Board of Directors - Executive Committee

A licensed clinical social worker who has been involved with direct social work services and administrative responsibilities for over 30 years. My current work includes my position as a Clinical Services Coordinator for the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court and as a part-time therapist with Bosque Mental Health Associates. I am a member of NASW-NM and served as board president 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 social work profession at NM State University. I additionally continue to provide field social work practicum instruction for social work students and clinical services supervision for social workers working toward attaining clinical social work licensure. I love giving 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 several grants and served on the State Dementia Services Leadership Committee. I live and work in the City of Albuquerque and the 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, love movies/films of all kinds, and am an active patron of the performing arts - both theatre and music. 

Daniella Montoya, LMSW, raised in Sena, NM, is a proud mother to her daughter Isabell. She earned her AA from New Mexico Military Institute (NMMI) in 2012, her BS in Psychology from Chaminade University of Honolulu in 2014, and her MSW with a Clinical Concentration from New Mexico Highlands University in 2020. Daniella has graduate field experience in the correctional setting and in the school environment with elementary-aged children. She is a licensed school social worker serving grades 9-12. Daniella also serves as a Field Consultant for New Mexico Highlands University. Daniella is passionate about serving the youth of her community. Over the last few years, she has had the pleasure of working without standings students, caring families, committed staff, and helpful community agencies.  It has been, and continues to be truly remarkable to experience and develop long-standing, positive relationships with families and see such growth. Daniella looks forward to the continuation of obtaining knowledge and experience in the field of social work. Being from rural NM, she aims to learn from, empower, and support the social work professionals in the Northern Region and across the state.

Tonya M. Louis, MSW, identifies as she, her, and hers. She is an enrolled member of the Acoma Pueblo Tribe in New Mexico. She has more than 15 years of behavioral health and public health experience at the tribal, federal, and state levels.

Currently, Ms. Louis is a Licensed Master Level Social Worker. She specializes in suicide prevention, substance use, and community-based behavioral health. She is also certified in Native American Inspired Equine Psychotherapy. Ms. Louis was recently appointed to serve a two-year term as the Chair for the American Indian/Alaska Native Task Force (2022-2024) and a one-year term as First Vice President for the Board of Directors-Executive Committee (2022-2023) with the National Association of Social Workers-New Mexico Chapter.

Ms. Louis has extensive experience with program development, adolescent/adult intervention processes, child welfare, treatment interventions, and crisis response. 

Ms. Louis profoundly appreciates the importance and mission of the social work profession, which includes enhancing human well-being and helping meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to unique needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty including promotion of social justice and social change.

M. Vanessa Ragsdale, LCSW, ACSW, joined NASW in 1982. She received her MSW from Ohio State University. She is a Social Worker at the Raymond G. Murphy Veterans Administration Medical Center, Albuquerque, working with homeless veterans in the HUD VASH Department. Previously, she worked for 20-plus years as a School Social Worker in St. Louis, Missouri, and held several other part-time positions in her “spare time.” 

I have been a New Mexico National Association for Social Workers member since moving here from St. Louis, Missouri. Her career has allowed her to experience a wide variety of rich opportunities where she has 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 she has held during her career, she has also worked in multiple states, first being in her native East Coast, the mid-west, and now in her new southwestern home state of New Mexico. She feels that having lived in various places has helped her grow in her understanding and empathy for the differences we, as social workers, see in others we are honored to serve. In addition to her professional work life, she has also been privileged to have been chosen to serve in numerous leadership roles in various civic, community, and professional organizations.

Monique is a Licensed Master Social Worker in Texas and New Mexico under clinical supervision. She has been a member of NASW since graduate school. Originally from Houston, Texas, she has served the community for over 20 years. Monique is formally trained and has utilized the following modalities in working with clients: DBT, CBT, CPT, Prolonged Grief Disorder Therapy (PGDT), and EMDR. Monique is also licensed as a Substance Abuse Associate (LSAA) in New Mexico. Monique served in the US Army for eight years before becoming a social worker. She earned her Master's in Social Work from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas 2015. She was trained at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and served at multiple veteran nonprofits in Houston before relocating to Las Cruces in 2020.