Faculty Directory

Ylira Pimentel, MSW, LICSW, is a bilingual and bicultural part-time faculty member at the Boston College School of Social Work, where she teaches Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. She earned her BA in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts-Boston and her MSW and a Certificate in Child and Adolescent Trauma from Simmons College. 

Inspired by life experiences as a child immigrant from Dominican Republic, resident of public housing into her early twenties, and graduate of Boston Public Schools, Ylira has a mission to increase wellness and health equity in underserved communities through innovative community and culturally-informed mental health initiatives. She has an extensive record working with diverse populations through administrative, clinical, and consulting roles at various levels of care including residential, in-home, and outpatient in organizations such as Vinfen, BayCove, Massachusetts General Hospital-Boston and MGH’s Chelsea Healthcare Center.

Over the past four years, Ylira has held a private practice for Psychotherapy, Research and Clinical Consultation, and Skills-based Coaching. She consults major programs invested in closing the research to practice gaps and are spearheading efforts to bring evidenced-based practices into communities facing a wide range of challenging social determinants.

She is a senior co-investigator and consultant for MGH Center of Excellence for Psychosocial and Systemic Research. She is a co-investigator, curriculum developer, and group co-facilitator for MGH’s Resilience and Prevention Program, where she plays a critical role in launching resilience programs for adolescents and caregivers in several Massachusetts communities.

Finally, she is a consultant to MGH’s Community Psychiatry Program for Research in Implementation and Dissemination of Evidenced-Based Treatments and the PRIDE Training Institute, where her role is as group coach for their CBT-based Thoughts, Emotions, Behavior curriculum. 

Her other community impact activities include being a guest speaker for several radio, television, and internet shows where she talks about mental health. And her latest project is a newly created online platform: Latinx Salud Mental (social media: IG, YouTube, FB, Twitter), where she seeks to improve mental health outcomes by creating an open dialogue about mental health within the Latinx community and mental health professionals and organizations. 

Ylira’s research interests include Community-based participatory research that seeks to increase access and delivery of culturally-relevant and responsive evidence–based treatments for mental health disorders.