my story

I grew up in Lima, Ohio — a post-industrial city in northwest Ohio that built its identity on oil refineries, manufacturing, and the kind of blue-collar work ethic that doesn’t ask for recognition. It also absorbed decades of economic disinvestment, factory closures, and the quiet collapse of the infrastructure that once held working families together. What gets left behind in a city like that isn’t just unemployment. It’s generational stress, family instability, community trauma — and an almost total absence of mental health resources for the people who need them most.

I grew up in the middle of that gap. I watched my family navigate challenges — social, economic, emotional — that most of the clinical world had no framework for addressing in communities like ours. I didn’t grow up with therapists in my family. I didn’t have a mentor who pointed me toward social work. What I had was a front-row seat to what happens when families are struggling and the help simply isn’t there. That early exposure didn’t break me. It built me. It gave me a purpose I have spent my entire adult life trying to be worthy of.

I started building before I had the degrees to back it up. Before I ever sat in a graduate classroom, I was a foster care advisor with Ohio Youth Advocate, a case manager at a homeless shelter for women and children, a volunteer coordinator at Grant Medical Center in Columbus, and an Urban Community Assistant Director traveling the country to run outreach in at-risk communities. Those weren’t résumé lines. They were where I learned what this work actually costs — and what it’s actually worth.

I feel that relationships are important to the quality of our lives, and one of the strongest indicators of the degree of the quality of our relationships with others is the quality of our relationship with ourselves.

In 1986 I earned my Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Psychology from Bluffton College. In 1992, I completed my Master of Social Work from The Ohio State University’s graduate program in Child & Family Services. I was also selected for a Fellowship at the UCLA College of Public Administration / John Anderson School of Business, where I received advanced training in nonprofit management and leadership. That combination — deep clinical training and executive-level leadership development — became the engine of everything I’ve built since.

Over the next three decades, I did the work at every level. I directed a federally funded two-county Community Action Head Start program serving 656 children across Richland and Morrow Counties. I ran a public preschool program within the Madison Local School System for 17 years — overseeing a $2.1 million budget and leading a team of 87 people. I was an adjunct instructor at North Central State College for 18 years. I trained foster care and adoptive families for 7 years. I’ve been teaching parenting classes for more than 25 years. And for 12 years I’ve served as a Licensed Clinical Supervisor — mentoring and credentialing the next generation of Ohio’s therapists.

I did all of this while never losing sight of why I started: the families in communities like Lima who are doing everything right and still falling through the cracks because the mental health system was never designed with them in mind.

In 2019, I joined The Balanced Living Center as a Clinical Therapist in Strongsville. Moving into the Cleveland area expanded everything — my exposure to urban mental health needs, my clinical toolkit, my understanding of how to serve families across different kinds of communities. The city was different from Lima. The need was the same.

Since 2022, I’ve served as Clinical Director at Bridges Mental Health Services in Strongsville, where I oversee clinical operations, carry my own caseload, and supervise the therapists in our practice. I’ve also developed what has become one of my most-requested contributions to the field: ROBOT Groups — a curriculum I designed from scratch to teach children self-regulation and communication skills in ways that work in schools, clinical settings, and homes.

I am also a certified CSEFEL Trainer — bringing Vanderbilt University’s nationally recognized social-emotional competency model directly to educators and parents across Ohio. Because the gap I grew up watching? It’s still there. It just has different zip codes now.

More than three decades in, I can tell you this: the work is not finished. The mental health crisis in America’s children is not a trend. It is a structural failure, and it falls hardest on the communities that are already carrying the most weight. I have spent my career building tools, training clinicians, directing programs, and sitting across from families who needed someone to believe they were worth fighting for. I still believe it. I always will.

My goal is in helping individuals enjoy their authentic self and enjoy people, environments and experiences. By employing an integrated method approach, I aim to help my clients develop more healthy coping tools to manage life stressors and create positive outcomes.

