Rachele C. Espiritu PhD serves as the Director of the Office of Behavioral Health Equity at SAMHSA. Prior to this role, she was a founding partner of Change Matrix, a nationally recognized minority- and woman-owned business, where she played a pivotal role in driving and measuring change to promote behavioral health equity and improve the well-being of individuals and communities.
Dr. Espiritu previously served as a faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics at Georgetown University Medical Center and as the Director of Evaluation for the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development. In these roles, she supported states and communities in building evaluation capacity for children’s services and led internal evaluation initiatives for the Center.
With over 30 years of experience, Dr. Espiritu is a leader in training, technical assistance, and capacity building at the community, state, and federal levels. Her expertise spans behavioral health, evaluation, workforce development, leadership, systems change, and policy development. She has led numerous state and national initiatives supported by federal agencies and foundations, including the Pacific Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center, the National Network to Eliminate Disparities in Behavioral Health, the Colorado Equity Compass, and Transforming Academia for Equity.
Committed to service leadership and community engagement, Dr. Espiritu has served on several state and local boards, including the Colorado Children’s Campaign, a nonpartisan advocacy organization dedicated to advancing opportunities for all children in Colorado, and Mile High Early Learning, Denver's largest provider of early care and education. As a former Denver Public Schools (DPS) School Board Member, she provided strategic guidance for holistic, child-centered initiatives.
Dr. Espiritu earned her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she was honored as a Patricia Robert Harris scholar.