For 25 years Michelle has worked in the non-profit sector providing therapeutic care to the most vulnerable, at-risk children and families in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Her specialties include:
Michelle began her career in child welfare after college in a daycare setting, where she was responsible for the after-school program. From there Michelle moved on to her first job in residential care, which inspired her to apply to graduate school. While in graduate school she interned at a social service agency that specialized in providing residential programming to adolescents in the juvenile justice system, and in her second year she interned at the Department of Children and Families.
After graduate school, Michelle became the Program Director of a short-term residential program for adolescent females committed to the Department of Youth Services, where she provided crisis intervention and stabilization services, group therapy and was trained in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. After two years as Program Director, Michelle moved on to become a clinician in a long-term residential program for adolescent males with sexualized behaviors, providing individual, group and family therapy to the youth in care.
It was after this experience that Michelle started her transition back into a daycare setting as the center’s social worker. At the center, she implemented onsite counseling services for children and a resource network for families. After moving to New Hampshire, Michelle worked for an agency dedicated to advancing the well-being of children. There, she was responsible for four community-based programs, one that supported families of deployed military persons and the others serving youth and families in their home with the hope of averting the need for residential care.
In 2010 Michelle returned to Massachusetts and to working in residential treatment programs, this time contracting with both the Department of Youth Services and the Department of Children and Families. Michelle was trained in the ARC (Attachment, Regulation and Competency) framework, an intervention for children, youth and families who have experienced traumatic stress.
Michelle received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts and her Master's in Social Work from Boston College Graduate School of Social Work. She is licensed in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
- Individual, group and family therapy
- In-home and community-based therapeutic programs
- Residential programming for children and adolescents
- Crisis intervention and stabilization
- Traumatic stress intervention and counseling
Michelle began her career in child welfare after college in a daycare setting, where she was responsible for the after-school program. From there Michelle moved on to her first job in residential care, which inspired her to apply to graduate school. While in graduate school she interned at a social service agency that specialized in providing residential programming to adolescents in the juvenile justice system, and in her second year she interned at the Department of Children and Families.
After graduate school, Michelle became the Program Director of a short-term residential program for adolescent females committed to the Department of Youth Services, where she provided crisis intervention and stabilization services, group therapy and was trained in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. After two years as Program Director, Michelle moved on to become a clinician in a long-term residential program for adolescent males with sexualized behaviors, providing individual, group and family therapy to the youth in care.
It was after this experience that Michelle started her transition back into a daycare setting as the center’s social worker. At the center, she implemented onsite counseling services for children and a resource network for families. After moving to New Hampshire, Michelle worked for an agency dedicated to advancing the well-being of children. There, she was responsible for four community-based programs, one that supported families of deployed military persons and the others serving youth and families in their home with the hope of averting the need for residential care.
In 2010 Michelle returned to Massachusetts and to working in residential treatment programs, this time contracting with both the Department of Youth Services and the Department of Children and Families. Michelle was trained in the ARC (Attachment, Regulation and Competency) framework, an intervention for children, youth and families who have experienced traumatic stress.
Michelle received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts and her Master's in Social Work from Boston College Graduate School of Social Work. She is licensed in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
12 Market Square, Suite 2
Amesbury, MA 01913
(978) 903-2030
fax: (978) 903-6070
michelle@findingsolace-ma.com