Hello! I'm CJ, a clinical social worker who has spent the last 10 years working alongside children, families, educators, and school teams supporting children with significant social, emotional, and behavioral needs.

I have always been drawn to the children who are experiencing the world a little more intensely—the children whose feelings can feel bigger than their ability to manage them, whose behavior may be communicating something they don't yet have the words to say, or who need the adults around them to look a little deeper to understand what they need.

My approach has been shaped by years of working with children in a variety of settings, from residential treatment programs and therapeutic day treatment schools to public schools and district-level special education. Across each of these experiences, one thing has remained consistent: children do well when they feel understood, supported, and equipped with the right skills.

I began my career as a clinician and therapist in residential programs and day treatment school settings. These experiences taught me how to support children through some of their most challenging moments while developing practical skills in emotional regulation, de-escalation, coping, and behavioral support. I loved this work so much that I eventually returned to the day treatment school setting in Colorado as a clinical supervisor, where I had the opportunity to support both students and the adults working with them.

I have also had the privilege of working within public schools, providing mental health services for affective needs programs and serving as a district-wide special education liaison focused on elementary students with severe affective needs in a large Denver-metro school district. These roles deepened my belief in the importance of inclusion, collaboration, and looking at the whole child—not simply a diagnosis, behavior, or difficult moment.