The Social Work Routes Podcast

 Melody Makeda Ledwon is an interpreter, translator, sex educator, and yoga teacher. In her work, she focuses on the intersectional perspectives of Black Feminism. In 2014 she founded BPoC Community Yoga Berlin - a safer space for Black people and people of Color who experience multiple forms of discrimination to learn about Yoga and deepen their practice. Born and raised in Berlin Germany, she al...

Ayaka Nakaji, MSW, LCSW Oncology Social Work Care Coordinator Born and raised in Japan, Ayaka moved to Hawai'i to pursue MSW at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa in 2009. Since graduating in 2011, Ayaka has worked in diverse practice settings in Hawai'i and Los Angeles, including domestic violence survivor outreach, intervention and advocacy in the family court, HIV/AIDS prevention...

Ahmad Bahrami has worked in county behavioral health systems for over twelve years and is the Division Manager of Public Behavioral Health and the Equity Services Manager for Fresno County Department of Behavioral Health. Ahmad has been involved at the state and regional level with developing programs for cultural humility and reducing disparities, student mental health, truancy prevention, and su...

 Dawn-Marie is Afrolatinx, indigenous to the Americas; living in Long Beach, CA. She is an associate therapist working towards licensure.  Dawn-Marie is passionate about maternal mental health and disrupting the cradle to prison pipeline. When she is not therapizing you can find her strength training her body, and visiting the ocean. 

Wambui Njuguna-Räisänen is a Kenyan-American based in Finland, passionate about making wellness through yoga and meditation seamlessly engaged in equity and justice so that more people of the global majority can live well and thrive. Wambui is deeply inspired by spiritual teachers and communities that seek ways to apply the insights from our various practices and teachings to situations of social,...

Dr. Felipe Mercado has promoted equity, diversity, inclusion, and compassion in the fields of K-12 education, non-profit organizations, mental health, and higher education for over a decade. He currently is the founder of Wise Soul LLC and coordinator in the office of clinical practice at Fresno State. He has held roles as a principal, counselor, social work practitioner, and consultant. One of hi...

Rosaline M'Bayo, Dipl. Soz. Päd., MA, project coordinator in the field of Migration and Health Education, Psychosocial Counselling especially on HIV/AIDS and STD at the VIA-Verband für Interkulturelle Arbeit Regionalverband Berlin/Brandenburg. Her work focuses on culturally sensitive social work with people with African backgrounds.  Her research interests focus on participation/inclusion and...

Our guest for this week, Tina Rodriguez is a survivor of child abuse and a licensed marriage and family therapist but I choose to identify as an Equity Therapist. I am responsible for connecting the symptoms of racial trauma to mental health conditions. I specialize in working with victims of color.   I currently serve as Board President for ValorUS, a national organization working to end sexual v...

Randy Nedegaard, PhD, is an associate professor at California State University, Fresno, Department of Social Work Education.  He has authored publications on military cultural competence and overcoming stigma with military clients, intimate partner violence and its intersections with faith traditions, teaching in diverse tribal communities, and decision-making in intimate partner violence.  Dr. Ne...

Rev. Bryson White is the last of six children to the union of Paul and Sheila White of Fresno, California, and is the husband to the wonderful Jennifer White of Richmond, California, and the father of Kairos White. He is a Ph. D. candidate in Theology and Ethics at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and is currently writing his dissertation. Rev. White’s dissertation, titled Racial Rapture:...

Grisanti Avendaño is an organizer, movement builder a weaver, a Xingonx,  and a space holder in the Central Valley of California. She is the daughter of Belen Avendaño and is a Queer Indigenous Zapotec migrant from Oaxaca who loves her adopted home Fresno. She writes poetry from personal experiences focused on her childhood and the Oaxaqueño culture. She is the prayer keeper of the Central Valley...

Dr. Gena Lew Gong is a Lecturer in Asian American Studies in the Department of Anthropology at Fresno State. She has extensive experience working and volunteering in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community and has held numerous leadership positions, including Board President of Central California Asian Pacific Women, Executive Director of the Asian Pacific Community Fund, and Director of...

