Behavior Health Director, Kern County Mental Health Plan

Stacy Kuwahara is the Behavior Health Director for Kern County.  She oversees the Kern County Mental Health Plan, responsible for providing a full array of mental health and substance use services.  She is a licensed Marriage Family Counselor. 

Ms. Kuwahara has worked for Kern Behavioral Health and Recovery Services since 2008.  She started her career with the department as a volunteer, working as a clinician with foster care youth.  She has worked in many teams within the department and across many divisions including Children’s Services, Crisis Services, Managed Care and Quality Improvement.  Prior to becoming the director, she served as the Deputy Director over Finance, Medical Services, Contracts, Information Technology Services and Quality Improvement.  She has worked closely in the department’s disaster operations team, overseeing logistics and operations in the department’s response to local and statewide disaster events.

Prior to working at KernBHRS, Ms. Kuwahara worked in residential treatment in San Diego and for the National Health System in West Yorkshire, England.

Ms. Kuwahara is certified as a Lean Six Sigma Greenbelt.  She is also a trained EMDR practitioner.  She holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California at Santa Cruz.