Author: Catina Caban-Owen

Catina is a widely recognized, passionate and award winning advocate for vulnerable children, adults and families with a focus on social justice, cultural intelligence and community organization in diverse settings. She served as a bilingual, bicultural public school social worker in Windham, Connecticut for 26 years where she was a senior facilitator of Race/Cultural seminars and provided professional development training on a wide variety of topics including child development, family dynamics and mental health. She was Connecticut’s School Social Worker of the Year in 2008. Catina currently teaches Field Advising at both the University of Connecticut Graduate School of Social Work and Eastern Connecticut State University Bachelor in Social Work program and is serving as a member of the Windham Public Schools Board of Education with a focus on Policy and Diversity Equity and Inclusion. Catina served as Program Director of Latino Family Services at United Services, Inc., a nonprofit behavioral health center providing mental health and social services in Northeast Connecticut, where she developed the first multicultural parent support center in the region. She is co-author of the Connecticut Commission on Children’s Parent-Leadership Training curriculum, an award winning program that has been replicated across the US. Catina founded the Windham, Connecticut Task Force to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect. She serves on the Connecticut Health Foundation Community Advisory Board and is a Health Leadership Fellow. She is also a Liberty Bank Foundation Director and served on the Windham Memorial Hospital/Hartford Healthcare Eastern Board of Directors as well as the Governor’s Partnership to Prevent Substance Abuse. She is a member of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families Racial and Cultural Issues Advisory Board and Racial Disparities Advisory Board to the Commissioner. Catina is the recipient of numerous awards including Big Brothers/Big Sisters Victoria Soto Memorial Award, University of Connecticut Outstanding Woman Scholar, Liberty Bank Community Diversity Award and Eastern Connecticut State University Latin American Award. She is a Peace At Home teacher and advisor.