Training Programs

Career Progression:
Dr. Chris Celio is a licensed psychologist, who started working in the mental health field in 2001 and originally trained to be a Child Psychologist, but found his calling when he joined the Hume Center as a Doctoral Intern in 2007. While this shifted his focus to serving adults diagnosed with serious mental illness, he brought with him an emphasis on the family and other systems that the consumer is a part of and a creative spirit that believes that healing and recovery can come through many surprising and outside-of-the-box pathways, beliefs, and persons.

Chris has helped Hume Center’s services in Contra Costa County expand into prevention and early intervention services, housing support, and full-service partnership services, which include case management, peer and family services, and homelessness prevention. He is currently working on a team at Hume Center developing behavioral health-informed independent housing.

Dr. Celio is excited about the impactful work being done by the Behavioral Health Consultation Training Center and is honored to be a part of it. Believing strongly in the power of the community, he has worked to create or support events like Mental Wellness Night with the Sharks, Community Living Room Conversations, and the annual Hope Cup Softball Tournament and Annual Bowling Tournament.

Notable Achievements / Areas of Interest:
Dr. Celio is proud to have been awarded the Hope Award by the SPIRIT Classes of 2017, 2018, and 2022, the Community Partnership Award in 2018 and the Unsung Hero Award in 2022 by the Putnam Clubhouse, and the Committed Clinician Award by NAMI Contra Costa in 2019. He was honored to be chosen by Contra Costa Behavioral Health to moderate their first “Bust Stigma”; event at Brenden Theatre for Recovery Month 2019, by Putnam Clubhouse to moderate their Reimagine Mental Health Care Conference in 2020 and 2021, and by TogetherWell to speak as a panelist during their “The Power of Support and Advocacy in Peer Mental Health”; in 2021.

License:
Clinical Psychology

Background:
To support all Hume Center employees in remaining focused on our shared goal, which is to help the community deal with suffering and challenges that prevent the community from living a peaceful life.

Career Progression:
Dr. Alex Sanchez is currently the Acting Director of Training for the Doctoral Training Program, as well as the Clinical Director, providing leadership for the Hume Center’s Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP). He facilitates the Doctoral Level Didactic Training Track, provides clinical supervision for clinicians in training, and treats his own caseload of patients. He is a supervisor in the Mentored Internship Program, a project aimed at diversifying and growing the behavioral health workforce. Finally, he provides Community Behavioral Health Consultation to the staff of an outside agency, the People Who Care Children’s Association, as part of a special arrangement to support their mission of helping at-risk youth.

Dr. Sanchez has worked for over half a decade in classrooms as an educator, and for two decades in the field of mental health. He originally entered into the field while preparing for medical school, choosing to direct his career towards emotional healing rather than physical healing. His early training focused on research, assessment and behaviorism, which brought him into community mental health in the mid-2000’s, when he helped found the non-profit organization Community Options for Families and Youth. As the first employee and only psychologist, Dr. Sanchez laid the groundwork for the agency’s clinical model of practice, and assisted in developing the internal organizational structures of the company. After assisting in the growth of the company from 3 to 30 employees, Dr. Sanchez moved next to the Portia Bell Hume Behavioral Health and Training Center to continue his education in psychotherapy and consultation. He continues to practice at the Hume Center ever since.

Notable Achievements / Areas of Interest:
Alex is a founding member and preceptor in the Community Mental Health Training Center.

Education:
Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, The Wright Institute
Masters in Clinical Psychology, The Wright Institute
Bachelor’s of Science, Brown University

Licenses:
Clinical Psychologist

Background:
I am committed to serving marginalized populations, particularly Spanish-speakers and immigrants, by developing and implementing programs aimed at supporting children, youth, and their families. I am dedicated to preparing clinicians who will make a meaningful impact on the lives of their clients.

Career Progression:
Edna Olivares Gómez serves as the Director of Training of the Master’s Program at the Hume Center. Originally from Mexico City, her professional journey began in 2007 working in clinics, schools, and private practice, primarily focusing on children, adolescents, and families. She joined the Hume Center in 2018 as a Bilingual Associate Mental Health Clinician, with a primary focus on serving the Spanish-speaking population in the Tri-Valley area. Edna has taken on various leadership roles within the Hume Center. She became the lead consultant for the School Based Program within the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District, providing essential consultation to district administrators, while rolling out and strengthening new programs and services. Additionally, she has played a crucial role in quality assurance and supervision within the outpatient and school-based programs.

Notable Achievements / Areas of Interest:
Edna’s dedication to training and supervision led her to become a Licensed Clinical Supervisor in 2021, providing guidance to clinicians in Alameda and Contra Costa County programs. Recognizing her expertise and commitment, she was appointed to lead Hume’s clinical training for child and youth services in 2022. In 2023, she assumed the role of Director of Training of the Master’s Program.

Education:
Masters in Clinical Psychology from The Wright Institute (2018)
BA in Clinical Psychology from UDLA – Universidad de las Américas (2007)

Licenses:
LMFT – Marriage and Family Therapist (2018)
Licensed therapist in Mexico (2007)

Background:
Dr. Sabharwal’s mission at the Hume Center is focused on implementing and expanding prevention early intervention services for unserved and underserved communities. Dr. Sabharwal is also interested in advocacy, social justice, equity, inclusion and representation within the field of psychology and emotional wellness.

Career Progression:
Dr. Sabharwal’s clinical expertise extends to providing therapy to individuals, families, and couples within the South Asian community in Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu. She has been actively involved in initiating conversations around emotional wellness within the Punjabi community in the Bay Area and facilitating healthier communication to foster stronger relationships. Her interests in psychology focus on breaking stigmas of mental health and increasing utilization of mental health services in the South Asian community through outreach, psychoeducation, and culturally based services.

She joined The Hume Center in 2013 as a practicum student, providing services in the South Asian Community Health Promotion Services (SACHPS) program. She continued as a Pre-doctoral intern in the Alameda County Child, Youth, & Adult Outpatient Services program, as then as a Post-Doc Mental Health Clinician/Quality Assurance Specialist in the Fremont clinic’s SACHPS program. She became the permanent Program Coordinator for the SACHPS program in 2019, and upon licensure in 2021, she became its Manager. In 2022, she initiated a School-Based program at Fremont Unified School District and became the lead for that program. Additionally, she took on a supervisory role for a newly created Mentored Internship Program for undergraduate students and expanded her role within the training department to mentor master’s interns and doctoral level practicum students in both the SACHPS program and the Fremont School-Based Services program.

Notable Achievements / Areas of Interest:
Dr. Sabharwal has a passion for ongoing advocacy work that has led to her creating the South Asian Mental Health Consortium. This is an organization that hosts the yearly South Asian Mental Health Conference. Dr. Sabharwal has presented on South Asian Mental Health at conferences across the United States and received recognition from the Asian American Psychological Association for her outstanding contributions to Asian American Psychology. Dr. Sabharwal has also recently co-authored a chapter focused on working with South Asian youth. And, in addition to her professional achievements, Dr. Sabharwal is a proud mother of a vibrant and sassy 7-year-old who keeps her busy in her free time.

Affiliations:
Founder- South Asian Mental Health Consortium
Board Member – Sikh Family Center
APA member
CPA member
AAPA member
DoSAA member

Education:
Doctorate of Psychology
American School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University, 2016

License:
PSY32751