Diana Crāciun’s social work route started in a little city in Transylvanian Romania – struggling with classism and other exclusion mechanisms of the post-communism era when growing up, never assuming that she would eventually live and work in Berlin. She chose to stay in Germany after finishing her M.A. degree in Gender and Diversity, and started working in the private sector for Diversity-Managem...

Julian G. Garza Julian is from Fresno, California to a first-generation Mexican American father, George Garza, and a mother of both Native American (Pascua Yaqui Tribal member) & Mexican American descent, Rachael Moreno Garza. He served in the US Air Force for five years. Julian started working in the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, earning his BSW from AS...

Malcolm Payne is a writer, academic, and consultant on social work, social care management, and multi-professional teamwork. He was previously Director of Psychosocial and Spiritual Care at St Christopher's Hospice, London. He has held academic posts at the University of Bristol, Manchester Metropolitan University, Opole University Poland, and Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia. He has...

Dr. Irán Barrera is a Professor and Graduate Coordinator at Fresno State in the Department of Social Work Education. He has two doctoral degrees from The University of Texas at Arlington and the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León-México.   This experience raised awareness about mental health care disparities among Latinos.  Dr. Barrera has extensive experience working with minority communities (Af...

Gloria’s retirement speech  I began working as a patient rights advocate after doing civil rights class actions and other lawsuits. (I thought when I was working with farmworker and their families that I was working with the most vulnerable people in this country. That changed when I began this job.) I thought I would share the following with you all: Common sense contributed to my safety in the u...

Cassandra Little Ph. D. MSW She received her Doctorate in 2003 from the University of Nevada Reno, Counseling Educational Psychology Department in Reno, Nevada. For 27 years she worked in the Child Welfare field as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Cassandra received her M.A., in Social Work from the University of Nevada Reno and her B.S. in Sociology-Criminal Justice from California Baptist Coll...

Dr. Virginia Rondero Hernandez is a Professor Emeritus at California State University, Fresno. She was also the executive director of CalSwec at the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to coming to Fresno State, Dr. Rondero Hernandez taught at Texas State University, San Marcos, and the Worden School of Social Service at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas. She has practice...

Dr. Kizzy Lopez has worked in higher education for 13 years in academic and student affairs as a champion for educational equity for underserved students, particularly those who have experienced foster care or homelessness. Dr. Lopez currently serves as an Assistant Professor in Social Work at Fresno Pacific University. Dr. Lopez is passionate about advocating for foster and homeless youth because...

Anthony Ash, MSW, ACSW, is a lifelong Central California resident, organizer, and social worker. He got his start in social work through community organizing in the wake of California's Proposition 8, which would strip same-sex couples of the right to marry. Anthony completed his undergraduate degree in Social Welfare at Fresno Pacific University. This private Christian university had histori...

Sharon Chun Wetterau, LCSW is the Assistant Field Director at California State University, Dominguez Hills Department of Social Work, founded on Critical Race Theory (CRT).  She is fascinated by the practical integration of CRT, mindfulness, and spirituality, including her own faith (Christianity), as a source of healing and a pathway toward social justice.

The first interview on the Social Work Routes podcast features Zoyer Zyndel, MSW, of Fresno, California. Zoyer was a mental health specialist and trans community activist involved in a multitude of social issues. Listen to him talk about how his route to social work and activism.

 A tribute to Zoyer Zyndel, MSW, trans activist, and community organizer in Fresno, California, who tragically passed away a week after a forthcoming interview with Kris Clarke.   Rest in Power Zoyer Zyndel. Producer: Priscilla Osei

Welcome to Social Work Routes -  a podcast dedicated to exploring the pathways to social justice work. We listen to the stories of people involved in social work and activism – what brought them to the field? Where does their passion for social justice work lie?  What experiences have shaped their perspectives? And what hopes and dreams do they have for the future? We have conversations with peopl...