Chief of the Victim Services Division, San Francisco District Attorney’s Office
Dr. Gena Castro-Rodriguez is Chief of the Victim Services Division of San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, where she oversees victim advocacy, mass casualty, restitution, and the California State Victims Compensation Program. The Division serves over 8,500 victims of crime annually and targets the most vulnerable populations of the city with evidence-based practices in the field of victim services.
She is a psychologist and licensed marriage and family therapist with a BA in psychology from Sacramento State University, an MA in Counseling Psychology from the University of San Francisco, and a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the California Institute for Integral Studies. In her clinical private practice, she specializes in trauma, girls, and young women using a control mastery and relational framework. She has worked in the dependency, delinquency, and criminal justice systems for over 25 years, including 10 years as the co-founder and executive director of the Girls Justice Initiative/Youth Justice Institute. Her interests are in the areas of trauma, female delinquency, cultural humility, victimology, and gender responsivity as well as the cycle of trauma, particularly cessation and the impact of parental relationships.
She has received awards including Outstanding Advocate for Human Dignity & Freedom Award, National Council of Jewish Women, San Francisco (2008); Certificate of Merit and Appreciation and a Certificate of Honor from the San Francisco Police Department and its Crisis Intervention Team (2015 and 2012, respectively); the Mental Health Services Act Community Mental Health Scholarship; and Gender Justice Award, University of San Francisco President’s Advisory Committee.
