Amplifying Voices: Mishelle Aguila and the Child Abuse Prevention Council of San Joaquin
Everyone has a voice, but not every voice is heard. Some need a person to listen to them to show them their voice is worth hearing. Others need to be taught how to speak up, coached through the difficult conversations and empowered to advocate for themselves. We need people who come alongside our unheard youth, helping them face the challenges of adulthood with strong voices.
Mishelle Aguila has dedicated her entire career to supporting our county’s children and given her time and expertise to the Child Abuse Prevention Council of San Joaquin. or CAPC, for nearly a decade. As a youth services program manager, she has come alongside children and young adults of all ages in several different capacities. “I love this agency,” Mishelle said. “We’re here to help support and keep our families and our communities safe.”
From a young age, Mishelle knew she’d be dedicating her life to making lives better. “I always knew as a child I wanted to help people,” she said. After she graduated high school, she began to work with the school district as she pursued her degree and teaching credentials. She loved interacting with the students in her day-to-day work. “I often found myself supporting them in more of their social and emotional needs,” she said. Instead of just helping them with homework and study skills, she was coaching them through hard conversations and learning how to advocate for themselves. “I love seeing when things click for them; when they start to see for themselves the autonomy that they’ve built and the empowerment they display when they start to advocate for themselves, when they realize their voice means something,” she said. She saw the great need for more mental health support in education and the school system, and realized she could fill that need. Mishelle shifted her focus from early childhood education and toward mental health support, graduating with her bachelor’s degree in human services, a flexible degree that opened up a lot of career options for her and led her to the CAPC in 2017. As she was interviewing for a family advocate position, they asked her if she’d be interested in a different position, working in their new Suicide Prevention program. After a moment’s pause, she accepted.
The serendipity of the offer was not lost on her. As a teenager in high school, Mishelle lost her own father to suicide. “That was part of the motivation, understanding my own experience and talking with the kids I’d worked with for ten years,” she said. “It was a full circle moment for me, to be able to go out into our community and help support youth in need and provide services.” Her own experience with the weight of grief lent her a unique edge. “I walked that walk. I have gone through these challenges. I empathize,” she said. “It was very, very impactful for me to provide that support.” She went throughout high schools in the county providing one-on-one support, hosting on-campus groups for coping skills and leading trainings and presentations to raise awareness and help parents learn the warning signs of suicidality, coming alongside youth in some of their darkest struggles. “I like to say ‘alongside’ with them,” Mishelle clarified. “Because I’m not ahead of them, I’m not behind them, I want to take every step along with them as best I can.” Her commitment to walking alongside youth remained constant, empowering them to build confidence, strengthen their voices, and develop the skills needed for a successful transition into adulthood. Through her work with Transition-Age Youth (TAY), she provided coaching, mentorship, advocacy, and guidance as young people navigated education, employment, independent living, and personal challenges.
Mishelle still finds ways in her leadership role to continually offer support to those around her, whether that’s encouraging her staff after a difficult day or organizing community events such as their Walk 4 Life in September to raise awareness for suicide prevention. “Being able to hold a space in our community for mental health awareness and support, I want to do it as often as I can,” she said. The essential work that CAPC does is often heavy, but Mishelle always focuses on the end goal, the quiet, steady work of listening and supporting that helps bring people from darkness into light.
“We have all our voices,” she said, and as the Child Abuse Prevention Council continues to evolve and grow, Mishelle will be there to walk alongside her staff and her community and help the voiceless find their voice.
540 N. California Street, Stockton, CA 95202 • (209) 464-4524 or (209) 464-2272 • nochildabuse.org
