We are Young Minds Advocacy
YMA is small, influential team of advocates energized by an unwavering commitment to improving the lives of low-income youth with serious mental health needs, and their families. A volunteer President and Board form the core of the organization. Associates, partner organizations, and providers join the team on a project-by-project basis to achieve results that impact not just one, but thousands of young people.
Meet the Board
Patrick Gardner, Civil Rights Attorney, YMA President
Founder and President of Young Minds Advocacy, Patrick Gardner specializes in children’s mental health law and policy, and its impacts on youths involved with child welfare, juvenile justice, special education, health/mental health, and allied systems. For more than twelve years Patrick was a senior attorney and deputy director at the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL) in Oakland, California. At NCYL, Patrick led efforts to improve access to appropriate mental health care for at-risk youth in California and other states. He served as co-counsel on statewide class action lawsuits seeking improved access to mental health care for Medicaid-eligible youth in Arizona, California, Idaho, and Washington. He initiated and oversaw NCYL’s work to develop and improve juvenile mental health courts, and he was the catalyst for its advocacy against sex trafficking of foster children. Patrick also worked on issues involving special education related services, children’s Supplemental Security Income (SSI), zero tolerance in schools, developmental disabilities, children with special health care needs, child abuse and neglect, and privacy and consent. Read More
Stephen Texeira, Photographer, Community Advocate
Stephen Texeira is an Oakland-based photographer and communication expert. Stephen develops language and imagery that moves people to reflect and to act. After an early career in journalism in Chicago and San Francisco, Stephen joined the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL) where he worked directing communications for projects designed to improve the lives of disadvantaged youth. In 2003, Stephen left NYCL to co-found a consulting firm, Wide Angle Communications, aimed at bolstering the visibility of California non-profits, small businesses, hospitals, and clinics. In 2010, Stephen turned to documentary photography and visual storytelling as a way to promote cultural awareness, strengthen communities, and celebrate the arts in the San Francisco Bay area. His body of work includes two ongoing initiatives in Oakland, California where he is documenting the lives and humanity of individuals experiencing homelessness, and archiving—neighborhood by neighborhood—Oakland’s richness of people, culture, and passion. Read More
Alex Briscoe, Public Health Practitioner, Administrator
Alex Briscoe is the Principal of the California Children’s Trust and the former director of the Alameda County Healthcare Service Agency. He specializes in Medicaid policy and administration; emergency medical services; youth voice and crisis counseling; and safety net design and administration. As Director of the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency from 2010 to 2014, Alex led one of the state’s largest public health systems, overseeing the Departments of Behavioral Health, Environmental Health, Public Health, and the Office of the Agency Director. Alex has served on the Alameda County First Five Commission, The Alameda Alliance, and The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and The Uninsured, as well as a number of other public and private boards and commissions. He collaborated on projects with The Atlantic Philanthropies, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, The California Endowment, and most recently, the Tipping Point Community. Read More
Meet the 2021-2023 Associates
Patricia Freeman Gish, Public Interest Attorney
Patricia Freeman Gish comes to YMA from the Seneca Family of Agencies in Oakland, California where she worked to improve mental health services for youth through legislative action and policy development. She brings additional expertise in youth health insurance advocacy through previous positions as a Senior Health Policy Associate for Children Now and the Mental Health & Autism Insurance Project. Patricia earned dual Master of Art degrees from UC Berkeley in both social welfare and public health. She was awarded a Juris Doctor from the University of Southern California Law Center in 1990 and practiced at Morrison & Foerster and Witherspoon & Siracusa.
Rob Waring, Child Welfare Attorney
Before joining Young Minds Advocacy, Rob Waring was Policy Director and Supervising Attorney at East Bay Children's Law Offices (EBCLO). He is a Certified Child Welfare Law Specialist, and represented foster children in Oakland, CA for 16 years. In 2012, he created and helped enact Senate Bill 1407, so that parents cannot obtain confidential mental health information about children removed from their care without court approval. Previously, he was Legislative Counsel for the California Judges Association and the Juvenile Court Judges of California.
Kevin Clark, Social Welfare Analyst
Kevin Clark’s expertise is in social service analysis, management, and planning. He came to YMA from the San Francisco Human Services Agency, Planning Unit where he was an administrative data analyst involved in programmatic and budgetary evaluation of public welfare programs, and needs-based assessments of San Francisco’s economically disadvantaged and marginalized populations. Kevin was awarded a Master’s in Social Welfare from UC Berkeley in 2020, and as a graduate student, he interned at the San Francisco Human Services Agency, Seneca Family of Agencies, and The Center for Social Sector Leadership at Hass School of Business.
Margaret Mangan, YMA Digital Communications and Writer
Dr. Margaret Mangan worked for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for more than three decades researching the causes and consequences of volcanic eruptions, monitoring restless volcanoes, and responding to volcanic crises in the US and abroad. Her work included educational outreach to people living in the shadow of hazardous volcanoes and training of emergency personnel. She inspired countless school children through classroom visits, educational programming, and science workshops. Margaret left the USGS in 2020 to pursue creative writing and youth advocacy. She writes STEM and SEL adventure stories for children that promote the value of creative problem solving, flexible perspectives, resilience, and persistence. At Young Minds Advocacy, Margaret manages website design and content. She writes the monthly News Mashup and curates Advocate’s Library.