Key People & Partners
Committed to You and Your Community
Kee J.E. Straits, PhD
CEO, TLC Transformations
Kee J.E. Straits, PhD, is an Indigenous Latina psychologist (Quechua, born in Perú) and owner of Tinkuy Life Community Transformations. Dedicated to health equity, she has experience in direct services, consultation & facilitation, supervision/mentoring, evaluation, and independent research. She has provided therapy for the past 14 years to children, adults and families affected by trauma, substance abuse, violence, and cultural disconnection. She provides consultation with Native American and Latinx communities in New Mexico to develop culturally centered behavioral health services and substance abuse prevention programs. Dr. Straits is blessed to have her heart and home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with her husband who is Diné, her daughter, and the animals (llamas, goat, sheep, dog, guinea pigs, chickens).
Nadine Tafoya & Associates
Nadine Tafoya, CEO
Nadine Tafoya & Associates is a consultant organization founded by Nadine Tafoya. She works with a team of associates providing facilitation, mediation, training, and program evaluation to NM tribes, tribal organizations and state and community agencies. Nadine Tafoya (Mescalero Apache) has spent her career working to improve health and mental health conditions in Tribal communities. It has been important to Nadine and her team of associates to create training, curricula and policies that reflect Tribal Nations’ values, teaching and knowledge of what works best for individuals and families of the Tribal community.
El Puente de Encuentros
Brenda Quiñones-Cortés, LISW, CEO
Brenda I. Quiñonez-Cortés, LCSW, a Mexicana born in the South and raised in the inner-city of Los Angeles, California is a mother, wife, and an active community member of Albuquerque for the past fourteen years. With over twenty-five years of professional experience, Brenda’s work extends to field counseling, medical social work, program management and other various realms of non-profit work, clinical mental health, and school-based therapy. Leading El Puente de Encuentros (EPdE), Brenda is committed to generating change in the field of behavioral and mental health in New Mexico by fostering an ethnic and linguistically diverse representation of professionals in the field. Placing value in family and community, Brenda is dedicated to change, equity, and healing justice.