15 - EMBRACE: Perinatal Intervention and Community Support

Markita Mays-Barideaux, a licensed clinical social worker, is Director of Behavioral Health for EMBRACE Perinatal Care and a Child-Parent Psychotherapy Trainer for the Child Trauma Research Program, in both the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California San Francisco. She is a perinatal and infant mental health leader and community systems innovator. She develops culturally rooted frameworks bridging hospitals, community birthwork, early childhood, and mental health care. As a Black woman and the descendant of enslaved Africans, Markita is committed to understanding the intersection and intergenerational patterns of race and trauma for Black/African-American families and communities. She has a special interest in healing interventions rooted in spiritual/indigenous practices and traditions in an effort to reclaim ancestral knowledge. In addition to administrator duties, she provides clinical services, supervision, and training. She is the 2020 recipient of the Zero To Three Emerging Leader Award, has served as a Dean Diversity Leader (2016-2018) for the UCSF School of Medicine, and received the 2015 UCSF Chancellor Award for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership.

Dr. Bohlander has also been a practicing clinician in a variety of settings for over a decade, partnering with parents to understand the behavior and development of their young children to support infant and early childhood mental health. Immediately prior to joining the National Infant-Toddler Court Program Dr. Bohlander was a member of the professional development and workforce innovations team at ZERO TO THREE leading the development of the Growing Brain curriculum and providing professional development opportunities nationally and internationally on topics related to infant and early childhood mental health. Ms. Bohlander is a graduate of the University of Michigan’s School of Social Work with a concentration in Interpersonal Practice with Children, Youth, and Families. She completed a Ph.D. in social work at the National Catholic School of Social Service at the Catholic University of America, where she studied the long-term effects of early parenting practices on self-regulation and overall child well-being. Ms. Bohlander’s dissertation research was presented at the 2016 World Infant Mental Health Association meeting in Prague.