managers working with families within San Francisco Asian communities.
Ms. Tam received a Masters of Art in Clinical Social Work from University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration and earned her undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Economics from the University of Chicago.
Sai-Ling Chan-Sew, LCSW - Clinical Supervisor for Staff
Sai-Ling Chan-Sew is a bi-cultural & bi-lingual Licensed Clinical Social Worker who is fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin. Prior to joining RAMS as Clinical Supervisor/Consultant, she served as the Director of Child, Youth and Family (CYF) System of Care, Community Behavioral Health Services, San Francisco Department of Public Health for 16 years. Ms. Chan-Sew oversaw the CYF integration of children’s mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services under one behavioral health system and created the nationally recognized San Francisco Children’s System of Care, expanding behavioral health services through a combination of intensive care management and evidence-based practices. Ms. Chan-Sew has also been active at the national and state levels in promoting the development of prevention and early intervention services especially for young children. She led local efforts to increase outreach and expand behavioral health service access for Asian and Pacific Islander children, youth and families, as well as homeless and runaway youth. She also secured an $8 million Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration System of Care grant for behavioral health services in San Francisco and developed an innovative initiative under the grant to include the integration of promising family and youth engagement practices within public agencies and behavioral health programs.
Ms. Chan-Sew has also served as Program Director at Chinatown Child Development Center, psychiatric social worker in private practice, guest lecturer at San Francisco State University – School of Social Work, and instructor at University of California – San Francisco Extension Program. She is a founding member of Wu Yee Children Services, and holds a Master’s Degree from University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration. Ms. Chan-Sew is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions and has served on many national, state and local boards and commissions. A sought after speaker, Ms. Chan-Sew frequently makes presentations at behavioral health conferences across the nation.
Gene Chen, LCSW - Clinical Supervisor for Staff
Gene Chen is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and was formerly the
Program Director of Chinatown Child Development Center (CCDC), San Francisco
Department Mental Health - Community
Behavioral Health Services. Mr. Chen
has a profound and influential career lasting over 35 years as a
compassionate social worker, inspiring administrator, and empowering advocate. For 32 years, he had been involved with CCDC, in
various capacities - first, as a psychiatric social worker in 1973, then as a
Clinical Director in 1983, and lastly as a Program Director in 1992.
CCDC is the first mental health clinic in San Francisco providing
services specifically to Chinese children and their families.
CCDC also houses the Fu Yau Project,
a successful collaboration between RAMS and CCDC that provides effective early
prevention, intervention, and mental health consultation services.
Born in China, Mr. Chen grew up in San Francisco's Chinatown and is a graduate of Fresno State University and Rutgers University (New Jersey). Throughout his career, as a bilingual licensed clinical social worker, he has practiced locally, nationally, and internationally. He is very active in the Asian community, tirelessly advocating for mental health services that are accessible, culturally competent, and linguistically appropriate. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the NICOS Chinese Health Coalition and on the Executive Committee of the Caring for Asian Children Collaborative.
Stephanie Z. Chen, PhD - Clinical Supervisor for Practicum Trainees
German Cheung, PsyD - Clinical Supervisor for Staff, Interns, and Practicum Trainees
Dr. German Cheung is a licensed psychologist who earned his Doctor of Psychology degree from Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola University, in La Mirada, CA. Currently a psychologist providing psychotherapy for children and adults at the RAMS Outpatient Clinic, Dr. Cheung has also worked as a Behavioral Health Counselor within the RAMS Wellness Centers Program, providing on-site direct services and consultation at Abraham Lincoln High School. Before completing his Pre-doctoral Internship at the National Asian American Psychology Training Center at RAMS, he also served as a Staff Therapist at the Biola Counseling Center in Southern California for nearly three years, working mostly with young Christian adults of various ethnic backgrounds.
