National Association of Puerto Rican Hispanic Social Workers
EQUITY IN PRACTICE FORUM
This one-day forum brings together practice owners to explore innovative strategies for building sustainable, equitable, and impactful private and group practices. In this all Latine panel, participants will engage in two interactive panels:
- Examine how class-conscious frameworks and economic justice inform clinical and business structures
- Learn legal, financial, and marketing strategies, including MWBE certification
- Gain practical tools for creating practices that prioritize client care, practitioner sustainability, and collective impact
Who Should Attend: Private practice owners, clinicians, and students in mental health and human services looking to expand their impact, strengthen their practices, and integrate justice-centered frameworks.
Participants leave informed, empowered, and confident to pursue sustainable practice growth through contracts, partnerships, and mission-driven strategies.
Kathy Acosta, LCSW
Latinx Practice Collective, and Hero Counseling
Kathy Acosta, LCSW, is the Founder and CEO of HERO Counseling Center and Hero Consultations in Ridgewood, NJ and the founder of the Latinx Practice Collective, a national community for Latinx practice owners. A first-gen Latina and former business professional, Kathy now blends her passion for therapy and entrepreneurship through coaching and consulting services that help clinicians launch and grow values-driven group practices.
Dr. Amelia Ortega, LCSW, SIFI, TCYM
Amancer Counseling, and Collectiva
Pronouns: They/Them
Dr. Amelia Ortega is a proud descendent of indigenous landrights activists, carpenters and artists. Dr. Ortega is the founder and clinical director of Amanecer Counseling, LLC- a group practice based in New York and Rhode Island specializing in trauma healing for BIPOC queer and trans community. Amelia brings more than twenty years of work experience as a liberation-oriented psychotherapist to Amanecer and specializes in attached-focused EMDR and work with multiracial or mixed-race communities. Amelia is a mixed-Chicanx identified, queer, non-binary provider. Amelia has taught Social Work students at Columbia University, Smith College and Simmons College. Amelia is dedicated to supporting social workers in training and advocating for policy change to reduce barriers to accessing mental health for BIPOC and working-class communities through their non-profit; Collectiva. They currently provide trauma-conscious, somatic focused supervision for clinicians in training, and EMDR consultation. When they aren’t working in community, Amelia is often in the woods birdwatching, creating rituals in the kitchen with friends, writing, playing with their dog Bugsy Pineapple and dancing.
Yurilka Hernandez LCSW
Psychotherapy & Consultation LCSW-PLLC, and Alta Vida Wellness
Yurilka Hernandez, LCSW, is the founder of Alta Vida Wellness and a leader in culturally responsive mental health. She has spent over a decade standing at the intersection of clinical care and community power, amplifying voices too often ignored. Her mission is simple and radical: healing that honors roots while building new possibilities.
