Attachment Issues

Kristin Weber, LGSW

Biography

Ongoing child protection worker at St Louis County PHHS in Duluth, MN for over six years. Prior to that, I was a foster care and adoption case manager for a nonprofit/private child welfare Agency for four years. 

Address:
St. Louis County PHHS
320 W 2nd St.
Duluth, MN 55802

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Ellie Smith, LICSW

Biography

Mental Health Professional providing outpatient mental health services to children and families.  Lead therapist in developmental repair day treatment room. 

Address:
Fraser
2400 W 64th St. 
Minneapolis, MN 55423

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Anna Heinzerling, LICSW

Biography

Anna is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker with over 15 years of experience providing psychotherapy across the lifespan in neighborhood, residential, outpatient, and school-based settings. She currently provides therapy via telehealth. Anna specializes in working with individuals and families impacted by adoption, offering a thoughtful, trauma-informed approach to exploring identity, attachment, relationships, and life transitions.

Anna Heinzerling

Amanda Wuollet, MSW

Biography

I am a Tribal Foster & Kinship Mental Health Therapist dedicated to supporting children, teens, and families navigating the unique challenges of foster care, kinship care, and permanency. My work is grounded in an attachment-focused approach, helping clients build safe, trusting relationships that foster healing and resilience. I partner with caregivers, caseworkers, and community supports, tailoring my approach to meet each family’s unique needs.

Amanda Wuollet

Kelsey Bonkoski

Biography

I greatly enjoy my current role working as a mental health professional. I practice in the outpatient setting both in person and virtually. I work with children, youth, and families with a variety of diagnoses. I have the most experience working with individuals impacted by trauma, and I am trained in EMDR. I have experience professionally working with individuals and families who have experienced adoption and foster care, and I also have personal connections to adoption as my sister is an adult adoptee. 

Kelsey Bonkoski

Alyssa Kittleson, MSW, LICSW, LADC

Biography

I am an outpatient therapist, working with children, adolescents, and young adults. I have 5+ years of experience as a therapist, and I have experience working in day treatment and intensive outpatient settings. I utilize a strengths-based, attachment-based, and trauma-focused lens when working with clients and their families. I highly value collaboration with clients and their families together, as well as professional collaboration and consultation.

Alyssa Kittleson

Deirdre Otis, MA, MSW, LGSW

Biography

Deirdre Otis is a licensed social worker with broad experience across child welfare, school-based, and healthcare settings. She earned her undergraduate degree from the College of Saint Benedict and her Master of Social Work from Saint Catherine University, where her academic focus included grief counseling and child welfare. She also completed a clinical internship utilizing the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT), strengthening her trauma-informed practice.

Deirdre Otis

Teresa Bina Zaffiro, MSW, LICSW

Biography

Hi! I am Teresa, a clinical social worker who is passionate about supporting adoptees, first/birth families and adoptive families. I am an adoptive parent with extensive experience supporting my child through relational trauma, transitions, neurodevelopment differences and sensory. I also have a long professional history of supporting family reunification, birth parent rights, open permanency set ups and culturally appropriate permanency outcomes.

Teresa Zaffiro

Joni Hillary, MSW, LGSW

Biography

HELP Program Specialist with over a decade of direct work experience in Child Welfare in five Midwestern states; specifically in foster care, adoption (foster care/ international/ domestic infant), foster care licensing, crisis intervention, and school social work. 

Address:
Foster Adopt Minnesota
2446 University Ave. W
Suite 140
Minneapolis, MN 55114

Joni Hillary

Lauren Lowe, MSW, LICSW

Biography

I am an outpatient therapist who is also a transracial adoptee. I work with populations ages 9-35 at this moment. I apply multi approaches and modalities such as ACT, DBT Skills, IFS, Interpersonal therapy, CBT/TF-CBT. I will be certified in PCIT fairly soon. I strive to be culturally competent and incorporate faiths of all backgrounds to support my clients. I also incorporate parents into my sessions with working with kids. I work with a lot of children and adults who have been been adopted or part of the child welfare system. I also will be trained in EMDR in the next few years.

Lauren Lowe