Being bicultural and bilingual in Cantonese and English, Dr. Cheung is sensitive towards multicultural and immigration-related issues and is committed to serving the Asian and Asian-American communities. His other clinical interests include integration of spirituality and psychology and working with the severely mentally ill. He recently conducted a presentation about his experience in working with the severely mentally ill community at the International Society for the Psychological Treatments of the Schizophrenias and Other Psychoses (ISPS-US) Ninth Annual Meeting. Dr. Cheung's clinical approach is heavily influenced by Object-Relations, Intersubjectivity, and Relational Psychoanalytic theories.
In addition to his duties at RAMS, Dr. Cheung maintains a private practice in San Francisco where he provides psychotherapy and psychological assessment for children, adolescents, and adults of various diagnostic and cultural backgrounds. He is also an Adjunct Faculty at Alliant Internatinal University - California School of Professional Psychology - Hong Kong.
Eddie Chiu, PhD - Clinical Supervisor for Staff and Practicum Trainees
Jean Z. Choi, PsyD - Clinical Supervisor for Practicum Trainees
Dr. Jean Choi is a licensed psychologist and received her Doctor of Psychology degree from The Wright Institute in Berkeley, California. Since 2001, Dr. Choi has been committed to providing counseling, psychotherapy, and neuropsychological assessment services within San Francisco's community-based mental health settings and to the culturally diverse adults, youth, and families that they serve. Outside her current work of providing psychotherapy to adults and adolescents at RAMS, her clinical experience includes group, individual, and milieu work both within residential treatment settings at Progress Foundation and within hospital settings at St. Luke's Acute Psychiatric Inpatient Unit and Psychiatric Emergency Services at San Francisco General Hospital. Dr. Choi's strong interest in psychoanalytic theory led her to complete a 2-year intensive psychoanalytic training program at Access Institute prior to her Pre-Doctoral Internship at the National Asian American Psychology Training Center at RAMS. In addition to direct clinical work, Dr. Choi has assisted in training psychology trainees at St. Luke's Acute Inpatient Unit on group facilitation and work within a community setting, pre-doctoral interns at RAMS on neuropsychological assessment, and interns and trainees at RAMS co-leading a psychoanalytic theory reading group.
Dr. Choi remains committed to integrating multicultural perspectives and psychoanalytic thought in her work with both patients and clinicians-in-training and in understanding human experience more generally. Dr. Choi's interests include language, one's mother tongue, and the psyche and its impact on the psychotherapeutic process, understanding the impact of acculturation in immigrant families from a psychoanalytic perspective, and creative processes in the individual and the psychotherapeutic dyad. In her prior life, Dr. Choi received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and worked locally and internationally throughout Asia in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction industry.
Judy Curtis,
PsyD, LMFT - Clinical Supervisor for Staff
Dr. Judy Curtis is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with a private
practice in San Francisco. She received her Doctorate in Psychology from the
Wright Institute. Currently, she teaches at the Wright Institute Clinic. She is
a supervisor and faculty member of Access Institute for Psychological Services,
as well as a member of their Board of Directors. Previously, Dr. Curtis served
as the Program Director at Bridge to Wellness Psychiatric Outpatient Services
and was Interim Director of Training at McAuley Institute. Dr. Curtis has a
strong interest in psychoanalytic theory and practice.
Katherine Eng, PhD -
Clinical Supervisor for Staff, NAAPTC Predoctoral Interns, and Practicum Trainees
Dr. Katherine Eng received her PhD from the California School of Professional Psychology -
Alameda with an emphasis in Multicultural and Community Psychology.
Her
commitment to serving ethnically and culturally diverse populations
prompted her to gain training and expertise in these areas.
In addition to practica at agencies in the City and County of San
Francisco, Dr. Eng completed an APA-accredited internship at the Center for
Multicultural Training in Psychology (CMTP) at Boston University/Boston Medical
Center. Following this, Dr. Eng was
a Post-doctoral Fellow at Family and Community Enrichment Services, Inc. in San
Carlos, California with a specialization in family therapy and psychological
assessment. Continuing to work with
children and families, she fulfilled the duties of a school psychologist at San
Jose Unified School District in the Special Education Department.
