Hear From Our Staff
Betsy McAlister Groves, MSW, LICSW is a licensed clinical social worker and founding Director of the Child Witness to Violence Project. Her practice and research interests are on the impact of community and family violence on young children, and on engaging community systems in identifying and responding to children who are affected by violence in their environments. In addition, she serves as Co-Director of the Child Protection Team at Boston Medical Center. Ms. Groves holds appointments as Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine and Lecturer at Harvard University. She serves on the Governor’s Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault of Massachusetts and has served in various advisory and consultative capacities for the US Department of Justice, the National Council of Juvenile, and Family Court Judges and the Family Violence Prevention Fund. She is the author of a book, Children who See Too Much: Lessons from the Child Witness to Violence Project (2002), and has published extensively on topics related to childhood trauma and intervention.
Maxine L. Weinreb, Ed.D. is a licensed educational psychologist with degrees in counseling and human development. She is also licensed as a marriage and family therapist and mental health counselor. She is the Assistant Director of the Child Witness to Violence Project and coordinates all training provided by the Project. She is a faculty member in The Counseling and School Psychology Department at The University of Massachusetts and taught for ten years in the Social Work Department at Wheelock College in Boston. Over the past 30 years, Dr. Weinreb has provided consultation and assistance to early childhood programs, Head Start programs, public and private schools, the courts, law enforcement, and mental health and health professionals. She provided assistance and training to early childhood professionals and mental health clinicians in Oklahoma City following the bombing in April, 1995 and in New York after the terrorist attacks of September 11. She has published in Young Children and is the co-author of a curriculum for child care professionals serving children in court-based child care centers. She and her colleagues have published Shelter from the Storm, a manual for mental health providers on the assessment and treatment of children who have witnessed violence. She has presented locally, regionally, and nationally about issues of childhood stressors, especially those related to exposure to violence.
Neena McConnico, Ph.D, LMHC holds a doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology and is a licensed mental health counselor. In addition, Dr. McConnico has a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and has extensive experience working with under-served populations as a mental health provider and teacher in early childhood, elementary and college settings. Dr. McConnico currently serves as an Early Childhood Clinician and Consultant at the Child Witness to Violence Project. In her role at CWVP, Dr. McConnico provides direct clinical services to children and families, conducts social skills groups and consults with teachers at a Boston-area elementary school. Dr. McConnico’s professional interests include the impact of a NICU stay on child-parent attachment as well as how the impacts of trauma interface with children’s academic and social development. Dr. McConnico is also interested in training early childhood educators about the impact of mental health factors on children’s academic performance and helping schools identify interventions to address these issues in the classroom. Dr. McConnico has trained extensively in the art of dance and is also interested in using dance and movement as a therapeutic outlet for children who have been impacted by trauma.
Carmen Rosa Noroña, MS. Ed. is from Quito, Ecuador where she completed her licensure in clinical psychology at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador in addition to a three-year training program in psychoanalysis. Subsequently, she received a Fulbright scholarship to earn a Master’s degree in Early Intervention from Wheelock College. She is certified in the administration of the Newborn Behavioral Observations System (NBO) and trained as a Fussy Baby specialist. Her practice and research interests are on the impact of trauma on infant mental health and attachment, adapting mental health services to new immigrants in the Latino community, the intersection of immigration and trauma, multicultural supervision and consultation, and developmental assessment and intervention with children at risk for developmental delays. Ms. Noroña wrote a series of articles regarding the effects of institutionalization in young children and alternative systems of care in Ecuador that were published by UNICEF. At the Child Witness to Violence Project, Ms. Noroña serves as the clinical coordinator for the program; she provides clinical services and supervises graduate students. In addition, she is the associate director of the CWVP site of the Early Trauma Treatment Network (ETTN), a research, development and treatment site of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). She provides Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) consultation to mental health agencies and training to Spanish and English-speaking multidisciplinary audiences, nationally and abroad, on topics related to the impact and treatment of early trauma. Ms. Noroña is a member of the Culture Consortium of the NCTSN, and has adapted and translated child assessment protocols for use with Spanish-speaking children and families. Ms. Noroña co-developed the Birth to Three Clinic, a specialty clinic in Pediatrics at Boston Medical Center that provided short-term clinical intervention to children birth to thirty-six-months and their caregivers with the goal of addressing attachment difficulties. In 2003, Ms. Noroña was the recipient of the Children’s Trust Fund Emerging Leader Award.
