KRISTINA PADILLA, MA, LAADC, ICAADC, CGS

Kristina Padilla is a leader with the California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals (CCAPP), where she serves as the Vice President of Education overseeing CCAPP’s Education Department. She also is the Vice President of Strategic Development for the organization wherein she travels throughout California and the nation bringing addiction focused businesses together to promote the profession, increase access to services and improve the quality of AOD service provision through education, business development, and investment in quality programming. Mx. Padilla led California’s innovative criminal justice program serving as the Offender Mentor Certification Program Director for three years where she managed 12 in-prison programs for training counselors. She worked closely with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) in California prisons for the duration of the contract bringing innovation and growth to the state’s in custody treatment programming. Mx. Padilla also was the previous Program Director/Adjunct Faculty of the Peer Support training and Placement Program which trained peers in Recovery/mental health to become certified and how to work with other peers in recovery such as, self-direction, advocacy, ethics, person centered approach, personalization, empowerment, strength base, goal setting, respect, cultural sensitivity and competency, responsibility, hope and at the very core of the program. 

Mx. Padilla has a Bachelor’s of Science in Criminal Justice Administration and a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis on Marriage and Family therapy. Mx. Padilla is a Licensed Advanced Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselor (LAADC), and an International Certified Advanced Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselor (ICAADC). She is also a Certified Gang Specialist of the National Gang Crime Research Center (NGCRC) and is on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Addiction Professionals and their Allies (NALGAP) where she is the membership chair and is the California representative. She is also on the Board of Directors for the Women's Association of Addiction Treatment (WAAT) Board where she is Chair. Mx. Padilla is the Chief Academic Officer for the CCAPP Academy at CCAPP and is a past Board member for the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) Sacramento chapter. Mx. Padilla sits on the Advisory Board for (NATI) Native American Institute in New Mexico and is a consultant for Faces and Voices NRI (National Recovery Institute). 

Mx. Padilla is also an independent consultant on LGBTQIA2+ Program development & Design/issues/services/Counseling/Therapy/Mentoring/Training and Coaching and travels the Nation providing training and lectures at conferences as well as in-service training for non-profits, for-profits, county and state workers. Mx. Padilla is also an Addiction Technology transfer center (ATTC) Trainer and "Equality California" Leadership Academy fellow. Mx. Padilla is a candidate at Harvard, The Derek Bok Center For Teaching and Learning obtaining her "Higher Education Teaching Certificate" and will be completed by July 2020. Mx. Padilla is a mother to a beautiful 4-year-old little girl named Karisma. She also is a part of the LGBTQ+ (Rainbow) Community and identifies as a Trans, Gender-Fluid, 2-Spirit, non-binary, biologically born Woman, Kristina’s pronouns are She, Her, and Hers and she goes by the prefix of Mx.Padilla.