I come from a city that didn’t have enough help. I became someone who gives it.

MY EXPERIENCE

Clinical Director

Bridges Mental Health Services  ·  Strongsville, OH

2022 – Present  (4 Years)

• I oversee all clinical operations, maintain an active caseload, and direct quality assurance for the practice

• I provide LISW-S clinical supervision to unlicensed therapists and graduate-level interns across Ohio

• I treat children, adolescents, adults, families and couples across a full spectrum of clinical presentations

• I deliver ROBOT Groups, CSEFEL trainings, and parenting workshops to schools and families statewide

• I develop and maintain community partnerships to expand access to mental health services across underserved Ohio communities

Clinical Therapist

The Balanced Living Center  ·  Strongsville, OH

2019 – 2022  (3 Years)

• Provided individual, family and couples therapy to children, adolescents, and adults

• Expanded my clinical reach into the greater Cleveland, Ohio market, deepening my expertise in urban mental health needs

• Led age-differentiated Social-Emotional Competency Skill Building Groups for children ages 3 through 12

• Integrated evidence-based modalities including trauma-informed care, CBT, brain science, and mindfulness within a multi-clinician practice

Child & Family Therapist / Supervisor

Encompass Counseling Center  ·  Ohio

6 Years

• Conducted comprehensive mental health assessments and developed individualized treatment plans

• Provided individual and group counseling to children, adolescents, and families across a range of clinical presentations

• Supervised the clinical work of interns and clinical staff; managed all required clinical documentation

• Established early supervisory experience that anchored a 12-year career in clinical supervision

Public Preschool Director

Madison Local School System  ·  Mansfield, OH

17 Years

• Oversaw a $2.1 million annual budget and provided leadership to a team of 87 employees across instruction, management, and family support

• Developed innovative programs designed to strengthen the social-emotional development of at-risk children and families

• Supervised delivery of services to underserved families and served as a bridge between educational systems and mental health resources

• Advocated for children who lacked access to both academic support and mental health services within the school system

Program Director

Community Action Head Start  ·  Richland & Morrow Counties, OH

10 Years

• Directed a federally funded early childhood program serving 656 children across two Ohio counties

• Oversaw program compliance, curriculum development, family services, and community partnerships for a two-county region

• Championed social-emotional learning as a core component of early childhood programming before it was widely adopted statewide

• Used the Head Start platform to directly address the gap between at-risk families and the developmental resources available to them

Licensed Clinical Supervisor (LISW-S)

Independent Practice  ·  Ohio

12 Years (Ongoing)

• Provide structured individual and group supervision to therapists working toward their LISW independent licensure

• Supervise college students completing graduate-level field placements in clinical social work and human services

• Have shaped the professional development and careers of dozens of Ohio clinicians now serving families across the state

• Hold Ohio’s LISW-S designation — the highest social work licensure tier — authorizing both independent clinical practice and supervision

Clinical Social Worker

Christian Children’s Home of Ohio  ·  Wooster, OH

Prior Role

• Delivered clinical services to children who had experienced abuse, neglect, and trauma in an accredited residential care setting

• Applied trauma-informed and strength-based approaches within a multidisciplinary care team

• CCHO is accredited by the Council on Accreditation for Children and Families and certified by the Ohio Dept. of Mental Health

Adjunct Instructor

North Central State College  ·  Mansfield, OH

18 Years

• Taught the Parent Involvement course within the Human Services department for 18 years

• Provided instructional guidance, developed course materials, maintained student records, and supported departmental objectives

• Shaped the professional foundation of hundreds of students entering Ohio’s social work and human services workforce

Foster Care & Adoption Programs Trainer

Multiple Organizations  ·  Ohio

7 Years

• Delivered specialized training to foster care and adoptive families on child development, behavioral management, and attachment

• Facilitated workshops on transracial adoptions, families in transition, and trauma-informed parenting practices

