Marisa Parrella, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Washington, DC and Maryland, has spent over 25 years working on behalf of children and families in the field of children’s mental health.  First as a child therapist and then as a clinical supervisor, program developer and advocate, Ms. Parrella has been a leader in delivering high-quality mental health services in Washington, DC, particularly in the school setting.  Her post-graduate fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center focused on School-Based Mental Health, emphasizing trauma-informed care and Latino immigrant communities. Since then, she has cultivated the use of trauma-informed care by child therapists through her leadership of specialized foster care teams and the development and growth of the School-Based Mental Health Program at Mary’s Center.  Ms. Parrella is a Coordinating Council on School Mental Health member, which oversees the New Comprehensive Plan for School Mental Health in Washington, DC.  This plan, developed through a collaborative, interagency process in which Ms. Parrella played a central role, sets out the framework for creating a coordinated and responsive behavioral health system for public and public charter school students. Ms. Parrella served as an adjunct faculty member at the National Catholic School of Social Service at Catholic University of America from 2010 to 2014.  Ms. Parrella was the Director of the School-Based Mental Health program at Mary’s Center for 9 years and is currently the Executive Director of MOMENTUM, a newly forming post-master’s school mental health clinical fellowship program. She is also the mother of 3 boys who attend (ed) DC Public Schools and lives in Washington, DC.