Dr. Tonya Hernandez, LCSW, EdD, is a licensed clinical social worker, educator, and behavioral health leader with more than 20 years of experience serving children, youth, families, and school communities throughout Nevada. She currently serves as a Clinical Program Planner for the State of Nevada, Division of Child and Family Services, Children’s Behavioral Health System of Care, where she leads statewide training, technical assistance, policy development, and behavioral health systems initiatives focused on multisystem-involved youth and children with complex behavioral health needs.
Dr. Hernandez previously served as a school social worker within the Clark County School District (CCSD), the fifth-largest school district in the nation, where she specialized in Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), school-based mental health, trauma-informed care, crisis response, and evidence-based interventions. She has played a key leadership role in expanding school-based behavioral health services across Nevada, including collaborative work with Nevada Medicaid, the Nevada Department of Education, and CCSD to support the implementation of the CMS Free Care Policy and expand behavioral health access for students statewide.
In addition to her clinical and systems leadership work, Dr. Hernandez is an adjunct instructor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she teaches graduate-level coursework in school social work and behavioral health practice. She also serves as Vice President of the Nevada School Social Work Association and is passionate about advancing the school social work profession through mentorship, workforce development, policy advocacy, and training in trauma-informed and culturally responsive practices.
Dr. Hernandez’s professional interests include school-based mental health systems, MTSS implementation, trauma-informed care, behavioral health policy, interdisciplinary collaboration, and expanding equitable access to mental health services for children and families.