Board of Directors - Executive Committee

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Danielle Cossett, LCSW, CPC is a clinical social worker with over 30 years’ experience working with adults, youth and families in a variety of settings. She is a graduate of Smith College School for Social Work (1990), a Nurtured Heart Approach® Advanced Trainer (2008) and a Certified Parent Coach (2010). She most recently worked as the Clinical Director at New Mexico Solutions, a Community Mental Health Center in Albuquerque/Santa Fe, from 2005-2021 building and supervising a strong clinical team, and is now the Division Director for CYFD-Behavioral Health Services since January 2021. She takes a developmental, humanistic approach in the treatment of trauma, addiction, grief & loss, parenting, as well as clinical supervision.

Danielle is committed to the field of social work and enjoys mentoring and training clinical staff, at all levels, to find compassion in their work with vulnerable people using a clinically informed, person-centered framework. She has a solid understanding of policy and systems, provides the New Mexico Social Work Board-approved training on Clinical Social Work Supervision and now offers strong leadership as the President on NASW-NM’s Board of Directors

A licensed clinical social worker who has been involved with both direction social work services and administrative responsibilities for well over 30 years. My current work includes my position as a Clinical Services Coordinator for the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court and also as a part-time therapist with Bosque Mental Health Associates. I am a member of NASW-NM and had served as President of the board from 2005-2008. I have also been a past member of the NM Board of Social Work Examiners from 2009-2015. I am very proud of our profession of social work for NM State University. I additionally continue to provide field social work practicum instruction for social work students and clinical services supervision for social workers who are working toward attaining the level of clinical social work licensure. I love providing training on a variety of topics, have previously presented at the annual NASW-NM social work conference and recently completed the training of trainers offered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) on "How Being Trauma-Informed Improves Criminal Justice System Responses." Additionally, I remain very interested in research that investigates and improves the lives of New Mexicans. I have been the principal investigator on a few grants and I have been serving on the State Dementia Services Leadership Committee. I live and work in the City of Albuquerque and metropolitan area and hope to represent its diversity and growing challenges through public policy input, improving access to mental health and alcohol and drug use disorders treatment and through excellence in continuing education. On a personal level, I am the proud mother of two wonderful adult children, I am a voracious reader and I love movies/films of all kinds and being an active patron of the performing arts - both theatre and music. 

Jose Luis Valdiviezo, LCSW was born and raised in Southern New Mexico. Jose is a first-generation Mexican American whom is bilingual and a proud father of three boys. Jose graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Criminal Justice in 2004 from New Mexico State University (NMSU). Jose continued his education and received a Master’s of Social Work from NMSU in 2011. 

Jose has been honored in serving southern New Mexico populations in the field of behavioral health for over 20 years. More recently Jose has been serving his communities in Southern New Mexico, employed at a local Federally Qualified Health Center as the Senior Clinical Director at La Clinica De Familia, inc. for the past seven years where he has been working in an interdisciplinary team approach towards quality improvement processes, clinical supervision, patient care and operations of the organization. 

Jose is looking forward to collaborating with the NASW Board towards the continued professional development of social workers in New Mexico communities

My name is M. Vanessa Ragsdale, LCSW, ACSW and I joined NASW in 1982. I received my MSW from the Ohio State University. I am currently employed as a Social Worker at the Raymond G. Murphy Veterans Administration Medical Center, Albuquerque and work with homeless veterans in the HUD VASH Department. Previously, I worked for 20 plus years as a School Social Worker in St. Louis Missouri where I also held several other part time positions in my “spare time.” 

I have been a member of the New Mexico National Association for Social Workers since moving here from St. Louis, Missouri. My career has allowed me to experience a wide variety of rich opportunities where I have worked as a Clinical Social Worker, Medical Social Worker, School Social Worker, Residential Recovery Specialist and Military Family Life Counselor to name a few. In addition to the various positions I have held, during my career, I have also worked in various states with the first being in my native East Coast, the mid-west and now in my new western home state of New Mexico. I feel that having lived in various places has helped me to continue to grow in my understanding and empathy to the differences that we as social workers see in others who we have the honor to serve. In addition to my professional work life, I have also been privileged to have been chosen to serve in numerous leadership roles in a variety of civic, community and professional organizations.