Prior to working at RAMS, she worked for two years at South Cove Community
Health Center, a comprehensive medical center serving Asian-Americans in
Massachusetts and the greater New England area, providing bilingual/bicultural
therapy, assessment, training, and supervision.
Dr. Eng is currently a licensed psychologist in the RAMS Adult Outpatient
Services Clinic and speaks Toisanese and Cantonese.
Matthew Gould, LMFT - Clinical Supervisor for Staff
Matthew Gould provides clinical supervision at RAMS to Behavioral Health
Counselors working at the Wellness Centers Program. Mr.Gould is a licensed
Marriage and Family Therapist and also maintains a private psychotherapy and
consultation practice in San Francisco where he provides treatment to adolescents and adults in individual, couples,
and family therapy. His interests include psychoanalytic theory and technique,
school-based dynamic therapy, group process, and working with adolescents. He
provides supervision and consultation services through Project School Care at
St. Mary's. Mr. Gould has provided mental health services, substance abuse services, and supervision & consultation at RAMS for the past 12 years, including being the former Supervisor for the Wellness Centers
Program.
Sachi Inoue, PhD - Clinical Supervisor for Staff, NAAPTC Predoctoral Interns, and Practicum Trainees
Jessica Katzman, PsyD - Clinical Supervisor for StaffTalia Korenbrot, LMFT - Clinical Supervisor for Staff
Talia Korenbrot is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, who is
bilingual in Spanish. As a Clinical Supervisor for the Wellness Centers Program
at RAMS, she provides supervision for Behavioral Health Counselors at the high
school-based Wellness Centers, which are located in 15 high
schools in San Francisco. She also maintains a private psychotherapy practice
in San Francisco. Ms. Korenbrot is the former Behavioral Health Services
Coordinator for the Wellness Centers Program at RAMS, and contributed to the
success and legacy of the program. Prior to working at RAMS, she had been
working in the area of domestic violence for over seven years. Her interest in
serving the mental health needs of adolescents was fostered through her
experience in designing & implementing a dating violence program for adolescent
girls.
Clara Kwun, LCSW - Group Supervisor for NAAPTC Predoctoral Internship
Clara Kwun is a psychoanalyst and a graduate of the San Francisco Center for
Psychoanalysis. She also maintains a private practice in San Francisco serving
adults, adolescents, and children. Ms. Kwun has been a supervisor for California
Pacific Medical Center; University of California, San Francisco, Department of
Psychiatry, Langley Porter; New Leaf Services for our Community; Smith College
of Social Work; and New College. She is also the past Director of the former
Adolescent Day Treatment Center of California Pacific Medical Center.
Kin Leung, LMFT - Clinical Supervisor for Interns
Kin Leung is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who is bilingual in Cantonese. He has worked as a Behavioral Health Counselor for many high schools across San Francisco in the past 6 years. Currently, he works at the Wellness Centers Program based at Lowell High School and provides supervision for interns. As an immigrant from Hong Kong, Mr. Leung is passionate about integrating psychotherapy into the Asian culture that would make the most cultural sense. He has a strong interest in Relational-Psychodynamic Theory and its applicability to the Asian American population.
Kin Leung finished his undergraduate degree in Psychology at The U niversity of California, Berkeley and graduate degree in Marriage and Family Therapy at San Francisco State University. He also maintains a private practice in San Francisco where he provides consultation and psychotherapy for individuals, couples, and families.
Wei Lew, PhD - Clincial Supervisor for Staff
Michael Litter, PsyD - Group Supervisor for Practicum Trainees
Dr. Michael Litter serves as a clinical supervisor for a child-focused consultation group for
trainees. He is a licensed clinical psychologist with an interest in
working psychoanalytically with families, children, and adolescents. Dr. Litter
earned his doctorate degree from the Wright Institute and completed his
pre-doctoral training at RAMS. His research examined the therapeutic
relationship's effect on treatment outcome among court-involved youth. Dr.
