Chair

Derek Wang, LCSW

I’m Derek, and my pronouns are he/him/his.  I am a licensed clinical
social worker and my career has mostly centered around education.  I
have worked in K-12 public education since 2010 and have provided
services to children, adolescents, and their families for Mt. Diablo
Unified School District in my role as a school social worker.   From
2018-2022, I worked as the Field Education Director for San Jose State
University School of Social Work, coordinating internship placements for
400+ undergraduate and graduate social work students.  I am particularly
passionate about supporting school community (wellness) centers as a way
to serve the educational and socioemotional needs of the school and
community.  I also am currently a doctoral student in Educational
Leadership at CSU East Bay.  When I have some time, I very much enjoy
playing chess and being part of any outdoor sports (basketball, biking,
tennis, etc).

Vice Chair

Beatriz Lainez

Treasurer

Myrna Hennessy

Secretary

Joanne Rodriguez, AMFT

Hello and welcome to La Concordia psychotherapy and Wellness Clinic. I am currently an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist. As a therapist, I like working in collaboration with my patients to work towards the desired outcome they are looking for. I have been investing my education in learning about different theories and approaches to become the well-rounded clinician so I can help my patients embark towards the path of healing from a more integrative and collaborative approach. I believe that the expert about the presenting condition is the person sitting across my chair. In my interventions, I use the patients’ expertise of themselves to reach to the level of awareness necessary to reach the desired outcome. I follow the motto “nobody knows you better than yourself.” Therefore, my relationship with my patients usually becomes explorative and collaborative making sure that the attention is centered on the client to find personal growth. I have been trained in and specialize on Trauma Informed Care and Trauma treatment approaches including Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). I help my patients with symptoms consistent with the diagnoses of depression, anxiety, anger issues, trauma as well as helping couples and families dealing with relational/family problems. I see children, adolescents, and adults, as well as couples and families. I also speak Spanish.
In my free time I like playing the violin and making YouTube videos where I mostly post videos of my cats, dog, nail art, and ASMR (the Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response). I look forward getting to know you and know about you and the ways we can work together.

Executive Director

Dr. Manuel Fernandez

My areas of interest and expertise include the treatment of chronic conditions and in particular the management of chronic pain using, from behavioral medicine techniques, to up-to-date medication recommendations.  The treatment of any psychiatric condition in consideration with medical conditions or vice versa is important nowadays and the inclusion of integrated approaches is important for the remission of symptoms and overall healing.  I have a strong fascination of the brain and its functions. Understanding how the brain responds to psychobiosocial factors is important in understanding how symptoms present. 

As a psychopharmacologist, it is important to understand how medications work in the brain and the body and how the body and mind react to them. In my practice, I am committed to working not only on acute conditions but also in the prevention of illness for a better overall mental health and wellness. This is a philosophy that I strongly believe in and what I like about my job is that I get to work together with my patients so they feel empowered to live their lives how they feel is better for them. This gets commonly accomplished by using integrated psychotherapeutic techniques, mindfulness meditation, and hypnotherapy which is another of my specialties.

 I was born and raised in Peru and Spanish is my first language. Being bilingual allows me to extend my services to those who only speak Spanish. I grew up playing soccer and playing music and also became a martial artist. I still practice these three hobbies.

Behind any condition lies an important person

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Funders

La Concordia Wellness Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Tax ID# 88-3030525. No goods or services are provided in exchange for these contributions, and all donations made to La Concordia Wellness Center are tax deductible.

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