Entre colegas… Building awareness, fostering prevention, and strengthening support for H/L communities affected by gambling-related harms | 1:00pm ET
September 10 | 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
- Define gambling, including forms of gambling,
- Describe gambling trends, and impact in H/L communities.
- Identify social factors that may influence gambling in H/L communities.
- Discuss best practices in prevention and intervention when working with H/L individuals and communities who struggle with gambling.
Guest Speaker – Sandra Munier, LICSW, LADC 1, CADC
Sandra Munier is a proud Latina born in Puerto Rico who lives and works in Springfield, Massachusetts. She earned her Master of Social Work from Springfield College and her Bachelor of Social Work from Elms College. Sandra is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) and a Licensed and Certified Drug and Alcohol Addiction Professional with more than 25 years of experience in addiction treatment and recovery support services, prevention, workforce development, capacity building, behavioral health, and leadership.
A bilingual professional fluent in Spanish and English, Sandra is a highly respected subject matter expert recognized at the local, state, and federal levels. As an independent consultant, she collaborates with organizations and professionals across multiple sectors, with a particular focus on clinical supervision, workforce development, staff development, leadership coaching, and training.
Sandra is a master facilitator and trainer who designs and delivers engaging, responsive learning experiences on a wide range of topics, including gambling disorders, self-care, recovery-oriented practices, trauma-informed care, humility, peer support, group facilitation, and leadership development. Throughout her career, she has played a leadership role in the development and delivery of Recovery Coach training, Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT), Group Peer Support, and Community Health Worker leadership development initiatives.
For more than 20 years, Sandra has been actively involved in counselor certification and workforce development programs. She has supported more than 500 individuals through the addiction counseling and clinical social work credentialing process, helping to strengthen and expand the behavioral health workforce across Massachusetts.
Sandra also oversees the IDEA Initiative which provides responsive counselor certification pathways through the Latino Addiction Counselor Education (LACE) and Black Addiction Counselor Education (BACE) programs. These initiatives expand the capacity of Massachusetts’ treatment and recovery-oriented systems of care to provide person centered and linguistically appropriate services by developing and supporting Latino and Black behavioral health professionals throughout the Commonwealth.
The programs are designed to expand opportunities within the behavioral health workforce and strengthen the capacity of recovery and treatment systems to meet the needs of underserved communities.
A lifelong learner and natural leader, Sandra is deeply committed to advocacy, social justice, mentorship, and the development of others. Her work is grounded in community engagement, collective accountability, humility, and servant leadership. Through her training, consulting, and workforce development efforts, she continues to empower individuals, organizations, and communities to build more responsive, well informed, and recovery-oriented systems of care.
Sandra brings a dynamic, engaging, and highly practical approach to training, drawing from decades of clinical, leadership, and workforce development experience to inspire meaningful learning and sustainable change.