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Pláticas – Tenemos Voz: Latino Peer Recovery

May 30 @ 12:00 pm 1:30 pm MDT

Join us for an interactive 90 minute webcast with special guests- Ralph Martinez, Chef Fernando Ruiz, Poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, and Dr. Ana Chavez-Mancillas, peer support and recovery experts who will discuss helpful tips and positive steps on improving continuum of care and recovery efforts.

About the Presenters

Ralph Martinez
Co-Founder and Chair of the Espanola Pathways Shelter
For 11 years, Ralph Martinez was addicted to cocaine and heroin. It led to him losing his family, home and identity as an individual. During that time, he was homeless, living under bridges, in tents in remote areas, and various abandoned buildings. Since 2012, Ralph has been clean and sober. He has committed to being a positive influence in the community. He is currently the Co-Founder and Chair of the Espanola Pathways Shelter, and President of Espanola Community Matanza.

Fernando Ruiz
Chef and Founder of Entrepreneurial Institute of Northern New Mexico
At the age of 13 through his early 20’s, Fernando Ruiz was involved with a gang, trafficking weapons and drugs. He had spent several birthdays incarcerated for his offenses. It was during this incarceration, that he earned his GED, and upon release, attended culinary school. As a chef, Fernando holds the distinction of appearing and winning Food Network’s Guy’s Grocery Games, Chopped, and Beat Bobby Flay, where he took top honors over Bobby Flay with his Chiles en Nogada dish.

Jimmy Santiago Baca
Poet and Author
Baca was born in Santa Fe County, NM. Abandoned by his parents atthe age of 2, he was eventually placed in an orphanage. At 13, he ran away to live on the streets and by the age of 21, was convicted and incarcerated on drug possession charges. While serving a five-year sentence in a maximum security prison, he learned to read and began to turn his life around, eventually emerging as a prolific artist of the spoken and written word.

Dr. Ana Chavez-Mancillas
Director of the NLBHA “Bob Martinez Center of Innovation”
Before she joined NLBHA Ana worked for over 20 years providing bilingual and bicultural mental health and substance abuse services to children and families. She has 24+ years in recovery and strives to help others not only with substance abuse issues but also other mental health issues as she fully understands that these issues more times than not go together hand in hand.

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