• Served as an early bridge between the foster care system and clinical mental health practice

Parenting Class Instructor

Statewide  ·  Ohio

25+ Years

• Have delivered structured parenting education programs across Ohio for more than 25 years

• Equip caregivers in under-resourced communities with evidence-based tools to support their children’s development

• Ground every session in the reality that parents who lack resources are not failing their children — they need more tools, not more judgment

Pre-Graduate Fieldwork

Before my graduate degrees, I was already in the field. These roles built my foundation:

• Foster Care & Adoptive Parent Advisor, Ohio Youth Advocate — ongoing case management, assessments, and community networking on behalf of foster and adoptive families

• Case Manager, Homeless Shelter for Women and Children — direct service to families in acute housing crisis

• Volunteer Coordinator for Parent Services, Grant Medical Center — Columbus, OH — hospital-based family services coordination

• Urban Community Assistant Director, MCC — Akron, PA — traveled nationally to oversee and promote outreach in at-risk communities

• Graduate Internships: Children Services of Richland County and Administration at Harmony House Homeless Shelter

HOW I WORK

I don’t fit clients into a single framework. I draw from multiple evidence-based modalities and select the combination that is best suited to each person’s unique presentation, age, and goals. My approach is always integrated, always client-centered, and always grounded in the belief that the relationship between clinician and client is the foundation of everything that follows.

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) — restructuring maladaptive thought patterns and behavioral responses

• Brain Science & Mindfulness — wholistic regulation of the nervous system and emotional processing

• Trauma-Informed Care — safety-first, strengths-based practice rooted in the neurobiological impact of adverse experiences

• Play Therapy — developmentally appropriate technique for children to express and process through play

• CSEFEL Framework — Vanderbilt’s evidence-based model for social-emotional competency in early childhood settings

• Life Coaching Integration — practical, future-focused skill building alongside clinical treatment

• Person-Centered / Relationship-Based Practice — authentic human connection as the foundation of effective therapeutic outcomes

• Wholistic Approach — integrating social, emotional, developmental, environmental, and neurological dimensions of each client’s life

MY PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• Bridges Mental Health Services — Clinical Director & Independent Practice  ·  Strongsville, OH

• The Balanced Living Center — Clinical Therapist (2019–2022)  ·  Strongsville, OH

• Encompass Counseling Center — Child & Family Therapist / Supervisor  ·  Ohio

• Christian Children’s Home of Ohio (CCHO) — Clinical Social Worker  ·  Wooster, OH

• North Central State College — Adjunct Instructor, Human Services Department (18 Years)  ·  Mansfield, OH

• Community Action Head Start — Program Director, Richland & Morrow Counties, OH  (10 Years)

• Madison Local School System — Public Preschool Director (17 Years)  ·  Mansfield, OH

• Ohio Youth Advocate — Foster Care & Adoptive Parent Advisor

• Psychology Today — Verified Provider

• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) — Registered Provider, NPI #1346587656

WHAT I BELIEVE

These are the convictions that have driven my work for over three decades. They are not mission statements. They are things I have seen proven true, over and over, in the lives of real families.

• Every child is capable of learning, connecting, and thriving — what gets in the way is almost always a missing skill, not a broken child.

• The quality of our relationships is the strongest predictor of the quality of our lives. That goes for children and adults alike.

• Geography should never determine access to healing. Where you were born should not decide whether you get help.

• The clinicians we train today are the safety net for families we will never personally meet. Supervision is one of the highest-impact things I do.

• Parents in under-resourced communities are not failing their children. They are doing what they know. My job is to give them more to know.

• Self-regulation is not a personality trait. It is a learned skill. And we can teach it.

• The work is not finished until the families who look like the one I grew up in have the same access to healing as everyone else.

yvette@bridgesmentalhealthservices.com   ·   (419) 571-6327   ·   bridgesmentalhealthservices.com   ·   yvettegivand.com   ·   Strongsville, OH