Jesika Silva Zabajnik

Jesika Silva Zabajnik

Jesika is a Senior Mental Health Client Specialist with the Human Services Department and she is known for being a therapist of impressive skill and integrity. Through her clinical work, Jesika partners with youth and their families who are coping with moderate to severe mental health challenges, bringing them hope, healing, and wellness. Jesika regularly seeks out new information and tools to develop her capacity to treat trauma, and also thinks about how to help County Behavioral Health Services become a healing, equitable, and safe place for both staff and clients. Jesika routinely takes on large systems-improvement projects, and as a member of the “Clinical Growth Committee” she has supported the development of training and tools to improve the clinical outcomes of clients served by Behavioral Health. Jesika is a founding member of the “Staff of Color Gathering”, a project of Behavioral Health’s Trauma Informed Systems initiative, and she has been instrumental in building a brave space for staff of color to heal from institutional race-based trauma, prevent burnout, build a supportive community, and think critically about how to make positive changes in agency culture and provide culturally competent care to our clients and their families. Jesika is also a founding member and ongoing contributor to the "Joys and Losses Committee", which has helped Behavioral Health engage in culturally appropriate, creative ways to collectively grieve the losses of COVID, fires, storms, and other stressors that have devastated our community in recent years. Jesika is committed to fighting mental health stigma and creating a welcoming culture that encourages community members to seek County Behavioral Health services when needed, and her work has advanced an agency culture of mutual support, connection, and celebration.

The Santa Cruz County Children’s Behavioral Health School Treatment Team, comprised of:

LMFTs: Rocky Allemandi, Rain Evans, Donna Jensen Lewis, Mariela Moreno Acevedo, Gilbert Ramirez, Della Wright
LCSWs: Maria Heredia, Gabriela Perezchica

Front row, left to right: Mariela Moreno Acevedo, Gabriela Perezchica; Rain Evans; Maria Heredia
Back row, left to right: Della Wright, Gilbert Ramirez, Rocky Allemandi, Donna Jensen Lewis

For decades the Children’s Behavioral Heath School Treatment Team has been solving the extraordinary and continuously challenging issue of providing behavioral health treatment to students in local K-12 schools within various local school districts in Santa Cruz County.The post-pandemic return of behavioral health services at County schools and, specifically, within Pajaro Valley Unified School District, Santa Cruz County Office of Education, and Children’s Behavioral Health staff-embedded classrooms, has revealed exponentially complex presentations of student struggles at every level.The Santa Cruz County School Treatment Team has been able to provide immediate risk assessment, safety planning, and interventions at school sites, as well as offer therapy for students, counseling for parents, and hold restorative circles to teach students resilience and the capacity to return to their community and build on successes while learning from mistakes in a non-shaming and nonpunitive manner.

Despite extreme post-pandemic challenges, the School Treatment Team shows up each day with grace, compassion, positivity, and professionalism and demonstrates their commitment to supporting students and families in our Santa Cruz County schools.

The Homeless Persons Health Project (HPHP) Nurses/Code Blue Response Team

Cassie Cheddar, Marie Del Rosario, Adrienne Keane, Jasmine Marozick, Karina Perez-Leon, Suzanne Samson, Andi Wass, Victor Yanez

In 2023 the HPHP Nurses/Code Blue Response Team administered life saving measures for victims of accidental fentanyl overdoses and saved over 30 people from certain death. When "Code Blue" is called at the HPHP health center, this group of dedicated nurses drop what they are doing, grab the life-saving gear, rush out the door, and literally save lives.vImpressively, every single Code Blue that was called in 2023 resulted in a successful resuscitation and the patient being saved, all thanks to the efforts of this dedicated team. It takes brave and quick intervention to bring people back from overdoses, and with the number of overdose deaths increasing in our county, we are grateful for this team of hardworking front-line nurses who provide this life-saving care.