Director, Department of Behavioral Health Services
Bernalillo County
Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
Margarita Chavez-Sanchez, MS, currently serves as the director of the Department of Behavioral Health Services for Bernalillo County. She began her employment with Bernalillo County seven years ago as health and wellness coordinator focusing on county-wide employee wellness. She later became a special projects coordinator and later promoted to deputy director of Department of Behavioral Health Services where she has been pivotal in the coordination and implementation of the Behavioral Health Initiative (BHI). In 2014, Bernalillo County started the BHI after voters voted to tax themselves in order to fund and create a much-needed Behavioral Health System. In the past four years the BHI has launched 22 programs, infused the behavioral health industry with $20 million, committed more than $70 million to behavioral health projects and most importantly, through these funded programs, provided services to more than 50,000 people. The BHI has unprecedented community involvement and leadership and is tapping into crowd funding solutions to address the most complex community issues.
Chavez-Sanchez received her Masters of Science in Community Health Education from the University of New Mexico and completed a post grad fellowship with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute in Washington, D.C. Other career highlights include: faculty health education instructor at the University of New Mexico and 10 years in a clinical health setting working in local emergency rooms and emergency medical services.
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