Paula Mainard, LCSW

Paula has over 20 years’ experience with adoptive families, children, and attachment. Paula feels passionate about helping both the family, parents, and children navigate BIG changes in healthy ways. She understands first hand, being a parent of 6 beautiful adopted children herself, the challenges, emotions, fears, and successes that can come up along the way. Paula is a Certified Trauma Professional and is skilled in attachment and views attachment as “critical to understanding how people develop and navigate relationships “in her own work. She considers herself to be an expert in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, serves with the None for Nine Task Force working to reduce and educate about alcohol consumption during pregnancy. She can spot these symptoms and behaviors in both children and adults when others may not be aware of them. Related to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, Paula feels comfortable seeing as young as 5 years old “as early intervention is KEY to successful outcomes”. Paula describes the “ah ha” moment that can occur when someone has “struggled their whole life” to have a name to put on that struggle. Also having a child with FAS, she has spent over 15 years to research, navigating resources, and advocating not only for her own child but others with disabilities in IEP, 504 plans, and disability rights. Also having DCFS experience, Paula can help navigating “the system” and connecting individuals to resources to increase success within the process. Paula takes a holistic approach with counseling looking at nutrition, alternative options, and even pulling all the resources together to create an individualized and appropriate plan of care. She is trained in hypnosis, EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) tapping, and Triumph Parenting. Paula works with ages 14 years throughout the lifespan and finds meaningful interaction and relationships with individuals key to healing.

Paula has 29 years of experience with alternative lifestyles including ethical non-monogamy, power exchange dynamics, and polyamorous  relationships.