Gabriela Dodson was recently named chief program officer at the Mental Wellness Center, a role that puts her at the center of one of Santa Barbara’s more pressing challenges, meeting rising demand for mental health care as federal funding continues to tighten.

It’s a milestone that caps more than three decades in social work, and one she isn’t approaching lightly.

“Mental illness is not going to go away just because the budget’s not there,” she said.

In her new role, Dodson is watching two shifts happen in the community at once. Younger generations, she says, carry far less stigma around mental health, but demand for care is outpacing capacity across the region. Meanwhile, Santa Barbara’s aging population, what she calls the “silver tsunami,” is increasingly navigating mental and physical health challenges together, often for the first time. Meeting both needs at once is part of her new job.

That balancing act builds on work she’s already been doing for nearly five years at the Santa Barbara Mental Wellness Center.

As a Latina leader in mental health, Dodson has pushed to make services more accessible and welcoming for Spanish-speaking residents, expanding bilingual programming, building relationships within the Latino community, and helping recruit staff who reflect the people the organization serves.

When immigration enforcement intensified in the community last year, Dodson shifted programming to Zoom and arranged in-home visits, keeping clients connected to care at a time when many were afraid to go out.

She has also spent about 20 years supervising graduate social work students, mentoring an estimated 20 to 30 over the years, most of them first-generation and Spanish-speaking, preparing to enter the field.

“It’s extremely gratifying to train the future generation,” Dodson said. “They will become part of our local mental health workforce, and that’s really exciting.”

Dodson earned her master’s degree in social work from the University of Southern California, concentrating on severe and persistent mental illness. Before joining the Mental Wellness Center, her work included hospice care and Family Service Agency’s Holistic Defense program, a partnership with the Santa Barbara County Public Defender’s Office that encouraged courts to weigh the circumstances behind an arrest.

“People have a whole history, even though you may not recognize it when you look at them,” she said. “They have needs, and they need support that is greater than what you see when you speak to them for the first time.”

That instinct, to look past the surface and meet people where they are, traces back to how Dodson was raised.

She grew up in Santa Barbara with both parents working as educators. Her father, Edward Tafoya, was a religious studies scholar fluent in Greek and Latin who spent his career teaching locally, while her mother, Elvira Gomez de Tafoya, founded Mirasol Montessori School and also taught at SBCC, Laguna Blanca, Santa Barbara High and Dos Pueblos High schools.

Beyond the classroom, the couple could be found volunteering at their church, or at their kitchen table, surrounded by neighbors who needed help filling out English documents. Longtime locals may recall the couple’s English and Spanish commentary as announcers for the Old Spanish Days El Desfile Histórico parade over many years.

That same instinct for teaching clearly inspired her sister, Xóchitl Tafoya, who is the principal of Cleveland Elementary School.

“It’s just how we grew up, we were always helping others,” Dodson recalled. “Understanding that people throughout their lifetime need to learn and need support so they can better themselves was part of my family’s life.” She said she feels lucky to be of service to the community, and it’s a value she instills in her own work.

That commitment extends beyond the Mental Wellness Center. Dodson serves on the board of the Cecilia Fund, which helps Santa Barbara County residents pay for medical and dental care they otherwise could not afford.

Closer to home, her own two children are carrying the thread forward as well: a daughter pursuing a master’s degree in education, and a son, a proud Eagle Scout, studying engineering.

“I’m really grateful to have this opportunity,” Dodson said, “and I look forward to supporting the community in a need that we all have.”