About Us
Just Advocates is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization working across three advocacy domains to adjust and improve the family serving-systems charged with supporting the well-being of children and youth.
JA partners with individual children and families to navigate the child welfare, juvenile justice, education, developmental services, and behavioral health systems to access and coordinate the supportive services families are legally entitled to.
JA consults with county and nonprofit entities to support needed programming improvements to meet the cross-system needs of youth and families with complex and persistent needs.
JA works independently and in coalition with other stakeholders, supporting and driving local, state, and federal policy change that improves the efficacy of family- and child- serving systems, to ensure families have the services and supports they need to thrive.
Contact us to learn more about our work and opportunities for partnership.
MEET THE TEAM
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Ken Berrick is the founder of Seneca Family of Agencies, a nonprofit agency dedicated to providing Unconditional Care to children and families through comprehensive mental health, education, juvenile justice, foster care, and permanency services. Since its founding in 1985, Seneca has developed innovative programs ranging from Wraparound and Intensive Treatment Foster Care, to integrated mental health services in schools, and a crisis continuum of care for youth and their families.
Ken is thrilled to now serve as the President and CEO of Just Advocates, drawing on his decades of experience providing individualized support to children and families, and driving policy change at the local, state, and federal level.Throughout his career, Ken has sought opportunities to contribute to broader system improvements. He has served as a Governor’s Appointee on California’s Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission (MHSOAC) and the California Child Welfare Council, and has been involved in key initiatives like California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM). Ken has also served as President of the California Alliance of Child and Family Services and held leadership roles on various state and county-level policy planning groups. In addition, he has been an elected member and Past-President of both the Alameda County Board of Education and the California County Boards of Education, where he focused on ensuring equitable access to education and resources for all students.
Ken’s work has been recognized over the years, including receiving the Advocate of the Year award from California Mental Health Advocates for Children and Youth (2014), the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award (2017), the California Behavioral Health Association Health Equity Champion Award (2025), and both the Jefferson Bronze Award (2021) and Jefferson Silver Award (2022). These honors reflect not just his efforts but also the dedication of the many teams and communities with whom he has had the privilege to work.
Ken has co-authored three books aimed at sharing practices that foster strong, inclusive systems of care: Unconditional Care: Relationship-Based, Behavioral Intervention with Vulnerable Children and Families (Oxford University Press, 2010), Unconditional Education: Supporting Schools to Serve All Students (Oxford University Press, 2019), and Unconditional Care in Context: Engaging with Ecological Adversity (Oxford University Press, 2022). He views these works as opportunities to contribute to collective learning and collaboration across the field.
Email Ken here at Ken@justadvocates.net.
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Jill Mason is a social worker with over 25 years of experience as a nonprofit leader serving children and families. Most recently, she served as the Project Director of a nationwide initiative to connect children and parents who were impacted by the government’s “Zero Tolerance Policy” to trauma-informed behavioral health services. In her management of this $14.5 million program, she successfully oversaw ongoing operations of the program’s national hotline and outreach efforts to effectively locate, engage, and serve families forcibly separated at the border. Jill collaborated with immigration law and social service organizations across the nation, oversaw the development of a national network of more than 330 multilingual and multicultural mental health providers, and created systems for managing the network of providers, thereby enabling quick and effective referrals for families to access trauma-informed, culturally competent behavioral health services in their communities.
Jill holds both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in social work and has been a licensed clinical social worker for over 17 years. She joined Seneca Family of Agencies in 1999, where she worked for 23 years, including 20 years as a Program Manager and Regional Executive Director. Jill served as Executive Director for Seneca’s statewide community-based services, managing a budget of $36 million and over 500 employees. She was Regional Executive Director over Southern California programs and statewide Division Director over residential and crisis services. Jill was responsible for launching Seneca’s Short-Term Residential Therapeutic Programs (STRTPs), including licensure of the first-ever STRTP in California. Prior to her time at Seneca, Jill acquired experience in medical social work, health education, and substance use counseling. She is skilled in the areas of agency leadership, clinical service delivery, personnel management, program development, fiscal oversight, quality assurance, and building stakeholder relationships. She volunteers as a Court Appointed Special Advocate and served as a member of the state of Arizona’s Foster Care Review Board.
Email Jill here at Jill@justadvocates.net
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Megan Salazar (she/her) is the Director of Operations at Just Advocates. In this role, Megan oversees all aspects of the agency’s direct support work with children, families, and systems-advocacy, and coordinates JA’s operational functions, including finance, human resources, fundraising, project management, and communications.
Prior to joining Just Advocates, Megan served as the Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operations Officer of Seneca Family of Agencies, liaising between Agency leadership and Seneca’s 150+ programs across California and Washington State. Megan believes that family-serving systems, and the providers and administrators that make up these systems, should treat each child and youth as they’d like their own children to be treated: with love and dignity.
Email Megan here at Megan@justadvocates.net.
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Elizabeth Atkins (she/her) is the Director of Administration for Just Advocates. In this role, Elizabeth provides administrative and operational support across a variety of functions that help ensure the smooth day-to-day functioning of the agency. Elizabeth plays an active role in supporting organizational effectiveness by helping to coordinate the systems and structures that underpin Just Advocates’ mission-driven work.
Elizabeth has a strong background in administrative support, having previously served as Executive Assistant to the CEO at Seneca Family of Agencies. Her earlier experience includes work as a behavior technician and legal assistant, grounding her professional approach in both care-focused and operational settings.
Elizabeth holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from UC Santa Barbara and a master’s degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from National University. With a versatile skillset and a collaborative mindset, Elizabeth is committed to strengthening the infrastructure that allows nonprofit programs to thrive and serve their communities effectively.
Email Elizabeth here at elizabeth@risingsocial.com.
