Substance Abuse in Roxbury, Massachusetts

Our Board

Dr. Maza Mohamed

Dr. Maza Mohamed is a member of Community Caring Clinic’s Board of Directors and board president. Maza was born in Ethiopia, raised in Kenya refugee camps, and resettled in New York as refugee. Dr. Mohamed received a Doctor of Pharmacist from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in May 2003. She moved to Portland, Maine, and fell in love with the city. Over the past seventeen years Dr. Mohamed worked as Pharmacist and volunteers with Long Creek Youth Development Center. Dr. Mohamed is passionate about empowering immigrant youth by teaching leadership, civic engagement and encouraging others to lead as example. Being a member of Community Caring Clinic’s Board of Directors gives Maza the opportunity to give back to her community.

Dr. Abdifatah Ahmed

Dr. Abdifatah Ahmed is a member of Community Caring Clinic’s Board of Directors. Dr. Abdifatah Ahmed is also the Co-founder of Community Caring Clinic. Abdifatah was born in Somalia, raised in Kenya refugee camps, and resettled in Massachusetts as a refugee. Dr. Ahmed worked very hard and was driven academically. He is passionate about social justice, youth empowerment, civic engagement, and eliminating barriers to healthcare access. Dr. Ahmed received a Doctor of Pharmacy from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in May 2003. Over the past sixteen years, Dr. Ahmed has worked as Pharmacist and has spent a lot of time working with immigrant communities and refugees. In addition, Dr. Ahmed is also the founder of Atlantic Global Aid, non-profit organization established in 2010 for the purpose of bringing building experience, medical supplies, nutritional supplements, and medical personal volunteers to Africa to build and strengthen sustainable community development initiatives through peace-building and participatory approaches. Dr. Ahmed delivered 40 Ft. containers of medical equipments and supplies to the Garissa county of Kenya. He also spent a year in Kenya to help build an OB/GYN unit in the Ijara district of Garissa county, where there is a high rate of mortality death for pregnant women. Dr. Ahmed is an advocate for people living in poverty and those struggling with mental health illnesses. His passion and focus is educational in nature as well, and he encourages those he interacts with to understand and engage with communities in need.

Dr. Mary T. Wilson

Dr. Wilson is the Medical Director of The Danielson Clinic at Boston University, a position she has held for over 17 years. She is a Board-Certified psychiatrist with over 35 years of experience, trained at the University of Toronto, Boston University, and Harvard University. Pre-specialization, Dr. Wilson’s general medical experience includes working as an Intensive Care Nurse at Detroit Medical Center, MI, and in her own practice as a Primary Care Physician in Toronto, ON. Her areas of expertise include psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacological therapies for post-traumatic stress disorders among victims of violence. At the Danielson Clinic, Dr. Wilson collaborates with a multi-disciplinary team to help heal psychic pain though a unique combination of clinical expertise and spirituality, offering patients a relational approach to psychopharmacology while providing intercultural competency with empathy, compassion and respect. Dr. Wilson considers it a privilege to support the mission of Community Caring Clinic and to be a committed member of its Board of Directors.

Cecil Carey

Cecil Carey is an educator in Boston Public Schools and an active rank-and-file member of the Boston Teachers Union. He was raised in Maine, where he organized his community and immigrant communities to have a voice in local and state-wide elections. He is a graduate of Vassar College and UMass Boston. He moved to Boston for graduate school and fell in love with the city. Cecil is passionate about anti-oppressive problem-posing education, eliminating opportunity gaps and the school-to-prison pipeline, and creating schools that serve the “whole child” through wrap around services and community partnerships.

Kwaku J. Acheampong

Kwaku has over 15 years working experience in the Non-profit industrywhere he currently holds a position as CFO and treasurer. Prior to his work with Non-profit organizations, Kwaku held positions in the insurance and banking industries. He is a co-founder of Foundation for African Relief (FAR). A non-profit organization which provides health care to underserved population living in sub-Saharan Africa. Kwaku services on the boards of Bethel Institute for Social Justice, Bethel Institute for Community Development and African Public Broadcasting Foundation. Kwaku holds a graduate certificate in administration and management from Harvard Extension School and is a Certified Public Accountant (WA). Kwaku is a graduate of London School of Accountancy where he received a BA in Accounting.

