Elizabeth Medellin, MSW, ASW, is a bilingual mental health clinician with experience across early childhood, school-based, and community mental health settings. She earned her B.A. in Sociology and Chicano Studies from the University of California, Davis, and her Master of Social Work from UMass Global. Her professional work has centered on supporting children, adolescents, and families through culturally responsive, relationship-based, and trauma-informed care, with a strong emphasis on helping caregivers and providers better understand behavior through the lens of development, attachment, and regulation.

Throughout her career, Elizabeth has worked in a range of family- and child-serving systems, including community mental health, Wraparound services, school-linked mental health, and early childhood programs. Her clinical experience includes working with children and adolescents experiencing emotional and behavioral challenges, family stress, trauma, self- esteem concerns, anxiety, depression, and difficulties with emotional regulation. Across these settings, she has remained committed to creating spaces where children and families feel understood, supported, and empowered.

Elizabeth currently serves as a Child and Family Counselor at Child Lane, where she provides observation, consultation, coaching, and behavioral support across early education settings. In her role, she partners closely with children, families, teachers, and site leadership to develop strategies that support social-emotional development, strengthen caregiver and educator responses, and promote healthy relationships in the classroom and beyond. Her work also includes helping connect families to community-based services and collaborating with multidisciplinary partners to ensure children receive thoughtful, developmentally responsive support.

She is especially passionate about infant and early childhood mental health and the ways early relationships shape a child’s sense of safety, connection, and growth. She recently graduated from the UC Davis Napa Infant-Parent Mental Health Fellowship. Her training includes the Newborn Behavioral Observations system, the Neurosequential Model, and infant-parent mental health focused work.

Natalie Santoyo, LMFT, endorsed Infant-Family Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist and a leader in trauma-sensitive care and reflective supervision. Her work centers on supporting young children zero to five, families, and the systems that serve them through relationship-based, culturally responsive, and developmentally informed care. She is deeply passionate about working with young children, particularly those who have experienced trauma and are involved in child welfare systems.

Natalie’s clinical and leadership approach is shaped by advanced training in infant mental health, reflective supervision, and neuroscience-informed practice. Through the UC Davis Napa Infant-Parent Mental Health Fellowship and Reflective Supervision Academy, she has developed a deep commitment to reflective practice as both a clinical and leadership stance, one that centers curiosity, self-awareness, and the relational dynamics that influence care. Her training in the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT) further informs her understanding of how safety, regulation, and connection shape engagement and healing, allowing her to translate complex neurodevelopmental concepts into accessible, practical strategies.

In her current role as the Program Manager of the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Program at El Centro de Amistad, Natalie leads multidisciplinary teams serving predominantly Latino communities, where her work is grounded in cultural humility and an awareness of how systemic inequities, intergenerational experiences, and sociopolitical stressors impact both families and providers. As a reflective supervisor, she creates spaces that support professionals in exploring emotional experiences, navigating complexity, and sustaining trauma-sensitive, equitable care for those working with young children and families navigating high levels of adversity. 

Natalie’s work bridges clinical practice, workforce development, and systems-level change. She is passionate about cultivating reflective, relationship-centered environments that foster safety, strengthen capacity, and restore hope for both families and the professionals who serve them.