Consultation — Mana Psychological Services

Mana Consulting, LLC

“Believing that behind every behavior
is a child that just needs to be understood”

Meet the Consulting Team

Samantha Boutin

Licensed Professional Counselor and School Psychologist
Samantha has worked in school systems throughout Connecticut and in private practice providing crisis intervention, clinical-based counseling, mindfulness, yoga practice, peer mediation, and de-escalation to children and adolescents. Specializing in trauma/PTSD in children and adolescents, Samantha hopes to bring this knowledge to help train, consult, and evaluate; working closely with interested school districts throughout the state and help provide academic and special education-based recommendations, while connecting students and families to outside resources.
Laura Abbatemarco

Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Laura is a clinical social worker who has worked with children and young adults in hospitals managing psychiatric crises, worked in sexual assault clinics, domestic violence agencies and therapeutic schools, and maintains a clinical private practice. Laura is adept at at-risk assessments, case consultations, and working with school districts to help train school staff with her expertise and experience, and provide a trauma-focused clinical lens to help support and connect students and families in need to resources.

Educational Consultation Services

Professional Development

Laura and Samantha can provide all school staff with training in understanding trauma and PTSD, behaviors associated with PTSD, potential comorbidities of additional psychiatric diagnoses, and provide strategies and interventions that are trauma-informed and within scope of practice. We also provide trainings on a wide variety of topics that can be tailored to district needs. We can provide training in a professional development, school or district wide training, or provide it in a more intimate and casual setting with individual or small groups of staff within schools.
Case Consultation

Laura and Samantha can meet with administration and staff to perform case consultations regarding individual students who are in need of extra help and support. We can provide feedback, alternative interventions and strategies, working with parents, provide psychoeducation, or offer outside resource recommendations.
Comprehensive Evaluations

Via our evaluation, we work to uncover the etiology of a child’s behaviors, and possible social, emotional, medical and economic factors impacting a child’s functioning, to understanding the true needs of a child or family system. This in turn helps drive the potential diagnoses and drives our recommendations for interventions and support services. Our recommendations are not done in isolation, but in conjunction with school personnel and family to ensure that whatever is recommended is agreed upon and sustainable for the school, student, and their family.