Instituto Familiar de la Raza
Silvia Avila is an experienced mental health professional with a background in social work and advocacy. Currently serving as a Mental Health Consultant and Youth Mental Health Clinician at Instituto Familiar de la Raza since May 2021, Silvia also holds previous roles as an Intake Coordinator and Youth Mental Health Clinician. Prior experiences include positions as a School Social Work Intern at San Francisco Unified School District and Oakland Unified School District's Newcomer Wellness Initiative, as well as Temporary Family Advocate at Good Samaritan Family Resource Center. Silvia began volunteering as a Health Navigator at Street Level Health Project and worked as a Family Advocate at Good Samaritan Family Resource Center. Silvia holds a Master of Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley, focusing on Strengthening Children, Youth, and Families, and a Bachelor of Arts in Public Health from the same university.
Instituto Familiar de la Raza
Instituto Familiar de la Raza remains true to the same principles on which it was founded. The circumstances and specific challenges facing the Chicano/Latino community continue to change, but our unique approach to its health and well-being of our community remains intact. Through a continuum of six responsive and robust programs for children, youth, adults, and families, IFR serves over 3,500 people a year. Employing traditional, contemporary and conventional modalities, IFR’s programs have received national recognition for our unique cultural interventions. With a competent bilingual staff that includes mental health professionals, paraprofessionals, and community health workers, IFR regularly employs this key tenet: la cultura cura/culture heals. IFR began as a small outpatient mental health clinic, and the need for La Clínica remains as urgent as it was when the organization was founded. IFR continued to grow as we recognized our ability to positively impact the Chicano/Latino community. True to our holistic view of health and wellness and in response to emerging community needs, Instituto began developing programs for children, youth, teachers and administrators, people with HIV/AIDS, and the indigenous/Maya population. For over 35 years, IFR has established a leadership role in community violence prevention, school-based mental health consultations, family programming, culturally-based integrated HIV services, and indigenous/Maya wellness programs. Viewed a whole, our programs are designed to provide a seamless continuum of health and wellness programs for Chicanos/Latinos in San Francisco. We remain committed to this mission.