ABOUT EVENT

The Pacific Library Partnership Development Committee (PLPSDC) presents this half-day virtual workshop focused on the contextual frameworks and practical skills that can help all levels of library staff provide empathetic public service.

Library staff at all levels engage with individuals who at various points in their lives have dealt or are dealing with homelessness, substance use, poverty and/or mental health concerns. In this workshop, learn how to respond to the collective human experience of trauma, made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic. Understand the experiences of our patrons through a trauma-informed lens of compassion and establish best practices for working with various populations through that lens.

About the trainers:

Leah Esguerra is a California Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and the nation’s first full-time library social worker. Leah started providing social services in a library setting at San Francisco Public Library in 2009. Since then, Leah’s social service team at SFPL has received national and international attention in the library community and has become a model on which other libraries have created their own programs. Prior to working at SFPL, Leah worked as a social work supervisor providing Intensive Case Management services for people with chronic experience of homelessness, severe mental illness, and substance abuse.

Ida Abolins is a Health and Safety Associate at the San Francisco Public Library since 2018.  As part of her outreach to library patron experiencing homelessness, Ida provides information and referrals about social service resources.

Cary Latham worked as a Health and Safety Associate at the San Francisco Public Library from 2016-2019.  He identifies as a consumer of mental health and wellness services for nearly two decades. Cary is trained and certified as a Community Mental Health Worker (CMH) through the City College of San Francisco and is a registered biodynamic craniosacral therapist (rBCST).

Call Wendy Cao at (650) 349-5538, or send an email, caow@plsinfo.org for questions about billing and registration.

Email Tamecca Brewer at tbrewer@aclibrary.org or Daniel Keough at dkeough@losgatosca.gov for questions about the program.