Meet The Staff

Sona has over 30 years of experience in medical and behavioral health. She has worked at all levels of psychiatric nursing, including crisis stabilization, residential, partial hospitalization and outpatient treatment.

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After her first 2 years working with TFS, Rachele became one of 2 intake assessors for the agency. During her time here, she has worked with children, families, and adults to address issues related to but no limited to anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, anger, attention and concentration issues, oppositional behaviors, self-harming, suicidal ideation, family relationships, and self-esteem. This past year, Rachele began training to become a Certified Professional Counselor Supervisor (CPCS) and collaborating with colleagues to provide clinical supervision to the staff.

As a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Michelle has served children, adolescents, and adults of all ages for the past seven years. She has experience facilitating group therapy with adults at Augusta University Health on the impatient unit and facilitating groups at the friendship center with the adult population during her internships. Michelle received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology in 2008 from Augusta University and a M.Ed. in counselor education in 2010 from Augusta University.

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Melissa has over 10 years experience working with diverse children and families in the counseling field. Melissa has extensive knowledge of the public school system and working with families in the community.

Marie has worked with TFS for approximately eight years serving children and families.

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Kim has 15 years of experience in the mental health and substance abuse field. She first started working with children in foster care providing Intensive Family Intervention services. After that she worked for 7 years providing therapy, Community Support Services, and group therapy to children, families, adults to address mental health and substance use issues. She worked in both supervisory and therapist roles during this time. Kim then started at Transitioned Family Services (TFS) in January 2012 as an intake coordinator. She became a Certified Professional Clinical Supervisor in 2014 and continues to provide clinical supervision to staff at TFS.

Kaylan has worked in both community health and private practice. Kaylan was a children’s therapist in Americus, Georgia and worked with Children and Teens with Autism and Developmental Disabilities in Warner Robins GA. Kaylan completed her practicum in 2016 at Valdosta State University where she worked with several couples, families, children, and individuals on a multitude of different issues such as LGBTQ, Adultery, Cancer, Trauma, Anxiety and Depression.

Katie has worked at TFS for over 3 years. During her time here, she has worked with children, families, and adults to overcome problems related to anxiety, depression, substance usage, trauma, grief, anger, attention and concentration issues, oppositional and defiant issues, eating disorders, self-harming, suicidal ideation, family relationships, self-esteem, gender and sexual identity development, pre-marital counseling, infidelity concerns, and whole health improvement.

Jessica has experience in case management operations; facilitating individual and group counseling sessions with at risk populations.

Faye is a Licensed Professional Counselor(LPC) with ten years of experience in counseling. Faye also holds a certification as a Master Addiction Counselor(MAC) and Certified Professional Counselor Supervisor(CPCS). Faye has been employed at Transitional Family Services since 2008. Her duties have been comprised of therapist and direct care staff supervision. Faye is also continuously developing, streamlining and energizing projects, programs and other disciplines to enhance the social, psychological and other characteristics of the agency and consumers served. In addition to serving the consumers of TFS, Faye seeks to improve the quality of services in the CSRA and throughout the state of Georgia. Faye is a member of Augusta Coalition for Mental Health Advocacy, Mental Health America- Augusta Chapter, Augusta Coalition For Addiction Recovery Awareness, Together Georgia, and Columbia County LIPT. Faye has also served as the chair for Richmond County LIPT since 2011. LIPT is a Local Interagency Planning Team. LIPT is based off a legal mandate from the state of GA (49-5-220 and 49-5-225) to create a coordinated system of care for children who are at risk in our community and provide them with access to care. Faye stated that she is devoted to seeing the mental health community in Georgia thrive so that individuals suffering from mental illness have the opportunity to live their version of a well life.

Dawn has been with Transitional Family Services for over 7 years and has been excited to be part of such wonderful team. She attended Georgia Southern University where she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. She then traveled over to Alabama and attended Auburn University. While at Auburn she earned her Master’s in Community Counseling (don’t worry I still bleed black and red; Go Dawgs!). Dawn has been a Licensed Professional Counselor since 2009 and has worked primarily with children and adolescents with various diagnoses. She is a member of Licensed Processional Counselor Association of Georgia. In 2014, she became a Certified Professional Counseling Supervisor (CPCS) which allows her to provide supervision to those therapists working towards full licensure. She has been working in community mental health for over 13 years. She has had the privilege in working in different roles in various clinical programs which have allowed her to gain experience in working with individuals and families. Dawn’s journey in counseling started in 2005 with providing in-home intensive therapy for children and adolescents. This was such an invaluable experience as it allowed her to work very closely with clients and their families in an environment that they were most comfortable. It gave her the opportunity to meet clients’ needs in the most effective manner and see positive change. From there, Dawn served as a therapist and supervisor in an outpatient clinic serving primarily children and adolescents. She supervised an amazing team of individuals who provided community based services. Dawn currently serves as the Clinical Director here at TFS where her focus is on ensuring the clinical integrity of the programs established at TFS. While her primary role is clinical director, she is also the HIPAA Privacy officer for the agency to secure and protect client confidentiality. Dawn enjoys improving the quality of care to the individuals that are served by functioning in these roles.