Litter also maintains a private practice in San Francisco where he sees
children, adolescents and adults.
Mai T. Nguyen, PsyD - Assessment Supervisor and Instructor for NAAPTC Predoctoral Interns' Individual and Group Supervision, Assessment Seminar
Dr. Mai Nguyen is a bicultural & bilingual (Vietnamese/English) licensed clinical psychologist who has been serving culturally diverse, underprivileged individuals in community-based settings for nearly 10 years. Dr. Nguyen received her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology, with a Multicultural and Community Emphasis, from CSPP of Alliant International University, San Francisco (AIU-CSPP). Her clinical training has spanned inpatient and outpatient settings, in both the U.S. and Viet Nam. She is an alumna of the RAMS National Asian American Psychological Training Center (NAAPTC), an APA-accredited pre-doctoral internship program. Following her training at the RAMS NAAPTC, Dr. Nguyen was a Post-Doctoral Fellow for the Viet Nam Veterans of America Foundation. In partnership with Da Nang & Khanh Hoa Departments of Health, NIH, Vanderbilt University, and Rand Corporation, she helped train Vietnamese paraprofessionals, nurses, and physicians to provide treatment for depression in rural primary care agencies. She completed her post-doctoral studies at AIU-CSPP’s Psychological Services Center, where she specialized in psychological assessment and treatment of complex childhood trauma. In addition to her work at RAMS, she is a clinical psychologist at the Disability Evaluation & Consultation Unit of the City and County of San Francisco, providing psychological assessment services to homeless and at-risk adults for employability versus mental health disability.
Her clinical work is grounded in psychoanalytic theory and conceptualized within cultural, social, and biological aspects of individuals and systems. Her varied clinical interests include working with severely disturbed individuals, complex trauma in children and adolescents, multicultural assessment, collaborative therapeutic assessment, psychoanalytic conceptualization in personality assessment, problem gambling, and ecopsychology.
Ellen Nichols, LMFT - Clinical Supervisor for Staff
Ellen Nichols received her Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology from
Dominican University of California and is a licensed Marriage and Family
Therapist. She has worked in community mental health settings since she began
her career in counseling and is committed to working with underserved and
culturally diverse populations. As the Clinical Coordinator at the RAMS
Broderick Street Adult Residential Facility, she oversees the clinical services
provided on-site, including direct supervision of the Mental Health Counselors.
Prior to her current appointment, she has held other positions within the agency
such as Mental Health Clinician & Clinical Supervisor for the Outpatient
Services Clinic, Mental Health Consultant for the High Quality Early Childhood
Mental Health Initiative program, a Mental Health Counselor/school-based
therapist for the Emotionally Disabled (ED) Partnership Program.
Shinobu Ogasawara, PsyD, CGP - Clinical Supervisor for Staff
Dr. Shinobu Ogasawara is a licensed clinical psychologist and certified group psychotherapist. She has extensive clinical experience working with those with substance use issues, along the full drug use continuum, in community mental health and medical settings. Majority of her work has been with those living with extensive personal traumas and chronic medical conditions, in addition to being survivors of multiple societal oppressions.
Her dissertation was titled, "Asian American Transsexuals: The Family, Ethnic, and Trans Community" and she continues to subvert the dominant paradigm by providing clinical supervision and serving on dissertation committees for LGBTQQ students of color.
Sharif Okasha, PsyD - Clinical Supervisor for Staff and Practicum Trainees
Shoshana Raiber-Kornfeld, PhD - Clinical Supervisor for Staff
Chiaki Sasaki, PsyD - Clinical Supervisor for Staff and Practicum Trainees
Dr. Chiaki Sasaki is a bilingual Japanese-speaking licensed clinical psychologist, and provides prevention & early intervention mental health services at RAMS Fu Yau Project, a collaboration with Chinatown Child Development Center. Dr. Sasaki earned her Doctor of Psychology degree from California Institute of Integral Studies, B.A. in psychology from Indiana University at Bloomington, and completed her pre-doctoral internship at California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco. Prior to her current position, she worked at a Partial Hospitalization & Intensive Outpatient Program for adults with severe and chronic mental illness. She has experience working with children, adolescents, and adults in a variety of outpatient, school and milieu settings. She also serves as the designated Clinical Supervisor for the Alliant International University-CSPP & RAMS clinical research practicum placement collaboration at Fu Yau Project.
