Andrew McGowan
When did you begin working at CALM?
I came to CALM in the Spring of 2015 to work as a therapist on the Childhood Trauma Treatment team.
What is your role at CALM?
Currently I am the Program Manager for the WIT (Whatever It Takes) team. Our team works with the highest acuity cases and we work predominantly outside the traditional office setting to engage our clients.
Please share one of your best CALM experiences (a time you felt like you really made a difference).
A recent case comes to mind, where a young client of mine had Selective Mutism, a diagnosis where you are unable to speak in settings outside the immediate family. She started out not saying a word in session, but over time began to voice words, sentences and then finally talking naturally. With more work she was able to extend her ability to talk with anyone outside the family and she successfully concluded treatment. It is not often that you get to see the results of your work so immediately.
Finish the sentence, “If I could do one thing to make kids’ lives better, I would….”
Play is the language of children, so for me the quickest way to make a difference is to get down on the floor and play.
What is one thing you wish people knew about CALM?
CALM has such a wide diversity of services for children and families. For example, I oversee the WIT team and one of our main programs provides mental health treatment to children in the foster care system. Our therapists work directly with the children to reduce mental health symptoms. But much of the work is also with the foster parents – to teach effective parenting strategies to maintain the foster care placement.