Rachael Cayton Barden, LCSW-S, received her graduate degree in 2004 from the UT School of Social Work. She was attracted to the school because the faculty were dynamic, approachable, and social-justice minded. She also holds a BA in Music from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She was a Child Welfare Scholar who received a graduate degree stipend and later went on to work for Child Protective Services. She has worked in adolescent psychiatric treatment in the area of addiction and multi-family groups. Her favorite community-based social work jobs have been in the multidisciplinary settings of high schools, in which she offered drop-out prevention services and administered social services for young adults. Currently, she has a busy private practice in Austin serving adults and adolescents. Her areas of expertise include healing developmental trauma, grief, family dynamics/parenting, and clinical supervision. In her free time, she plays as much music as she can, block-walks, exercises, and spends time outside with her dogs. She also adores traveling and trying new foods/recipes with her husband and 2 teenage children.