Dr. Ruth Zúñiga has a PhD in clinical and community psychology with a rural and indigenous emphasis from the University of Alaska. She has been working in collaboration with community-based organizations and community brokers such as promotores de salud, community health workers, and community leaders to address the mental and emotional health needs of the Latinx community. She has developed and managed multiple community-driven programs and grants focused on “bringing mental health” to the Latinx community, removing stigma, and supporting mental health access and utilization of services by underserved communities.
Dr. Zúñiga serves on several boards of directors and advisory boards of Latinx community-based organizations in Oregon. Dr. Zúñiga has been teaching, researching, consulting, and presenting on the subject of Latinx mental health and wellness and program evaluation for 10 years. She has been providing culturally-grounded mental health services for over 15 years in the areas of resiliency, immigration, healing and trauma informed care, chronic disease management, and overall mental health concerns.
She is a former associate professor, and founder of Sabiduría: Latinx Psychology Emphasis at Pacific University, an academic and clinical program focused on training culturally informed masters and doctoral level clinicians to work with the Latinx community. She is a licensed psychologist and serves as a senior health advisor for the Oregon Health Authority in the Covid Response and Recovery Unit.
