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Family Initiatives: Meet Our Experts
Employment Options’ trainers are individuals that have been closely involved with the family initiatives undertaken by Employment Options over the years. Researchers, consultants, coaches and parents constitute our “experts” team, and work together to make holistic services available to families in need.
University of Massachussetts Medical School (UMMS) Betsy Hinden, Ph.D. Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, and adjunct Assistant Professor in Psychiatry
Joanne Nicholson, Ph.D. Clinical and Research Psychologist, and Professor of Psychiatry
Dr. Nicholson is the lead author of “Parenting Well When You’re Depressed: A Complete Resource for Maintaining a Healthy Family”. Written by parents for parents, it is the first self-help manual for parents living with depression or other mental illnesses. Dr. Nicholson established SAMHSA’s National Advisory Group on Parents with Psychiatric Disorders. She writes extensively on the challenges facing these families, and provides training and consultation to professional and advocacy groups. Dr. Nicholson is currently a W.T. Grant Foundation Distinguished Fellow and a Senior Fellow at the UMMS Center for Adoption Research. She is the 2006 winner of the USPRA Loeb Award for her career contribution to research in psychiatric rehabilitation.
Kathleen Biebel, Ph.D. Research Assistant Professor, UMMS Center for Mental Health Services Research
Employment Options Toni A. Wolf, BA. Executive Director
Chip Wilder, LICSW Director, Family Options
Kate Nemens Staff Attorney, Clubhouse Family Legal Support Project
Dorothy Catton, is a full-time single mother of two young, healthy children, and has been involved with the Family Options program for over two years. Dottie was first diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder in 1997 when she was 22 years old. Since having her first child in 1999, Dottie has been involved with the Department of Social Services and the Department of Mental Health, and has experienced several hospitalizations. Currently, Dottie is a full-time mother with sole custody of her two children. Dottie hopes to continue her college education in the future when her children are older.
Evelyn Mateo Parent, Family Options
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Dr. Hinden works as a psychotherapist and consultant with children and families, and has a special interest in working with families in which a parent has a mental illness. Dr. Hinden has been Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator on several research projects, and has co-authored numerous academic and policy papers related to parental mental illness. Dr. Hinden presents regularly at national and regional conferences, and offers training seminars for administrators and providers on critical issues in care delivery for parents with mental illness and their children. 
She directs the Child and Family Research Core of the UMMS Center for Mental Health Services Research. Dr. Nicholson has established an active program of research on parents with mental illnesses and their families in partnership with people in recovery. Her team of researchers, providers, and people in recovery is developing education and skills training materials for parents, integrating the current knowledge on parents with mental illnesses, and evaluating programs for families, including homeless mothers and children, and the pilot Family Options program. Dr. Nicholson and her team have received funding from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the National Alliance for Mental Illness Research Institute, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, and private foundations. 
Toni has been serving as an Executive Director of Employment Options since 1989, providing leadership and a forward looking anticipatory approach to respond to the needs of persons with mental illness. Her consistent enthusiasm for the “clubhouse philosophy” where the transfer of power is with the consumer and her twenty five years of experience in rehabilitation has allowed her to support consumers, families and staff to achieve recovery and growth. Employment Options is now leading the way in Massachusetts in advocacy and providing an array of services to parents with mental illness, keeping families from being fractured and ensuring that parents and children maintain their connections. The Family Project, Clubhouse Family Legal Support Project, Family Options, and now a consultation/training arm are the programs in place to help parents with mental illness. 
Chip is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and holds a Master Degree in Secondary Education and a Master Degree in Social Work from Boston University. Chip has had extensive experience providing mental health services and family support in a range of child and family services including residential treatment, out patient mental health, and psychiatric hospital settings. Chip also has experience in program development including a mental health case management service for Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and from 1997 to his move to Family Options was the Associate Clinical Director of the Massachusetts Mental Health Service Program for Youth, an innovative, nationally-recognized, integrated care initiative. In addition Chip has offered trainings in wide range of professional areas including the group treatment of children and adolescents, case management, family collaboration, and delivering Wraparound. Chip also has been active as a board member of the Parent Professional Advocacy League, the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health.
Kate represents parents with mental illness in their custody and visitation cases, primarily in Probate and Family Court. Previously, attorney Nemens has worked with low-income clients as a staff attorney in the family law unit of the Legal Assistance Corporation of Central Massachusetts. She was a 2005-2006 Boston Bar Association Public Interest Leader, and is a regular presenter/trainer for the Clubhouse Project at Conferences and Clubhouses. She participates in several Boston Bar Association panels regarding child support and disability benefits, and she will be chairing and presenting at a Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education panel in May, 2008 entitled “Representing the Legal Services Client with a Mental Illness: Barriers, strategies and resources.”
Evelyn has been a member of Employment Options since 2000. Evelyn was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder in 1982 when she was only five years old. She has been actively involved with the agency, and now serves as a job coach for the employment program. Evelyn and her family have been involved with Family Options for over two years, prior to which they worked with the Family Project. She has presented at the DMH Legislative Breakfast and the Clubhouse Family Legal Support Project Conference. She continues to be an ambassador for the agency especially focusing on recovery and parenting with mental illness.