Katelyn Picard, LICSW, an outpatient and school-based clinician for CHD’s Pine Street Outpatient Behavioral Health Clinic in Springfield, has always liked working with children and adolescents. “It’s rewarding play a positive role in their lives and be someone they can trust,” she said.

She is part of a four-clinician team that provides services in approximately 20 schools in the Springfield area.

Picard graduated with a BS in psychology and a MSW from Saint Louis University, earning her master’s through the College of Our Lady of the Elms, which offers its graduate program though SLU. She interned at an elementary school in western Massachusetts, where she provided individual counseling. “I noticed a significant need for support in emotional regulation, attention, impulse control, and social skills, along with anxiety and depression,” she said. Picard also believes, like many social workers and child psychologists, that in recent years the COVID pandemic exacerbated children’s mental health issues. “I believe that staying at home and not having the normal educational experience caused a lot of problems to arise,” she said. “They weren’t having the usual social interactions and the supports that they needed.”

Picard said it’s rewarding for her to witness the strides that the students have made in their mental health journey, “especially with some of my younger clients, when they couldn’t even identify their emotions when I started with them—to see them take a step back from an altercation or a situation that caused them distress,” she said. When they are able to identify their emotions, they can begin to learn how to process them constructively.

“Their behavior is their communication” is an oft-used phrase about children who are unable to express their needs or feeling verbally, she pointed out. “Teaching them ways to deal with their emotions in a healthy way really motivates me,” she said. “It’s gratifying to see students make progress as they use coping strategies and skills.”

For many of the children and teens, at first—before a therapeutic alliance is formed with her—they hadn’t experienced someone who provides them with psychological support, so she strives to “meet them where they’re at” and build trust. “Over time, they become more confident in managing emotions, staying focused, and building stronger relationships,” she said.