Gus Abeita
Community Development Specialist
(503) 222-4044, ext. 125
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Gus is an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna and has acquired a Master's Degree in Social Welfare. He has over 30 years experience working with tribal, private non-profit, city, state, and federal agencies providing mental health, addictions counseling, and child welfare services as well as administrating and developing programs in each of these arenas. He has been licensed by the State of New Mexico as an alcohol and drug abuse counselor.
He has served as chairman of the Pueblo of Laguna Colony in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He has provided leadership to Native organizations such as the Albuquerque Area Intertribal Council on Substance Abuse and the New Mexico Indian Behavioral Health Council. Gus has served as an advisory board member to the Young Eagle's Wings Head Start Program in Wichita, Kansas, and has been the head coach for children's tee-ball teams. He has served as a consultant and speaker for national organizations such as the National Public Child Welfare Administrators and the National Call to Action for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. He serves as an expert panel member to the newly created National Resource Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare and as a member of the American Psychiatric Association/Child Welfare League of America Foster Care/Mental Health policy development board. He was also appointed to serve on the Tribal Victims Assistance National Work Group for the Office for Victims of Crime. He has served as the chairman of the New Mexico Indian Child Welfare Association and as the chairman of the Native American Local Collaborative 14 representing the 19 pueblos, 2 Apache Nations, and 3 Navajo chapters in the State of New Mexico's transformation of its behavioral health system. He was awarded a U.S. Children's Bureau scholarship to complete graduate studies in social work at New Mexico Highlands University in 1998 and has worked as an independent consultant to tribal, state, and federal programs serving children and their families, providing training and technical assistance with a focus on behavioral health programs and community development. He currently serves as a community development specialist with the National Indian Child Welfare Association.