Kelly Rain Collin, Ed.M. is founder and director of Healthy Minds Consulting. She completed two Bachelors degrees from California State University, Northridge: Child Development, with a specialization in Child Mental Health, and Psychology. Her Masters degree was earned at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, with a specialization in Risk and Prevention. This unique academic background provided the foundation for Kelly’s work with children who are simultaneously experiencing educational and mental health difficulties.

Since 1990, Kelly has been working with at-risk children and youth, including children who are deaf or hard of hearing, and children living with HIV/AIDS. She has provided educational consultation and advocacy support to therapists and families in the Los Angeles area for the past ten years.

Kelly successfully completed the Special Education Advocacy Training (SEAT) project in 2008. She serves as the Education Liaison to the Juvenile Mental Health Court and provides Educational Consultation for a psychiatric clinic co-run by Westside Regional Center and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Kelly’s passion for helping children realize their potential and access their strengths motivates her to facilitate conditions that foster positive educational experiences and healthy minds. By bridging the fields of child development, education and mental health, she is able to assist families and schools in understanding and creating supportive plans to enhance children’s developmental trajectory and address their learning and mental health needs at school.

Denise Sweeney comes to Healthy Minds Consulting with over 20 years experience in the field of Child Development. After teaching and training at one of the top pre-schools in Southern California for more than 10 years, Denise completed her bachelors degree in Child Development at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), with a specialization in Child Mental Health. Denise also completed a year’s internship at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the Child Life Department, and was part of a team that opened CSUN’s Autism Clinic, within the University’s Speech and Language Department.

Denise has been working directly with young children and their families since 1987. She has worked in a variety of settings and with a number of different populations. She has been a teacher, a director, a parent educator, and early intervention specialist. With this large array of knowledge and experience, Denise specializes in helping families recognize typical versus atypical development. Her background as a pre-school teacher provides for an unlimited source of activities, strategies, and attainable goals that parents can use in helping their children reach their true potential.

Amanda G. Somdal is a licensed clinical social worker and the director of My Choice Counseling Services. She provides mental health therapy to individuals, couples and families and facilitates a deaf batterers’ intervention program. She has worked at Valley Trauma Center, DC Rape Crisis Center, DeafREACH, Family Circle, Samadana and Saint John’s Health Center, Deaf Program. Her passion is working with a wide range of people from different backgrounds. She has worked with people on making choices in how to manage their lives for over 20 years. Amanda has volunteered to teach American Sign Language (ASL) to classes in elementary and high schools, church groups, as well as families of deaf children. Amanda loves giving workshops and trainings on a wide range of topics from mental health issues, sexual assault, and domestic violence to deaf culture and mental health interpreting.

Amanda served on several boards and currently is on the Association of Batterers’ Intervention Programs Board and served as Chair for the Advocacy Council for Abused Deaf Children for three years.

Amanda graduated from California State University, Northridge with a B.A. in Sociology and a minor in Human Sexuality and from Gallaudet University with a M.S.W. in Social Work and M.S. in Administration and Supervision. She’s a mother of two rambunctious boys (8 and 6) – they certainly keep her on her toes – and has an awesome, supportive husband.

Healthy Minds Consulting is pleased to collaborate with Amanda and My Choice Counseling Services to provide ASL classes for families of children with special needs and specialized consultation for families with deaf or hard of hearing children.

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Andrew Oberstein keeps the office at Healthy Minds Consulting running smoothly and effectively. He has worked directly with children with special needs as a Teaching Assistant at Temple Isaiah Religious School and as a literacy tutor at a local Los Angeles elementary school. He comes from a clerical and administrative background, having worked for companies ranging from Hollywood talent agencies to Japanese toy companies. However, he is most comfortable on the stage. Andrew holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Musical Theater from Emerson College in Boston. He has worked as a professional actor throughout the greater Los Angeles and Boston areas.

Above all other passions is helping others. Andrew is thrilled to be working for a company that demonstrates how education has the power to transform lives.