Leslie Manriquez shares her experiences at the Sunset Social Pre-Party Kick Off. May 2022.
We’re excited to highlight Leslie Manriquez for her work at ECS over the past few years. We were able to sit down with Leslie and ask her about her experiences at ECS as well as her thoughts on the future of the Para Las Familias Program (PLF).
How long have you been at ECS, and what brought you to the organization and Para Las Familias specifically?
I've been working for PLF for about a little bit over three years now. Initially, I had been working with adults and some teenagers before PLF. I wasn't sure of the idea of working with this population. It was a bit scary for me because it was a group that I was not used to working with. Still, I really liked the attachment model, and I had learned about it before working for PLF.
I figured this was something I really wanted to do and believe in. I went, applied for the position as a clinician there, and learned the model better.
We have an awesome clinical supervisor and a very knowledgeable team. After some time, I really started enjoying working with the 0-5 population. I really like this population and working in this area because I grew up in South Chula Vista. This is my community.
I've always wanted to work and make an impact on the community. I really do feel that Para Las Familias' work is something special; I've seen the program's impact on the community. Even by word of mouth, families refer us to other families and friends in the community.
What is your favorite thing about your job? What are you looking forward to most stepping into this new role?
My favorite part about this job is the good clinical work. The organization is very supportive of the work that we do. So, it's nice to work in an organization that is supportive of their staff, supportive of the training, and the services that we provide to the community are very high-quality services.
There's also the hidden bonus of having a great team, which is another plus. I have experienced great connections with the team. Everyone is very supportive of each other, has different strengths, and shares ways to support the families. Not to mention everybody's just very friendly and easygoing, which is always nice to have. A climate and a work environment where everybody is very helpful, supportive, and communicates well is honestly the best bonus I can ask for.
What are some things you hope to focus more on, or are there any changes you would like to make within the next few months to even years?
Well, initially, we'll continue to support the staff. Having had the experience of being a clinician, I think there are many ways to help the team and the workflow. Because it is a demanding job, it can be very emotionally taxing.
But I think we can really troubleshoot anything that can be challenging. So that programmatic stuff or making the workflow easier is one of the biggest things. In the long term, the bigger picture is to continue building relationships with them and the community to expand the people we reach because we know there's a significant need for services for the certified.
Even though we are recognized through either just word of mouth or just other community members, I feel that we can still reach more families. One of the things that I'd like to expand where we reach and where people know us and build more connections in the community. I hope it doesn't become complicated to seek services.
One of the things that I still have a hard time with is that finding mental health services in the community is not very intuitive. It continues to be a struggle for the community. That's also one of the things that I really want to focus on and have the program reach out more and in places where more people really don't know about us.