Wellness & Leadership Cohort Series
In partnership with the Center for Applied Research Solutions (CARS) and the Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC)
CONTEXT
Public-facing peer support systems and school/behavioral health networks were seeing two linked challenges: leaders from historically marginalized backgrounds were carrying heavy relational and wellness burdens while also needing more practice-based leadership supports; and systems needed leaders who could translate lived insights into system-level influence. Untapped Leaders partnered with regional behavioral-health partners to design a cohort series that intentionally integrates leadership and wellness for BIPOC-identifying peer leaders and allies.
INTERVENTION
Untapped Leaders delivered a five-part series that combined identity-aware leadership, systems thinking, and peer coaching. Sessions were structured as 90-minute gatherings over several weeks and included:
Identity, Intersectionality, Leadership & Wellness — grounding leadership in lived experience and self-care.
Systems Thinking & Power Mapping — tools for mapping how decisions and resources flow in systems and where peer leaders can influence change.
Small-Group Peer Counseling & Peer Coaching — facilitated small groups to practice coaching, build community, and plan next steps beyond the cohort.
Each session blended short teaching segments, identity-informed reflection, practical tools (e.g., power-mapping, Zone of Untapped Capacity), and peer coaching time. The cohort design prioritized a closed, trusted container for BIPOC participants while also offering allied spaces where appropriate. The series explicitly aimed to produce both wellness supports and leadership practices participants could carry into their day-to-day roles.
IMPACT
Across the series participants:
Experienced greater clarity about how identity and context shape their leadership choices and influence.
Left with concrete systems-level tools (power maps, systems thinking prompts) they could use to advocate for structural change in their organizations.
Formed sustained peer coaching connections and practiced small-group coaching techniques that supported ongoing wellness and mutual accountability beyond the five sessions.
Client Reflection
”The Untapped Leaders program and the crucial conversations that are generated from concepts and prompts challenge you professionally and personally. From an exploration of your own identity, reflection of past experiences, and challenging what we have come to know as leadership and community—you are transformed, inspired and made hopeful for the future.
Dr. Vazquez-Newsum creates a safe environment for deep reflection of what it means to be a BIPOC leader in the different institutions that we are a part of. The ability to engage with diverse and yet like-minded individuals is validating and at the heart of the work and the program, this experience allows us to create connection and community with each other.
Teams connect in ways that simply is not possible in any other environment. Other attendees rave about the opportunity to be in community with others and share their stories in ways that they often haven’t shared with others.
I highly recommend the Untapped Leaders Program and see it as a standard in individual and team development for BIPOC leaders and allies!”
Tina Rocha, MSW, PPSC, Technical Assistance Specialist, Center for Applied Research Solutions
Outcome
The cohort produced tangible shifts in both practice and networks: participants incorporated systems maps into local advocacy and planning efforts, leaders reported greater confidence in using identity-informed language in leadership conversations, and several peer-coaching groups continued to meet after the series to sustain learning and wellness practices. The program demonstrated a replicable model for integrating leadership development with practical wellness supports for BIPOC leaders working in high-stress peer support and behavioral health roles.
WHO SHOULD CONSIDER THIS APPROACH
Organizations, systems, and networks that want leadership to be reliable, equitable, and practice-based—so values show up as everyday habits—will benefit from this model. It scales as a virtual or hybrid cohort, a full-day retreat, a diagnostic + Reset Intensive, or a train-the-trainer pathway, and is well-suited to executive teams, mid-level managers, HR leads, funders/intermediaries, peer networks, and public-sector/school or behavioral-health systems.