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In addition to her license in Professional Counseling, Ashley is also Master Addictions Counselor, and National Certified Counselor practicing in the state of Georgia. She has worked in the counseling field for the past 6½ years and counting and continues to learn and grow as a therapist each day. Ashley received her Masters of Education in Counselor Education with a major in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the great Augusta State University. Throughout her career, Ashley has had the opportunity to work with children, adolescents, and adults of all ages with a variety of different presenting problems. She enjoys assisting clients who may be experiencing difficulties in the following areas: Addiction, ADHD/ADD, Anger, Anxiety, Behavioral problems, Communication issues, Conflict with peers, Depression, Deployment, Divorce, Grief, and Trauma to name a few. Ashley’s specialty is Addictions as she has advanced training in substance abuse counseling and has worked with the population for years in different contexts. She also provides substance abuse assessments, substance abuse counseling, and group counseling. Ashley has experience in running substance abuse groups for both adolescents and adults, court-ordered and voluntary. Most recently she worked for Richmond County’s Accountability Court where she served as the therapist for the selected treatment providers. In addition, Ashley is a Certified Drug and Alcohol Risk Reduction Instructor for the state of Georgia. She has worked with clients involved in domestic violence and has experience running Family Violence Groups, Anger Management Groups, and Behavior Management Groups. Working at TFS has been a great experience for Ashley and she will forever be grateful for the opportunity to learn, grow, and perfect her craft here. When she first joined the TFS family, she came in as a novice, fresh out of graduate school, and with limited experience in the field of addictions. With great support, leadership, and supervision from her supervisors she became fully licensed, obtained certifications, and went from a novice to a therapist equipped with a variety of tools and resources to work in the mental health field. Outside of working with her clients, she enjoyed spending time with her family, being active in her church, writing short stories, and working on personal projects that would help her continue to be the best therapist she can be.

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Amy had her first internship at the MUSC Institute of Psychiatry Child and Adolescent Unit in January of 1997 which is where she learned that working with children and adolescents was her calling. Then, she returned home to North Augusta, SC and began working at the Adult Literacy Center for then Augusta State University (now Augusta University) where she educated and evaluated families and teachers about ADHD and Learning Disabilities. In 1999, Amy began a work-study program at the Medical College of GA (now Augusta University) where she administered psychological tests to children, adolescents and adults that were inpatients on the psychiatric units. During that time, she began working full-time for Dr. Alex Mabe who was her mentor for 3 years and from whom she learned everything she knows about counseling in the real world. Also, during that time Amy attended graduate school at USC-Aiken where she worked on my Master’s in Applied Clinical Psychology. Then in 2002, she began working at the Community Mental Health Center for Children and Adolescents where she provided CSI services, IFI services, case management for MATCH kids in PRTF programs and was a liaison for MCG’s CARES program. Next, Amy returned back to MCG and worked for 8 years on her Child and Adolescent Inpatient Unit doing group therapy, behavioral modification and psycho-education for children and their parents. At this time, Amy also assisted on the adult and geriatric inpatient units and worked in the Emergency Room assisting with triaging psychiatric patients. Then, Amy went to Lighthouse Care Center of Augusta where she worked with the PRTF clients, Group Home residents and Outpatient clients doing group therapy, CSI services and BHL consults. Finally, Amy came to TFS after Lighthouse’s Outpatient Clinic closed, and has been working with clients doing CSI services. In addition, now that Amy is a CPS, she will soon start providing Certified Peer Specialist services to clients as well.

Bayo has over 15 years experience serving children, teens, families and their communities through clinical mental health work focused on improving functioning and fostering development. Bayo’s first stint doing clinical work started at an internship with an after-school treatment program for children with emotional and behavioral challenges. Later, Bayo worked with an agency in Metro-Atlanta providing wrap-around services with children, teens and their families involved with the Division of Family and Children Services, Department of Juvenile Justice and other community-based agencies and stakeholders. During his graduate studies, he became passionate about working with college students from the age of 15 to 70 enrolled in institutions of higher education. After practicing therapy in higher education for almost a decade and providing instruction for over a year, Bayo returned to community behavioral health (by way of TFS) to work with at-risk and high-need populations.