ABOUT
Mental Health Advocates of Marin is dedicated to represent the mental health consumer experience to the community, advocate for ourselves & our peers and be watchdogs of the system.
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We provide an atmosphere of warmth and caring that will give the best opportunities for those with mental health challenges to reach their highest potential.
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We manage the Enterprise Resource Center. A mental health drop in center where everyone is welcome. The ERC provides support to folks with lived experience with mental health or substance use challenges. We provide mental health support groups, a day program, peer education, art, activities, and field trips. We are open 7 days a week from 10am-4pm. We believe that...
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IN COMMUNITY WE RECOVER!
MHAM BOARD MEMBERS
JESSE ALVAREZ
Treasurer
Jesse Alvarez has been a member of the Board since February 2024. He retired in 2015 from the U.S. Department of Labor where he worked as a civil rights compliance officer. Prior to that he worked in the insurance industry and as a business owner. Jesse is a Vietnam Veteran who is active with the Veterans Center. Presently he keeps busy in the garden and is a Red Cross volunteer.
MAYA GLADSTERN
Trustee
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When Maya Gladstern was eighteen, a psychotic break led to six months on a locked ward—an experience that shaped her lifelong advocacy work. In 1977, she was appointed by the Marin Board of Supervisors as the first "consumer" on the Marin Mental Health Board, serving eight years and again from 2015 through 2022. She co-founded the Enterprise Resource Center in the mid-1980s and retired from the County of Marin in 2015 after 35 years as a computer programmer. Maya has led Mental Health Advocates of Marin since 2004 and its predecessor, the Marin Network of Mental Health Clients, in the 1980s, while also serving on numerous nonprofit boards including the Marin Association of Public Employees (31 years), Marin County Employees' Retirement Association (21 years), San Geronimo Valley Affordable Housing Association (8 years), and Community Action Marin (3 years). Maya and her husband Peter live in Woodacre and have three grown children and three grandchildren.
ESMERALDA GARCIA
Board President
Esmeralda joined the Mental Health Advocates of Marin Board in November 2024, bringing decades of experience building cross-functional teams and creating frameworks that sustain healthy working relationships. Throughout her career in civic engagement—beginning with the American Red Cross in Westchester, New York—she has worked with nationally known nonprofits, gaining invaluable experience in advocacy, community organizing, program development, and management.
RICK HESS
Secretary
Rick is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and a for-profit and non-profit executive with lived and family history of mental illness. Rick served as a senior VP and Managing Director at Oracle Corporation and was CEO of two startups. Rick currently serves on multiple non-profit boards, and has helped start and grow several non-profits. Rick is passionate about serving on the Board of Directors of Mental Health Advocates of Marin/ERC and supporting the organization's mission of peers providing help and hope to individuals experiencing mental health challenges. Rick’s story is one of hope and recovery; a healing journey that broke through stigma and the barriers guarding access to care.
STEPHEN MARKS
Vice President
Stephen Marks, PhD, is the Curriculum Development Coordinator with BestNow, of the Peer Wellness Collective. He has been providing direct services, trainings, and presentations in behavioral health related fields in Northern California since 1994. He is a Certified MediCal Peer Support Specialist (CMPSS) and presenter of CMPSS continuing education, a WRAP® Advanced Level Facilitator and a Hearing Voices. Network (HVN) Facilitator.
PETER BLUSTEIN
Trustee
Peter joined the Board of MHAM upon his retirement in January of 2023. Maya and Peter share three children, three granddaughters, two dogs, a cat, and two turtles. Peter grew up in suburban Boston, went to college in Ohio, and moved from Toronto to California in 1981. He and Maya have lived in Woodacre since 1990. Peter was the founder and owner-operator of Maple Leaf Landscape Co. He is also a former Economics teacher at Casa Grande High School. Peter is a graduate of the Mankind course at the Center for Domestic Peace. Peter hopes his contribution leads to greater “opportunities for those with mental health challenges to reach their highest potential.”