Claudette Sierra-Pappas

Speaker

Claudette Sierra-Pappas LSW

Therapist, Licensed Social Worker

Claudette earned her Bachelor of Psychology Degree from Hunter College of the City University of New York, where she graduated magna cum laude. Claudette then earned her Master of Social Work Degree from the Rutgers University School of Social Work. The concentration of her studies was on clinical social work with mental and behavioral health as her area of emphasis.

Before becoming a therapist, Claudette was a counseling intern at the Mental Health Association of Monmouth County (MHAMC) where she worked with adolescents and their families utilizing her bilingual skills as a Spanish speaker. While at MHAMC, she provided individual therapy to adolescents, co-facilitated groups for middle and high school students, and linked families to needed services. As a licensed social worker, Claudette’s focus is on collaborating with adults, young adults, and adolescents in addressing mental health and environmental circumstances

Claudette's Presentations

Workshop

Intersectionality, Privilege, and Mental Health

How multiple, socially constructed marginalizations impact mental and behavioral health

This workshop will define and discuss intersectionality as well as privilege, as the definitions and how they play out are intertwined. We will also discuss how these two aspects of our society and culture impact the mental health of those who have been historically and currently marginalized.

We will address race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic “class,” people with disabilities, immigration status, and people who are neurodivergent in the context of mental and behavioral health.

There will be discussion not only of how the effects of intersectionality can lead to mental illness, but also the lack of accessibility to treatment as well as reluctance to seek treatment and the reasons why this all occurs.