Rocio Huerta
Rocio Huerta is a dedicated community mental health leader and site manager in field medicine, where she leads mobile healthcare teams serving vulnerable and unhoused populations. With more than 25 years of experience in community mental health, her work is rooted in a deep commitment to humanity, cultural humility, and trauma-informed care. She has intentionally bridged her extensive background in behavioral health with street medicine, ensuring that individuals who may not otherwise seek care are met where they are—with compassion, dignity, and respect. For Rocio, healthcare is not just about treatment, but about restoring trust and reminding every person that their health and well-being truly matter.
In her role, Rocio oversees the daily operations of mobile units, ensuring care teams are prepared to deliver comprehensive, on-site services. She works directly in the field, meeting patients in their own environments and guiding them through every step of care—from registration and provider visits to insurance enrollment, housing support, and follow-up services. Her approach is holistic and deeply personal, focused on building rapport and creating a sense of safety for those she serves. By integrating operational leadership with hands-on care coordination, she ensures that each individual receives not only medical attention, but also the resources and support needed to improve their overall quality of life.
Beyond her work in the field, Rocio is passionate about mentorship and developing future healthcare leaders. She leads a volunteer program mentoring UCLA students pursuing medical careers, instilling in them the importance of empathy, service, and patient-centered care. Known for her servant leadership style, Rocio empowers those around her while continuously uplifting her teams and community. Her work is a reflection of her core values—integrity, humility, and compassion—and her unwavering mission to bring humanity back into healthcare, one patient and one connection at a time.
• Santa Monica College
Associate's degree, Liberal Arts | Concentration: Sociology & Early Childhood Education
• City of Hawthorne Certificate for Leadership in the Community (2024)
• Employee of the Month (over 500 employees
• 2021 or 2022)
• 25 Years of Service Award for Community Mental Health
• Diversity
• Inclusion
• And Belonging (DIJB) Committee
• Volleyball parent supporter for women's sports
• Youth student government supporter
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to living with purpose and mission, and practicing daily gratitude. I start my day and end my day with gratitude and count my blessings. I use prayer and grounding work, self-care, focusing on wellness. I spend time with nature, meditate, and pray. It's a practice that I practice daily, and it's been my key. I practice gratitude, start my day, I give thanks, I count my blessings, and I let the day unfold. When you live with purpose and mission, but practice daily, daily gratitude, and count your blessings, that's what carries you forward. My success also comes from constantly learning and investing in myself, taking courses, being part of committees, attending workshops, trainings, conferences. It's an ongoing, every day process. I'm a constant learner, day and night, reading articles every day, and I take in everything with grace. Humility and grace are the key.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Keep going. It's the most rewarding job you will have because you're living with purpose, you're impacting people's lives without even knowing. Tap into your talents. Everyone has strengths, everyone has weaknesses. It's what you make out of it that will be what makes you unique. Never let anyone dim your light, regardless, because at the end of the day, everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, but if you tap into them and listen to them, you will go far. Keep staying positive, regardless of the circumstances, and keep going. Adversities will come and go, but at the end of the day, you have to stay true to yourself. Stay humble, stay curious, keep going, and stay positive. This applies regardless of what profession or what you do in life.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think some of the challenges might be just dealing with adversity every day. The adversities could be anything, but it's how we come out of them that matters. One specific challenge is funding cuts. In any field that I am in, if there's funding cuts, we're limited in the resources that are available for us to be successful as leaders. These funding cuts directly impact our ability to provide the services and support that our vulnerable populations need.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me are integrity, character, humanity, and passion. It's not the job that defines me, a job is a job, but it's me, my character, my integrity, the way I handle my work, my passion, my humanity that's elevating me. I believe in treating people with dignity and respect. I believe everything is interconnected and everything matters. You can't just focus on one thing and ignore another. For example, when I see someone in the field or in community mental health, I don't just address their immediate need. I ask, are you housed? Do you have food? Everything matters - shelter, food, mental health. Everything is connected, and you have to tap into everything to elevate that person's wellness. I also believe strongly in positivity, gratitude, humility, and grace. I practice these daily, starting and ending my day with gratitude and counting my blessings.