Hello, my name is Melissa Dahlgren. I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a specialization in working with families. I completed my B.S. degree at Central Michigan University, and Masters of Social Work at Michigan State University. I earned some clinical experience at CMU through both the Speech Therapy Clinic as a student clinician and their summer program as the drama instructor. After discovering my passion for working with families, I interned at the MSU Family Therapy Clinic. I was trained on multiple treatment modalities including Gottman Method, Emotion-Focused Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy, The Bowen Method, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Motivational Interviewing.
I worked with a non-profit agency providing family support and behavioral interventions for individuals with developmental disabilities for 6 years. Part of my duties was providing crisis interventions and trauma-informed support. I served as the Clinical Manager of Residential Services there and provided supervisory duties for a year before assisting another non-profit in the area as their Clinical Manager of Children’s Services.
I functioned as a student success coach providing direct social-emotional support at our local community college for two years. While there I delivered self-management and advocacy skills training, as well as other life skill training as needed. I received additional training in trauma-informed care and made the decision to move to K12 education as a behavior therapist and clinical social worker.
I have worked in schools for the past 5 years in the clinical role. I love working with children and adolescents on self-esteem issues, motivation concerns, as well as anxiety, depression, and anger management, grief support, and community resources. I prioritize in working with the family with my interventions and bring in other family members when needed to work on. I look forward to working with you and your family to help you live your best life.