Michele A. Tome LPC
Assistant Director/Director of School Programs
(814) 807-0861

I am a licensed, nationally certified counselor with over 25 years of professional experience working with children, adults, and families in home, community/school, residential, and office-based settings in Erie and Crawford counties.

I began my education as an Art Therapy graduate of Mercyhurst University, and I continued my training at Penn West-Edinboro University where I focused on family therapy and attachment in their Community Counseling master’s degree program.

I have my certification in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) with advanced TF-CBT training for complex trauma. I am also trained in Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment (SMART), and Attachment, Regulation, and Competency (ARC) trauma treatment as well as training in trauma informed supervision and the Multiple Perspective Model for ethical decision-making.

As a lifetime learner for healing centered therapies, I started my career as a Therapeutic Support Staff helping children and families navigate challenging behaviors, and from that work I shifted my focus to family therapy with a specialization in attachment and trauma. After obtaining my master’s degree, I continued to work with children and families as a therapist in home and community/school settings with a specific focus of children experiencing delinquent and/or problem sexual behaviors.

I received my initial clinical experiences in complex trauma and ecosystemic family therapy from Nora Kreider and Audrey Smith through Parkside while in the Specialized Family Based Mental Health program in 2010, and I brought that expertise into my future professional roles working in residential, home, and community/school settings while utilizing art, play, and physical movement techniques alongside specialized trauma therapy models. I was excited to join the Parkside team as a trauma therapist in our Erie office in 2020 and in 2024 I began the transition to my current role of Assistant Director and the Director of School Programs for Parkside with a part-time caseload to maintain my clinical expertise in specialized trauma therapy.