Miriam Bodin, MA
Founder
Miriam has over 30 years of experience assisting families with their educational requirements. Her recent focus has been on helping families whose children and adolescents have “special needs” along with traditional school, summer, and post high school planning. She also works with divorced parents in their efforts to develop mutually acceptable educational plans for their children. Prior to founding Bodin in 1979, Miriam was employed in public and private schools both as a teacher and as administrator. She acquired teaching credentials in the fields of English and social studies, and has taught in those curricular areas. She has studied extensively in the areas of counseling and curriculum development She has also served on numerous committees, boards, and accreditation teams including two terms on the Board of Directors of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA). She is one of the founders of the credentialing body of educational consultants (AICEP) and served on its board for several years. She developed the “Guidelines for Good Practice” which has become part of the operating document both for IECA and for AICEP. Miriam holds a Master’s degree from The State University of New York at Buffalo.
Douglas Bodin
CEO
Since 1993, Douglas has worked with more than two thousand children, adolescents, and young adults in a variety of educational and treatment settings. More currently he has also developed considerable experience coaching adults and families. In addition, his expertise includes working with the legal system toward “alternatives to sentencing” for juvenile and young adult offenders. He is also an expert in the integration of “Therapeutic Outdoor Experiential Programs” in the intervention process. He is the architect of the unique “Team Approach” that Bodin brings to its cases and developed the visionary integrative approach to serving clients that is the model for the industry. He also lectures at hospitals, high schools and to a wide range of professional groups and colleagues. Douglas has been featured and cited in local, regional and national newspapers, magazines and journals and has appeared on radio and Television shows regarding various topics related to working with children. He was the recipient of the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs 2009 Essential Piece Award for Outstanding Service educating members of Congress and the Senate about our industry. He was also the co-recipient, along with Miriam Bodin, of the 2011 Reaching for the Stars Award of the Sky’s the Limit Foundation for a career in Outstanding Service to Young People and Their Families. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California Santa Cruz.
Dr. Hillary French
Dr. Hillary French is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist as well as an Educational Consultant at Bodin. She has been employed with Bodin since 2004 and is passionate about creating plans in which her clients find success and thrive. With her extensive clinical expertise and knowledge, she enjoys working with students and families with varying and complex diagnoses. Though she works with all age groups, she has a special affinity for adolescents with adoption issues, trauma, complex medical/psychosomatic issues, complicated learning disorders, self-harm, and other high risk behaviors. She works with each family in an empathic, pro-active approach, to create both home plans and residential options in a confident and thorough manner.
Prior to working at Bodin, Dr. French was an outpatient therapist at a local hospital, providing individual, group and family therapy with at-risk teenagers and their families, while also providing crisis-intervention and hospitalization plans for teens who were engaging in self-harm or had harmful thoughts. Her post-doctoral fellowship specialized in Pediatric Health Psychology, providing therapeutic services for children and teens with eating disorders and obesity, cancer, diabetes and other physical illnesses. Dr. French has completed research and has lectured to medical students and residents about Adolescent Psychology. She has focused training in Cross-Cultural Psychology and is fluent in the Spanish language. Hillary received her M.A. and Psy.D. (Doctor of Psychology) from the California School of Professional Psychology and her undergraduate degree from California State University at San Jose. She is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in the state of California (psy17488).
Lexy Spett, LMFT
As an Educational and Therapeutic Consultant with Bodin since 2003, Lexy has been instrumental in the development of successful plans for adolescents, young adults and their families. While she has worked with more than a thousand families whose issues have encompassed a broad range of needs, she has developed sub-specializations in working with Young Adults, substance abuse, personality disorders, eating disorders, self-harm behaviors and contentious divorced families. While she is skilled at developing effective residential placement plans, she is also very effective utilizing community-based resources to develop comprehensive in-home plans. Additionally, she has been an influential part of the development of the Bodin model of consulting that is now the standard for the industry.
Previously, she was the Program Director overseeing 4 group homes and an adolescent therapist in residential programs in the Los Angeles area. As a clinician, she developed and implemented individualized treatment plans addressing psychological, educational and psychosocial needs for at-risk teenagers and their families. She conducted individual, couples, conjoint, family and group therapy. As the Group Home Program Director she hired, supervised and trained Group Home Social Workers, Group Home Managers and the Independent Living Coordinator as well as oversaw the hiring and training of Child Care staff.
Lexy holds a BA from Bennington College and an MA in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University. She is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist for the State of California.
Trine H. Syverinsen, Cand. Polit.
Trine has ten years of experience working with teenagers and their parents in a wide variety of educational settings. She has worked as a leader of non-profit ethics classes for youth, and both as a case worker and as a special education advisor in the public sector. She has experience in outreach work, family consultations, social work within public schools and in drafting individual educational plans and making recommendations for long-term educational success. She has worked with families from different backgrounds, including families with refugee status and bi-cultural backgrounds. Trine has worked hands-on with youth, including those with learning difficulties, mental and emotional challenges, behavioral diagnoses and those involved in different forms and degrees of risk-behavior. Trine has been a consultant at Bodin for six years and has significant experience in working with adolescents. She has a Cand. Mag. degree (B.A. equivalent) in Psychology and Anthropology from the University of Bergen, Norway, and a Cand. Polit. degree (M.A. equivalent) in Social Anthropology from the same institution.
Don Freed
Don joined Bodin to provide strategic, business development and operational support to the organization. He has over thirty years experience in the business world, primarily in the technology industry. Don was a founder, executive vice president and Chief Financial Officer of Intraware, a publicly traded technology company. He has extensive experience in finance, operations and mergers and acquisitions. Don holds a BA in Journalism and a BS in Accounting from San Francisco State University. He is a certified public accountant in the state of California.
Anita Hollander
Anita has been with Bodin since 2006 working collaboratively with consultants to support clients, manage marketing and outreach for the company, tour and evaluate programs and schools, and manage travel, tours and conference schedules for the Bodin team. Anita brings 20 years of experience working with adolescents and parents, providing counseling, interventions and therapeutic services for families. In addition, she has over 14 years of experience working with adolescents who struggle with mental health and behavioral issues, learning disorders, and substance abuse. She is known in the industry as solution focused, efficient, and dedicated. Within Bodin, she is often referred to as the “Capo di tutti capi.”
Prior to working with the Bodin team, Anita directed a day treatment program for adolescent males at a bay area residential treatment center (RTC). As director, her responsibilities included teaching independent living skills, providing vocational training, and creating transition and aftercare plans. She developed and delivered professional and crisis intervention trainings for residential treatment staff. Anita also served on the RTC committee to create a Transitional Housing & Supportive Living program for foster youth who aged out of county programs. Anita has done extensive in-home assessments and evaluations for the courts, giving her a niche in assessing appropriate levels of in-home early-care and aftercare transitional services. In addition, Anita honed her conflict resolution skills while serving as conflict resolution manager at an urban high school.
Anita received a Double BA in Psychology and Women’s Studies and a Minor in Legal Studies from the University of California Santa Cruz.
Sue Shachal
Sue has been the office manager for the Bodin Los Altos Office since 2002. In this capacity she provides support services to the consultants as well as additional office administrative responsibilities. Prior to Bodin Sue spent over seven years in increasingly responsible positions in human resources with such companies as Veritas, Informix, US Web/CKS and 3Com. Her prior work experience has also allowed her to gain valuable experience in office management. Sue received her BS in Business Administration from Bryant College.