Simmons College

Assistant Professor

B.A., University of Wisconsin, Madison
M.S.W. Simmons Colllege SSW

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I completed my MSW at Simmons in 1987. Having an MSW has allowed me to have a rich and varied work life over the past 23 years.  Most of my experience has been in community mental health settings as a clinician providing services to families, couples, adolescents and children.  I have had a particular interest in working with immigrant Latino families dealing with reunification issues.  For the past six years I was the Clinical Director of The Family Center Inc. Much of my interest and energy in that role were devoted to developing a culture that was consistent with strength based and collaborative practice values, and creating and sustaining relationships that supported organizational diversity.

 

From 1996-2000 I worked at Boston University School of Social Work as a Field Education Coordinator. In that role I enjoyed having contact with students working with them to clarify their interests identify placements that would move them closer to their goals. I also enjoyed having a "bird’s eye view" of the profession and maintaining relationships with agencies providing a wide range of services in the field. I am now returning to that role, and look forward to renewing old relationships and developing new ones.

 

Administrative Experience:

January 2004 through present:
Clinical Director, The Family Center. Inc.
Provide clinical and administrative leadership consistent with strength based, collaborative practice values.

Responsibilities include developing policies and procedures that ensure regulatory compliance and high quality care. Monitor productivity levels of staff to ensure timely delivery of services. Provide direct supervision of clinic and home based staff. Hire, evaluate, and set performance standards for clinical staff. Lead the Home Based and multidisciplinary treatment teams. Participate on management and quality assurance teams. Consult to the Multidisciplinary Diagnostic and Assessment Treatment Team at the Cambridge office of The Department of Children and Families. Develop and implement training curriculum for Department of Children and Families on strength based family centered practice. Maintain caseload of families, couples and individuals. Serve as a Committee member for the Clinical Working Group; Child Behavioral Health Initiative. Provide recommendations for the design of clinical services intended to reduce disparities of access to mental health services marginalized children and families.

January 1996 through October 2000:
Field Education Coordinator-Clinical Practice. Boston University School of Social Work.
Placement and monitoring of M.S.W. students in internships. Developed new placement sites in urban communities. Served as contact person for faculty advisors. Taught seminar for new Field Instructors. Advised minimum of three students per year and served as Field Education representative at problem resolution meetings.

 

September 1994 through January 1996:

Faculty Advisor. Boston University Graduate School of Social Work.

Academic and field supervisor for social work graduate students.  Crisis consultation and mediation as well as ongoing over site of student field placement experiences.

 

Clinical Experience:

October 2000 through Present:

Family Therapist. The Family center, Inc.

Individual, couples, family, and group therapist with culturally and linguistically diverse clientele, including adults, adolescents and children.

 

September 1990 through 2000:

Private Clinical Practice:

Adult individual and couples psychotherapy.

 

October 1987 through 1994:

Staff Social Worker. Adult Service, Somerville Mental Health Center:

Diagnostic evaluations and psychotherapy with acute dually-diagnosed ongoing clients.  Individuals couples, family and group psychotherapy with linguistically and culturally diverse clientele. Emergency room crisis intervention.  Supervised graduate social work interns.

 

October 1987 through 1989:

Staff Social Worker, Child Abuse  Treatment Team. Somerville Mental Health Center.

Initial evaluations and ongoing psychotherapy with child victims of sexual and physical abuse.  Concurrent treatment of other family members, both child and adult.

 

September 1986 through 1987:

Social Work Intern, The Cambridge Hospital.  Two half time rotations were:

Outpatient Psychiatry Department. Adult outpatient psychotherapy and evaluations on a multidisciplinary team. Individual psychotherapy in Multi-ethnic clinic; Latino Clinic.  Similar team-based experiences in specialized clinic for Latino clients.  Experiences Assessment and treatment of refugees and victims of political violence.

 

September 1985 through July 1986:

Social Work Intern. Worcester Youth Guidance Center.  Hispanic Program.

Assessment and treatment of Latino children, and their families. Family psychotherapy.  Development and broadcast of radio program to address childrearing issues specific to the Latino community.

 

Additional Experience:

June through July 2008:

Family Centered Services Project. Designed and co-lead focus groups of parents, DCF workers, attorneys and area program directors to illicit experiences of “best practices”. These conversations were filmed for training on collaborative, family centered principals and practices for DCF workers at all levels.

 

Special Skills:

Bilingual and bi-cultural in Spanish

 

Certifications:

CANS certified  7/2008

 

Associations:

NASW member since 1987