Meet the MOBI Team...
"Your mind is like a garden, and your thoughts are the seeds. You can plant flowers, or you can plant weeds." --Dr. Caroline Leaf
Chaundra
Finley-Merrell, LCSW
Consultant, Clinician, Advocate
Founder, MOBI
Located in Texas, Chaundra’s work focuses on designing mental health programs and clinical care for individuals impacted by forced migration. In January 2017, she co-founded a Mental Health Program for a local NGO with Dr. Peter Polatin. Expanding on her local efforts, in 2023 she initiated The MOBI 1 Project, offering mental health program design support, advocating for sustainable workload solutions, and developing clinical frameworks for NGOs operating in post-migration settings across the United States and Europe. She holds an MSW degree from the University of Texas at Arlington and a B.S. degree in Psychology from Dallas Baptist University. Chaundra is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and holds certifications and training in Global Mental Health Trauma & Recovery from The Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma, Asylum Clinic Training Certificate from the Center for Human Rights, and EMDR.
Kristina Kirwin, LCSW
Located in Austin, TX, Kristina is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker whose work focuses on both providing clinical services through private practice and consulting services on mental health program development and design through MOBI. She holds a B.A. degree in Economics and Hispanic Studies from Boston College and an MSW degree from Simmons University. While pursuing her MSW degree, she completed a practicum program that provides mental health services to displaced populations including refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants and later went on to work for the agency after graduation. During that time she gained experience in sustaining and expanding the mental health program, supervising practicum students and managing data tracking and reporting initiatives. These experiences created a passion for helping other NGOs launch and develop their own mental health programs in order to continue to expand access to care for displaced populations. In her private practice work, Kristina specializes in working with populations who’ve been impacted by trauma as well as the perinatal population. She has specialized training in multiple trauma modalities including EMDR and TF-CBT.
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