Photo by Abbey Pawlitzke
Marika Vaden, Ed.S., LPC, NCSP, CSSP
Marika is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Nationally Certified School Psychologist, and Wyoming Certified Specialist in School Psychology. She is certified by the state education boards to practice school psychology within an education setting in multiple states, including Wyoming, and is also licensed by the Wyoming Board of Psychology to provide School Psychology services through private practice. In addition, Marika has a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) license issued by the Wyoming Mental Health Professions Licensing Board and is able to provide mental health therapy services to children, adolescents and adults. She has training in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and works with couples as well as individuals.
Marika completed her undergraduate studies in Anthropology and Psychology at Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA and earned M.Ed. and Ed.S. graduate degrees from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. She has extensive training and experience in psychological and educational assessment for the purposes of identifying learning, social emotional, and developmental disabilities (such as Autism, ADHD, and Dyslexia). Marika also has experience working children, adolescents, and adults in a counseling setting, addressing concerns that include marriage/social/relationship issues, building general coping skills, divorce or family separation, anxiety and depression, grief/loss, and post-crisis/trauma intervention,
Prior to starting her independent practice through School Psychology Solutions, Marika worked for 12 years as a School Psychologist in the public school setting, including 10 years in Fairfax County Public Schools (Fairfax, Virginia) and 2 years in Teton County School District #1 (Jackson, Wyoming). Throughout her career, she has worked with children of all ages, preschool through high school. Because of this experience working within public schools, Marika is also able to provide valuable support and insight to parents whose children are struggling academically or with social/emotional adjustment at school. She can help parents understand the many intervention and support programs in place for students in the public schools, such as 504 plans, Multi-Tiered Support Systems (MTSS), Response to Intervention (RtI) and/or Special Education, and then work with them to advocate for their child's specific needs.
As a Certified Specialist in School Psychology in the state of Wyoming, Marika's school psychology private practice is supervised by Dr. Robert J. Bayuk (Licensed Psychologist, Wyoming Board of Psychology #WY-139). This supervision applies to psychoeducational evaluations completed in the private practice setting.