Dr. J. Manuel Casas of UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School was awarded a resolution honoring his volunteer community service by Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on May 5th. As part of Mental Health Awareness month, Casas is recognized for his time and expertise to advancing the health and well-being of Latino, at- risk and under-served individuals in the Santa Barbara County.
Dr. Casas is a nationally recognized expert in resiliency in Latino families and culturally appropriate mental health services. He has been engaged in extensive volunteer work as a member of the Mental Health Commission, the Santa Barbara County Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Services (ADMHS) Systems Change Steering Committee, the ADMHS Cultural Competency Action Team, the Latino Advisory Committee and the ADMHS Communication Workgroup. Dr. Casas has also helped establish wellness support groups and worked with the Trauma Response Network to assist a community coping with multiple suicides. Casas is recognized as a consistent and knowledgeable voice for inclusion and diversity and enriching the Santa Barbara County behavioral health system of care and recover.
J. Manuel Casas received his doctorate from Stanford University in counseling psychology. He is professor emeritus in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology at UC Santa Barbara. Casas has published extensively (over 150 publications), and he is the coauthor of the Handbook of Racial/Ethnic Minority Counseling Research and one of the editors of the three editions of the Handbook of Multicultural Counseling. His recent endeavors focus on the psychological impact of immigration on Latino families. Casas was honored as a distinguished scholar in the field of Chicana/o psychology by the Julian Samora Research Institute. He has also been honored as a fellow of APA Divisions 17 and 45 and the Rockefeller Foundation. He has received the California Association of School Psychologists’ Research Award, the Distinguished Contributions to Latino Psychology Award, and the 2010 Elder Recognition Award for Distinguished Contributions to Counseling Psychology, as well as the National Multicultural Conference and Summit’s Distinguished Elders Award.