Sacramento News & Review
Support Local Independent Journalism Sign up for our newsletter!
  • News
    • Crime Beat
    • COVID-19
    • Police Reform
    • Q&A
  • Voices
    • Greenlight
    • Essay
    • Fifteen Minutes
    • Ask Joey
    • Ask 420
  • Arts+Culture
    • Food
    • Music
    • Home & Garden
    • Rebooting the Arts
  • Calendar
  • Solving Sacramento
    • Rebooting the Arts
    • Housing
    • About Solving Sacramento
  • Sponsor Spotlight
  • Connect with SN&R
    • Become a supporter
    • Tax deductible support
    • Get the Newsletter
    • Send a Letter to the Editor
    • Contact Us
  • Archives
    • Best of Sac
    • Local Dining
    • SAMMIES
    • SN&R Print Archive
Hot Topics
  • March 9, 2021 | In light of recent deaths, Sacramento City Hall faces reckoning on warming centers
  • May 19, 2025 | Meet mentor and food blogger Alex Blaise, also known as SacBoyEats 
  • May 19, 2025 | Innovative Medi-Cal expansion threatened by budget and Trump pressures
  • May 16, 2025 | Three Sisters Gardens keeps youth connected through indigenous knowledge in West Sacramento 
  • May 15, 2025 | How one group of immigration attorneys is building community and battling courts as feds focus on increased deportations
  • May 15, 2025 | Essay: Yes, I am angry. But I also have hope
Spotlight

‘Don’t Give Up’: Mental health and unemployment

Teacher plays blocks with preschool childrenLike to work with children? Workforce Development Board of Solano County helped one woman make the connections she needed for her dream job.

By: Gail Allyn Short April 1, 2022

Workforce Development Board of Solano County and partner agency Caminar help Fairfield woman find her dream job.

Leslie Carrillo, 43, of Fairfield, once worked as a tutor, but her bipolar illness got in the way and interfered with her efforts to land a more permanent position.

“There were times when I didn’t want to go to work. I had anxiety of something going wrong or doing something wrong or not being able to fit in,” she says.

But Carrillo found help at Caminar, a nonprofit behavioral health and social services agency and a partner organization for the Workforce Development Board (WDB) of Solano County. Caminar case managers helped Carrillo with what she says was a confusing and anxiety-provoking amount of paperwork at the time to apply for unemployment.

While there, she and Caminar employment specialist Roxanne Medearis struck up a conversation.

As an employment specialist, Medearis says she analyzes each clients’ level of education, skills, work history and goals and teaches them how to fill out job applications. She also conducts mock job interviews and instructs clients on how to carry out a successful job hunt.

Further, for clients with mental health challenges like Carrillo, Medearis says she reminds them to use whatever coping techniques their case managers taught them to use whenever they feel symptomatic while on the job.

“Leslie had already had college courses behind her,” says Medearis, “and she wanted to teach. That was her goal. So that’s why we connected her with the Workforce Development Board.”

At the Solano County WDB, Carrillo met with Rachelle Franko, a disability resource specialist for career counseling.

“She came to us looking for job seeker services,” says Franko. “She didn’t know what she really wanted to do. So we worked through that, looking at what she was able to do and the skills she gained from working for past employers and discussed what she wanted to do.”

Franko says she suggested that Carrillo consider becoming a school paraeducator. She thought the job would be a good fit for Carrillo because she enjoyed working with young people.

Carrillo agreed and enrolled in and completed a two-week paraeducator training course sponsored by the Solano County Office of Education.

Today, she is a classroom paraeducator working with kindergarten and first grade students with special needs.

“I love it,” Carillo says. “I learned something every day. It’s fun, and it feels like I’m giving back to society.”

“I couldn’t have done it without them, that’s for sure,” she adds of the Solano County WDB and Caminar. “Being bipolar and having so much information coming at me brought on anxiety. But they were able to tell me what my next steps were and what would get me from point A to point B.”

Her advice to others?

“Don’t give up. There are resources out there to help you.”

TOPICS:educationjobsmental healthSolano Countyworkforce developmentworkforce development board of Solano County

Our content is free, but not free to produce

If you value our local news, arts and entertainment coverage, become an SN&R supporter with a one-time or recurring donation. Help us keep our reporters at work, bringing you the stories that need to be told.

Become a supporter
Newsletter

Stay Updated

For the latest local news, arts and entertainment, sign up for our newsletter.
We'll tell you the story behind the story.

    • Previous post
    • Next post

    About the Sponsor

    Workforce Development Board of Solano County
    The Workforce Development Board of Solano County is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides employment-related services for job seekers and businesses in Solano County.

