Rafael Angulo (he/him/his) is a Chicano born in East Los Angeles to parents from central Mexico. He attended seminary with thoughts of being a priest but felt called to move beyond organized religion and embrace an ecumenical spirituality. He began his social work career in 1990, working with child protective services in Emergency Response/Investigation, Street Outreach Services with runaway youth in Hollywood and surrounding areas, and providing transitional housing services in East Los Angeles to emancipated foster youth. His training in psychotherapy includes the Pasadena Mental Health Center (PMHC) and The Relational Center (TRC).

Fascinated by the beauty and grandeur of cultures, Angulo went to Bali, Indonesia, for the first time in 1991, eventually finishing his graduate thesis studying the parental methods of discipline and perceptions of child abuse, finding that community rituals and traditions are protective buffers in providing social support and helping to recognize the dignity of children. His areas of both clinical and policy interests include fatherhood’s impact on child development, clinical practice with Latino clients, media literacy, spiritual dimensions of clinical work, transforming power of art in undervalued communities and the educational success of minority youth.

Trained as a filmmaker, Angulo has produced and directed documentaries, public service announcements and corporate videos for nonprofit agencies. He also has utilized video technology to conduct oral histories, digital storytelling and ethnographic recordings.

He is a full-time clinical professor at the USC School of Social Work, teaching in the areas of diversity, documentary filmmaking, human behavior in the social environment and mentoring graduate students in practicum. Outside the university, Angulo facilitates group therapy for Spanish-speaking fathers, provides individual counseling, and works on numerous documentary projects for national distribution.

His favorite gig is being a father to his kiddos, watching Formula One racing and the Los Angeles Dodgers and supervising remarkable clinicians at The Relational Center.