Deena M. McMahon
1026 Portland AvenueSt. Paul, MN 55104
(651) 210-0335
EDUCATION
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
M.S.W., Social Work, summa cum laude, 1992
Honors Student, Advanced Standing Placement
Carroll College, Waukesha, Wisconsin
B.S., Social Work, magna cum laude,1981
Areas of Concentration: Child Welfare and Community Service, Minor: Sociology and Science
CREDENTIALS
Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, 1994
EXPERIENCE
Clinical Director and Supervisor of Intensive
In-Home Services Program
Family Therapist since 1981
CURRENT POSITION
McMahon Counseling and Consultation Services, LLC
April, 2008 - Present
PAST EMPLOYMENT
Therapeutic Services Agency, Pine City, MN
Director, Intensive In-Home Services/Family Therapist, 1988-2008
- Responsibilities included coordination of services from the referral source to client families and quality assurance of service delivery.
- Supervised approximately 25 Masters Degree Family Based Services Therapists.
- Provided clinical supervision to staff in both individual and group format and provide ongoing training and support.
- Assisted in development and implementation of Treatment Plans that include making diagnostic determinations or diagnostic assessment.
- Maintained collateral contact with various agencies that include county social service agencies, county attorney’s offices, court services, probation offices, schools, private mental health providers, law enforcement agencies and medical care providers.
- Facilitated appropriate referrals for specialized and ongoing care when needed.
- Program development that included developing new services for referring agencies, presenting and introducing relevant material to staff to facilitate positive working relationships.
- Forensic Parenting Assessments – including programs and recommendation for interventions and follow-up court testimony as needed.
- Attachment Assessments – to determine strengths/needs in parent/child relationships with recommendations.
- Sibling Relationship Assessments to assist in case planning for sibling groups.
- Case assignments to individual therapists, quality assurance, monitoring paperwork flow of termination reports, weekly notes, assessment and helping to determine intensity and frequency of service provided to clients.
- Provided case consult and recommendations for clients and county case managers in permanency cases, provide assistance in making decisions regarding custody, visitation, abuse/neglect indicators, follow-up plan.
- Designed interventions to best meet the needs of the client families.
- Maintained caseload and provided direct therapy to chronic, multi-problem families referred through child protection services.
- Presenting problems in client families included dynamics of physical and sexual abuse, neglect, blended families, emotional abuse and neglect, domestic abuse and family violence, grief issues, adoption, including cross cultural, mental illness including such diagnoses as borderline personality, schizophrenia, attention deficit and hyperactivity, obsessive compulsive disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, substance abuse and addiction, parenting education, eating disorders, anti-social behavior, and attachment disorders.
Operation DeNovo, Minneapolis, MN, 1984-1986
- Court Diversion Program for nonviolent offenders. Offered counseling services and community referrals.
- Provided in-home counseling to families in Iowa and Minnesota, primarily referred through Child Protection Services.
EXPERTISE
- Attachment therapy with families and children pre- and post-placement
- Training specialist/speaker on multiple issues related to child development, adoption, trauma in childhood and parenting children with special needs
- Presented trainings for the Children’s Justice Initiative, sponsored by the MN Supreme Court, and presented information on brain development, attachment and effective services, in all 11 judicial districts. Provided direct services or trainings to over 45 counties in the State of Minnesota.
- Provided training for state judges both locally and at state-wide conferences, presented to public defenders, social service supervisors at both state and regional conference, parents, guardians ad litem, state and regional conferences, early childhood and special education teachers, foster care providers, personal care attendants, daycare providers and mental health professionals.
- Training venues range from local, regional, statewide and national conferences including Florida, Ohio, Connecticut, California, Wisconsin and Arizona. Training curriculum includes topical discussion, policy exploration and program development, clinical training, staff development and staff retreats, parent support groups and professional organizations. Available Trainings include:
- Transracial Adoption and Attachment
- Reactive Attachment Disorder and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Intersect
- Service Delivery to Involuntary Clients
- Managing Multiple Diagnoses: Differential Diagnosis and Interventions
- Domestic Violence and Anger Management
- Sexual Abuse in Childhood, Managing and Treatment
- Family Centered Practice
- Attachment and Attunement Therapeutic Strategies
- Concurrent Planning and Best Practice
- Brain Development, Attachment, Childhood Trauma and Effective Services
- Self-Care and Resiliency to the Professional Caregiver (Burnout)
- Adoption Competency for Mental Health Professionals
- Child-Centered Transitions in the Child Welfare System
- Parenting Strategies and Support Groups for Parents
- Self-Injurious Behaviors
- Impact of Adult Mental Health on Parenting Relationships
- A Servant’s Heart, Self Care in the Workplace
- Visitation Practices: What Works
- Expert Witness in Child Protection/Permanency Cases
- Treatment of Sexual Abuse in the Family — Have provided multi-generation counseling services to perpetrators and victims. Researched and wrote about sibling incest for research project in Master’s of Social Work program. Extensive experience, training and understanding of the complicated dynamics surrounding victim/perpetrator dyad.
- Grief and Loss Issues — Extensive reading and research on the subject of grief and loss as it contributes to the clinical implications in therapy. Public speaking to local organizations experiencing sudden and traumatic loss. Years of clinical experience and practice both with children and adults.
- Work with Highly Resistant Clients — Highly successful at working with clients who are well-defended and resistant to the process of therapy. Have developed clinical approaches and understanding about how to work well with the involuntary clients that are client-centered and respectful of the individuals involved.
- Work With Traumatized Children
- Couples Work
- Sexual Offender Group for Preteens
- Concurrent Planning Project — Supervise concurrent planning cases in Anoka County and facilitate weekly therapy group for parents in the program. Develop an interdisciplinary team with county workers to intervene with complex poor prognosis cases to assist in successful reunification or permanent placement of children.
SUPPLEMENTAL EDUCATION
- Attachment Therapy
- Brief Solution Focused Therapy
- Systemic Family Therapy
- Structural Family Therapy
- Behavioral Interventions
- Paradoxical and Strategic Solutions
- Developmental Theories and Applications
- Social Learning Applications and Theories
- Ecological Approach to Treatment of Sexual Abuse
- Ego Development as Stated in Freudian Psychology
- Reality Therapy
- Mediation and Conflict Resolution Model
- Play Therapy
- Concurrent Planning
- Child Welfare Institute/Assessment in Child Welfare Cases National Symposium
- Grief Counseling
- Cultural Diversity Training
- Family Group Decision Making
- Mandated Reporter in Sexual Abuse
- Families Forever: Supporting Lifelong Connections, Case Law Update & Sibling Connections
- Parenting Assessment Tools
- Compassion Fatigue and Burnout
- Theraplay Strategies and Treatment Modalities
- Narrative Therapy
- Family Centered Practice
- DC-03 – Diagnostic Criteria For Children Zero To Three
MEMBERSHIPS
- National Association of Social Workers
- Minnesota Association of Family Based Services Providers
- Permanency Project Advisory Board, Anoka County, MN
- Consultant for Alternative Response Team, Anoka County, MN
- Consultant for Chisago County Child Protection Unit
- NACAC – North American Council on Adoptable Children
- ATTACH – Association for Treatment & Training in the Attachment of Children
- Children’s Justice Initiative, Chisago County, MN
- Children’s Justice Initiative, Isanti County, MN
- Children’s Justice Initiative, Kanabec County
- Theraplay Institute