    Related Articles

    COVID-19, News, Voices

    Editor’s note: Climate change and coronavirus


    COVID-19, Food

    A slice of Americana


    COVID-19, News

    Piling on during the pandemic?


    2020 election, COVID-19, Voices

    Surprise U-turn


    Meet the sponsors

    • Berkeley Strategy Advisors
      Berkeley Strategy Advisors

      published 5 articles

    • BRIDGE Housing
      BRIDGE Housing

      published 3 articles

    • California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls
      California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls

      published 1 article

    • California Workforce Association
      California Workforce Association

      published 13 articles

    • City of Elk Grove
      City of Elk Grove

      published 11 articles

    • City of Roseville
      City of Roseville

      published 12 articles

    • Del Paso Boulevard Partnership
      Del Paso Boulevard Partnership

      published 28 articles

    • Exotic Plants
      Exotic Plants

      published 6 articles

    • Joshua's House Hospice
      Joshua's House Hospice

      published 4 articles

    • Midtown
      Midtown

      published 11 articles

    • MOVE The Valley
      MOVE The Valley

      published 10 articles

    • N&R Publications
      N&R Publications

      published 5 articles

    • Northern California Research
      Northern California Research

      published 10 articles

    • Sacramento County Department of Child Family and Adult Services
      Sacramento County Department of Child Family and Adult Services

      published 6 articles

    • Sacramento County Department of Child Support Services
      Sacramento County Department of Child Support Services

      published 5 articles

    • Sacramento County In-Home Supportive Services
      Sacramento County In-Home Supportive Services

      published 6 articles

    • Sacramento County Probation Department
      Sacramento County Probation Department

      published 11 articles

    • Sacramento Regional Transit District
      Sacramento Regional Transit District

      published 28 articles

    • SEIU
      SEIU

      published 30 articles

    • Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
      Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

      published 1 article

    • The California Endowment
      The California Endowment

      published 65 articles

    • Volunteers of America
      Volunteers of America

      published 8 articles

    • Workforce Development Board of Solano County
      Workforce Development Board of Solano County

      published 4 articles

    • Yuba Water Agency
      Yuba Water Agency

      published 8 articles

    Our Sponsors

    Berkeley Strategy Advisors BRIDGE Housing California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls California Workforce Association City of Elk Grove City of Roseville Del Paso Boulevard Partnership Exotic Plants Joshua's House Hospice Midtown MOVE The Valley N&R Publications Northern California Research Sacramento County Department of Child Family and Adult Services Sacramento County Department of Child Support Services Sacramento County In-Home Supportive Services Sacramento County Probation Department Sacramento Regional Transit District SEIU Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. The California Endowment Volunteers of America Workforce Development Board of Solano County Yuba Water Agency

    Categories

    Tags

    2020 affordable housing art astrology Black Lives Matter board of supervisors California cannabis City Council city hall climate change coronavirus COVID-19 COVID-19 in Sacramento Donald Trump election food gardening gavin newsom George Floyd homeless homelessness horoscopes jobs Joe Biden letters Mayor Darrell Steinberg music november election pandemic police reform president donald trump presidential election protests public health Q&A sacramento sacramento county Sacramento police Sacramento Regional Transit District SacRT SEIU Stephon Clark strong mayor taxes
    Newsletter

    Stay Updated

    For the latest local news, arts and entertainment, sign up for our newsletter.
    We'll tell you the story behind the story.

      Recent Posts
      • Meet mentor and food blogger Alex Blaise, also known as SacBoyEats 
      • Innovative Medi-Cal expansion threatened by budget and Trump pressures
      • Three Sisters Gardens keeps youth connected through indigenous knowledge in West Sacramento 
      • How one group of immigration attorneys is building community and battling courts as feds focus on increased deportations
      • Essay: Yes, I am angry. But I also have hope
      Links
      • Newsletter Signup
      • Follow us on Twitter
      • Find us on Facebook
      • SN&R Archives
      • Best of Sac
      • SAMMIES
      • RSS
      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms of Service
      • Contact Us
      Become a supporter
      Categories
      • 2020 election (86)
      • Arts+Culture (920)
      • Ask Joey (1,017)
      • Cannabis (42)
      • COVID-19 (313)
      • Crime Beat (143)
      • Food (107)
      • Greenlight (492)
      • Home & Garden (81)
      • Housing (105)
      • Music (271)
      • News (1,674)
      • Q&A (34)
      • Rebooting the Arts (236)
      • Solving Sacramento (376)
      • Stage (66)
      • Voices (525)

      © 2019+ Sacramento News & Review