We present an eXtra commentary from Dr. Salvador “Sal” Nuñez on the 5/28/26 live RAMA Blueprints episode “Nuestra Sagrada Salud: Community Mental Health,” recorded at Brava Women for the Arts in San Francisco’s Mission District. Dr. Nuñez, a licensed psychologist and founding director of City College of San Francisco’s Community Mental Health Certificate Program, praises the panel’s focus on La Cultura Cura, and criticizes the governmental systems that overlook culture as healing. He contrasts collectivistic, culturally grounded practices—ceremony, prayer, medicinas and altares—with Eurocentric individualism, shares formative teachings from Puerto Rico, and describes creating a long-running drumming circle at Instituto Familiar de La Raza. Discussing major public health budget cuts, he emphasizes social activism, solidarity, and community support, and offers guidance for new providers on emotional regulation, networks, self-care, leadership, policy awareness, and staying connected to elders and ancestral practices. Dr. Nuñez is interviewed by host Socorro Gamboa.

Please consider donating to the RAMA Blueprints podcast by visiting CARECENSF.org. This episode was made possible through a California Arts Council Impact Grant.

This episode is produced, written and edited by Darren J. de Leon and Socorro Gamboa.