Maxine L. Weinreb, Ed.D. is a licensed educational psychologist with degrees in counseling and human development. She is also licensed as a marriage and family therapist and mental health counselor. She is the Assistant Director of the Child Witness to Violence Project and coordinates all training provided by the Project. She is a faculty member in The Counseling and School Psychology Department at The University of Massachusetts and taught for ten years in the Social Work Department at Wheelock College in Boston. Over the past 30 years, Dr. Weinreb has provided consultation and assistance to early childhood programs, Head Start programs, public and private schools, the courts, law enforcement, and mental health and health professionals. She provided assistance and training to early childhood professionals and mental health clinicians in Oklahoma City following the bombing in April, 1995 and in New York after the terrorist attacks of September 11. She has published in Young Children and is the co-author of a curriculum for child care professionals serving children in court-based child care centers. She and her colleagues have published Shelter from the Storm, a manual for mental health providers on the assessment and treatment of children who have witnessed violence. She has presented locally, regionally, and nationally about issues of childhood stressors, especially those related to exposure to violence.
Neena McConnico, Ph.D, LMHC holds a doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology and is a licensed mental health counselor. In addition, Dr. McConnico has a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and has extensive experience working with under-served populations as a mental health provider and teacher in early childhood, elementary and college settings. Dr. McConnico currently serves as an Early Childhood Clinician and Consultant at the Child Witness to Violence Project. In her role at CWVP, Dr. McConnico provides direct clinical services to children and families, conducts social skills groups and consults with teachers at a Boston-area elementary school. Dr. McConnico’s professional interests include the impact of a NICU stay on child-parent attachment as well as how the impacts of trauma interface with children’s academic and social development. Dr. McConnico is also interested in training early childhood educators about the impact of mental health factors on children’s academic performance and helping schools identify interventions to address these issues in the classroom. Dr. McConnico has trained extensively in the art of dance and is also interested in using dance and movement as a therapeutic outlet for children who have been impacted by trauma.
Carmen Rosa Noroña, MS. Ed. is from Quito, Ecuador where she completed her licensure in clinical psychology at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador in addition to a three-year training program in psychoanalysis. Subsequently, she received a Fulbright scholarship to earn a Master’s degree in Early Intervention from Wheelock College. She is certified in the administration of the Newborn Behavioral Observations System (NBO) and trained as a Fussy Baby specialist. Her practice and research interests are on the impact of trauma on infant mental health and attachment, adapting mental health services to new immigrants in the Latino community, the intersection of immigration and trauma, multicultural supervision and consultation, and developmental assessment and intervention with children at risk for developmental delays. Ms. Noroña wrote a series of articles regarding the effects of institutionalization in young children and alternative systems of care in Ecuador that were published by UNICEF. At the Child Witness to Violence Project, Ms. Noroña serves as the clinical coordinator for the program; she provides clinical services and supervises graduate students. In addition, she is the associate director of the CWVP site of the Early Trauma Treatment Network (ETTN), a research, development and treatment site of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). She provides Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) consultation to mental health agencies and training to Spanish and English-speaking multidisciplinary audiences, nationally and abroad, on topics related to the impact and treatment of early trauma. Ms. Noroña is a member of the Culture Consortium of the NCTSN, and has adapted and translated child assessment protocols for use with Spanish-speaking children and families. Ms. Noroña co-developed the Birth to Three Clinic, a specialty clinic in Pediatrics at Boston Medical Center that provided short-term clinical intervention to children birth to thirty-six-months and their caregivers with the goal of addressing attachment difficulties. In 2003, Ms. Noroña was the recipient of the Children’s Trust Fund Emerging Leader Award.
