Team
The path to confident young learners starts here.
The Healthy Minds Consulting Team
We are a group of professionals passionately devoted to helping children, their parents, and education and mental health professionals work together to help every child attain their fullest potential. We serve families on a direct basis, as well as through public service agencies.
Kelly Rain Collin
Founder of Healthy Minds Consulting
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, children living with HIV/AIDS, and children prenatally exposed to alcohol and other drugs. She has provided educational consultation and advocacy support to therapists and families in the Los Angeles area for more than fifteen years.
Kelly successfully completed the Special Education Advocacy Training (SEAT) project in 2008, including an internship supervised by George Crook at the renown Newman, Aaronson, Vanaman (NAVlaw.net) law firm. She serves as the Education Liaison to the Juvenile Mental Health Court and provided Educational Consultation for a psychiatric clinic co-run by Westside Regional Center and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Neuropsychiatric Institute (NPI).
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, schools, and mental health professionals in understanding and creating supportive plans to enhance children’s developmental trajectory and address their learning and mental health needs at school.
Amit Fadida Cooper
Educational Advocate
Amit Fadida Cooper completed her bachelor’s degree at Temple University in Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience. Shortly after moving back to her hometown in California she began school at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology where she earned her master’s degree in Psychology. While in school, Amit also earned her certification as a Registered Behavior Technician through the Behavior Analyst Certification Board, where she worked with children with a variety of disabilities. She also has many years of experience working with children of all stages of development. As an Educational Advocate, Amit looks forward to bringing her expertise of human behavior to help families who need a supportive voice to navigate through the education system.
In her free time, Amit enjoys boxing, taking walks on the beach with her dog and husband, and watching movies. She is always eager to learn and is excited to be part of the Healthy Minds Consulting team.
Denise Sweeney
Child Development Specialist
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.
Diane R. Griggs
Trainer
Diane R. Griggs, LCSW, shares a group private practice, Positive Action Counseling Services, and a consulting business, Monster Works, in Inglewood, CA. She attended the University of California at Los Angeles, and graduated in 1979 with her B.A. in Psychology. She then went on to receive her M.S.W. from the University of Maryland School of Social Work and Community Planning in 1981.
Diane has extensive experience working with children and youth in the areas of mental health and education. Among her many experiences with youth and families, Diane was recruited along with a colleague to implement a school based mental health program in 1995 at Saint John’s Child and Family Development Center, the mental health division of Saint John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, CA. The program addressed the needs of youth in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) who had environmental, family and mental health concerns which negatively impacted their educational success. She and her colleague implemented counseling groups on 3 school sites, a program which continues to be highly revered. Diane acted as a therapist and advocate, and participated in many school governed programs including the School Attendance Review Board (SARB). She received commendations from the City of Santa Monica for her exemplary work with at-risk youth.
Most recently, Diane has focused her attention on early childhood mental health, recognizing that children whose early needs are not adequately addressed develop learning issues in later developmental stages.
Diane has consulted with mental health professionals and taught courses in graduate degree psychology programs focusing on educational advocacy. She is an essential collaborator in creating and teaching Educational Advocacy: The Role of the Mental Health Professional training with Kelly Rain Collin, and is a valued consultant for Healthy Minds Consulting.
Dærick Gröss
Director of Growth and Development
Dærick W Gröss has been involved with project management and business development for twenty years, and has helped companies expand their brand and marketing reach since 2005. He has worked with companies such as AT&T, Nickelodeon, the Turner network, Direct Brands, Vineyard Vines, and MTV to help build and grow their organic and paid web presence and brand awareness. He has also provided Program Management leadership in ad tech for industry innovators like Rubicon Project (now Magnite) and Hulu. Dærick brings this experience to Healthy Minds, focused on the expansion of services and fulfilling the vision of founder Kelly Rain Collin.
Dærick graduated Cum Laude with a degree in art from the University of Cincinnati. He is part owner of Studio G, a production house for commercial illustration and the development and management of intellectual properties. In his free time, he enjoys camping, poker, and competing in Highland Games athletic events.