Ester C. de Carvalho, M.Ed, MS

Ester C. de Carvalho is an educator, counselor, advocate, and translator with tri-lingual capacity who provides services in Portuguese and Cape Verdean Creole. She is the author of the upcoming book on Overcoming Adversities to be launched in the Fall of 2021. Ester obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology simultaneously with Medical Interpreter training and later pursued her Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology, both from Cambridge College. She also holds a Master’s degree in Crime and Justice Studies from Suffolk University. Her high level of self-efficacy allowed her to embrace a wide range of career options she seriously considered based on her genuine interests, and she prepared herself educationally for her many occupational pursuits. Ester is the founder of Nourish and Connect, Inc/Translations, a sole proprietor nonprofit organization incorporated in 2012, which was originally created in 2007 to provide translations, interpreting, and notary public services. In her freelance and consultant practice, Ester conducted effective assessments to identify and understand her client’s needs, provide them proper assistance, and connect them with other resources, including pro-bono legal services. She is dedicated to providing community support services. In her pursuit, she invited a law office to host presentations immigration procedures and divorce. Ester also eagerly conducted community educational outreach and hosted community education presentations to create awareness about domestic violence, how child abuse and exposure to DV affects children’s trauma, the impact of homicide on the surviving families, and information about Victims Assistance Program. Ester eagerly promoted information about mental health services, in-home services, and therapeutic mentoring and how these early interventions can help children and youth to improve their behavioral and academic performance, prevent school drop-out, and create awareness about the school-to-prison, delinquency, incarceration, and deportation. Ester also promoted Adult Foster Care (AFC) program through the Mass Health insurance provides remuneration for caregivers of disabled adult children and elderly parents or other elderly or disabled household members to help families obtain or increase their income. Ester has over 14 years of experience working as a consultant and also for other nonprofit organizations serving children and families impacted by economic hardships, immigration integration challenges, domestic violence, divorce, trauma, mental health challenges, language barrier, academic difficulties, truancy, school bullying, substance abuse, drug trafficking, chronic unemployment, homelessness, youth runaway, vandalism, community violence, homicide, suicide, incarceration, deportation, workplace violence, and sexual harassment. She tirelessly provides needs assessment, supportive listening, counseling, and guidance to others on how to identify the underlying issues of any problem they are facing, how to resolve conflicts with appropriate manners, including effective communication and conflict resolution, assist couples to negotiate and file a pro-se stress-free divorce, and have assisted Domestic Violence survivors in obtaining their immigration status. Ester’s clinical practice includes conducting comprehensive psychosocial and behavioral assessments in her role as in-home therapy and outpatient clinician. Her preferred counseling approaches include Trauma-Centered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Solution-Focused Therapy. For the younger children, she always engages them through play and art therapy. Ester also has experience facilitating group workshops in her last occupation working for Housing Placement & Case Management for a Family Homeless Shelter and co-facilitator of a Violence Domestic Education program for the perpetrators. In her work assisting multi-problem families in enhancing their resourcefulness and resilience, she focused on saving the children from dropping out of school, turning to violence and delinquency, and getting incarcerated that could eventually lead to their deportation from the US if they are non-citizens. Ester created awareness to immigrants who can lose the opportunity to obtain their naturalization due to serious criminal history (CORI), including Domestic Violence. She was able to assist a few clients in successfully obtaining their Permanent Residence Status or becoming Naturalized US citizens. Inclusively, she provided one-on-one coaching to individuals trying to prepare and pass their citizenship test to become naturalized US citizens after their failed attempt by attending standard classrooms offered through various non-profit organizations in the community. Using her Psychology knowledge, skills, and wisdom, Ester deeply understands the root causes of juvenile delinquency, the many individuals’ traits, and the circumstances behind the epidemic of violence, including structural violence in our society. She is always searching for the best prevention and intervention strategies to improve her practice, which, in her opinion, is partly teaching clients coping skills for enhancing their self-esteem along with CBT to change their mindset. As mental health clinician and advocate, Ester has helped her clients in getting (IEP) and psychological evaluations or placement into therapeutic community programs when out-of-home placement was required (CRA cases), including youths who already had involvement the with criminal justice system. Particularly, Ester uses the knowledge she earned from her study of how prisons work in the United States. Her experience working with incarcerated individuals under deportation procedure to educate and deter juveniles and adults from making poor decisions that leads to criminality, domestic violence, child abuse, or neglect and motivate the youth to create a positive vision of their future, enhance their understanding of the “school-to-prison pipeline” journey, and collateral consequences of a felony conviction in hope to deter them from delinquency and inspiring them to focus on their education.