Christina Shea, LMFT - Clinical Supervisor for Staff
Nira Singh, PsyD - Clinical Supervisor for Staff, NAAPTC Predoctoral Interns, and Practicum Trainees
Angela Tang, LCSW - Clinical Supervisor for MSW Interns
Alla Volovich, PhD - Training Director, Clinical Supervisor for Staff, NAAPTC Predoctoral Interns, and Practicum Trainees
Richard Zevin, LCSW - Clinical Supervisor for Staff and MSW Interns
Alexander Zinchenko, PhD
- Clinical Supervisor for Staff, NAAPTC Predoctoral Interns, and Practicum Trainees Alongside his work at RAMS, Dr. Zinchenko
maintains a private practice in San Francisco specializing in individual, family,
and group psychotherapy with adults and children. He also works with traumatized
refugees and survivors of political torture as a contracting clinician at
Survivors International. Dr. Zinchenko's current interests include object
relations theory; phenomenological and psychoanalytic aspects of nostalgia and uprootedness; clinical work with immigrants and refugees; and psychotherapy with
severely disturbed and traumatized clients. He is also keenly interested and
extensively involved in teaching and clinical training: as a Supervising
Psychologist at RAMS; as a Psychologist at Napa State Hospital; as a faculty, student advisor and instructor for Working
with Immigrant Families class at Saybrook Graduate School and Research
Center; as a lecturer (Psychoanalytic Treatment Modalities) and group
supervisor at
the Access
Institute for Psychological Services; and as an adjunct clinical supervisor at the
Goldman Institute on Aging.
Richard Zevin is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. As a Senior Behavioral Health Counselor for the PAES Counseling & Pre-Vocational Services, he provides mental health and substance abuse services for adults who are attempting to enter or re-enter the workforce. Mr. Zevin joined RAMS in 2007, initially working in an Intensive Outpatient/Partial Hospitalization program for individuals with severe mental illnesses. Prior to his current position with the agency, he worked as a Behavioral Health Counselor for the Wellness Centers Program, providing on-site mental health services for adolescents at Raoul Wallenberg Traditional High School in San Francisco. He received his B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis and his Masters in Social Work from UC Berkeley, and has experience working with children, adolescents, and adults in a variety of residential treatment centers and outpatient settings throughout the Bay Area.
Dr. Zinchenko received his Ph.D. in psychology from
Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center in 2001, and his M.A. in psychology
from Moscow State University in 1987. Before his relocation to the USA in 1991,
Dr. Zinchenko lived in Moscow where he worked as psychotherapist in private
practice, a hypnotherapist at the Alcoholism Treatment Center, and a researcher
at the USSR Academy of Sciences Center for the Studies of Consciousness. He
co-authored and served as the principle investigator on a research project "Use
of Altered States of Consciousness in the Treatment of Addictions" (sponsored
by the USSR Academy of Sciences). In addition to an article in the
International Journal of Psychosomatics based on this research, Dr. Zinchenko
published a book chapter on the psychology of youth movements; another book
chapter "Nostalgia: a Dialog between Memory and Knowledge" is
currently in print. Since 1992, when Dr. Zinchenko first joined RAMS, he has
contributed to the clinic in several capacities as a staff psychotherapist;
founder of a Russian-focus mental health program; clinical supervisor; and
coordinator for two mental health projects: Senior Refugee Project (grant from
the US Office of Refugee Resettlement, 1996-2004) and Dual Diagnosis Project
(grant from the U.S. Department Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Administration, 2001-2003).