Brawley native psychiatrist joins County Behavioral Health staff

Brawley native Belen Davila will return home to be a staff psychiatrist for the Imperial County Department of Behavioral Health Services, agency Director Andrea Kuhlen announced.

Dr. Davila will begin work on July 12th with duties that include seeing clients at the adult anxiety and depression clinic in El Centro and the Youth and Young Adult centers in Brawley and El Centro.

A graduate of Brawley Union High School, Dr. Davila earned her medical degree from the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara, Mexico in 2013 and has completed a variety of post-graduate work in psychiatry.

“It is inspiring that a young physician such as Dr. Davila would return to her home community to practice medicine,” Kuhlen said. “She is an example of the dedication and ability our staff has in meeting the needs of our clients.”

After graduating from medical school, she completed an internship and adult psychiatric residency at Banner University Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz. Her residency included work at Banner’s adult crisis response center.

“I feel blessed to come back to Imperial Valley. When I was 7 years old I said ‘I am going to be a doctor and come back to the community,’ ” Dr. Davila said. “I chose the psychiatric residency (in Arizona) because it involved a lot of community psychiatry with underserved populations such as that in Imperial County.”