Cesar Rivera, B.A.

Cesar Rivera is currently a graduate student at Westfield State University’s Mental Health Counseling Program. He holds an associate’s Degree from Berkshire Community College where he graduated with a Liberal Arts/Psychology degree, and a Bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, with a minor in Psychology, both from the University of Massachusetts Amherst

Cesar has vast experiences working with culturally diverse populations, specifically surrounding the population of youth and families across community-based and clinical settings. As of this moment, he currently works as an Outreach Worker with Behavioral Health Network, where he assists in giving appropriate trauma-informed care, strength-based services to clients and their support systems. In addition, he also works as a Registered Behavior Technician, where he provides appropriate behavioral interventions, and skill-acquisition to clients using data to track progress and support treatment goals. Cesar was also a research assistant at Westfield State University. He is one of the co-authors on a community risk assessment report looking at factors connected to youth violence and gang involvement in the city of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He both facilitated and led focus groups with the community residents, leaders, and youth in the city of Pittsfield directly to better understand the overall community’s views on some of the potential factors that they believe contribute to youth getting involved in gang activity and violence and the strategies that can help mitigate those risks. His professional interests include getting more clinical experience counseling diverse populations, as well as pursuing a Doctoral degree.

Cesar is bilingual in both English and Spanish and is actively involved in many extracurriculars, such as Behavioral Health Network’s Social Justice Coalition, and the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy (Division 29).