Recovery LIVE Virtual Event

Ruth Colón-Wagner, LMSW, Director of Training & Development, New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services, has over 30 years of experience in the fields of child welfare, homeless services, employment, and mental health care working with children, adults, and families. For the last 25 years, she worked in leadership positions. Ruth manages system transformation initiatives and provides national technical assistance and training in a variety of specialties to include organizational culture change from traditional care to a recovery-oriented system of care, organizational capacity building and sustainability, board development, succession planning, and strategic planning. Her specialties include mindfulness practice, mindful leadership, group facilitation, program management, and compassion fatigue. Ruth is certified as a Dialectical Behavioral Therapist, Functional Family Therapist, and Life Skills Educator. She received a Master’s of Social Work from Hunter College School of Social Work and is licensed as a social worker in New York.

Natalie Delgadillo, Executive Assistant, EVS Financial, currently helps to establish investment strategies through optimizing interpersonal communications and future growth projections. During her time as a student in the Cougars In Recovery Collegiate Recovery Community Alumni at the University of Houston, Natalie was a mentor through the Source of Strength Leadership program, where she provided mentorship to new collegiate recovery students. She has been a substance use disorder recovery and mental health advocate for youth and young adults for more than eight years. In recovery herself since 2008, Natalie has also been working with her family to heal intergenerational trauma. She and her family have lovingly devoting their selves to ‘doing the work’ individually, and through the family dynamic. As a family, it is their hope to continue to seek the common goal of spiritual wellness, holistic healing and a deeper capacity to love.

Kathy Wright, MA, Executive Director, New Jersey Parents Caucus, has experience as a mental health executive, advocate, educator and writer has spanned over two decades. She has presented numerous local, state and national workshops on children’s mental health, family and youth engagement, juvenile justice and child welfare. She has been instrumental in providing dedicated and passionate leadership as the Executive Director of the New Jersey Parents’ Caucus, developing training programs and supportive services that empower parents and caregivers raising children with emotional and behavioral challenges in creating systemic change, as well as professionals and providers in the child-serving arena. She is the writer of NJPC’s Parents’ Empowerment Academy curriculum and remains dedicated to working with families to improve outcomes for their children, become self-sufficient, overcome the stigma placed on them by society and work with dignity as collaborative partners with professionals.

Steven Samra, MPA, Recovery Specialist, C4 Innovations, has expertise and lived experience in substance use and mental health recovery, harm reduction approaches, promotion of lived experience as critical experiential knowledge, developing and leading peer advisory councils, peer leadership, cultural competence, criminal justice, and effective outreach and engagement for challenging populations. He serves in leadership capacities for multiple recovery, substance use, mental health, peer involvement, and homelessness focused initiatives.