Michelle Sanchez, LCSW

Visiting Associate Professor of Social Work
Worden School Building, Room 11
505-554-9327 
mbsanchez@ollusa.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Areas of Expertise

Clinical Practice with Individuals, Couples, Families, Adolescents, Foster/Adopt Children/Families; Attachment/Codependency Trauma; Immigration; Migration Trauma; Effective Brief Solution work with Migrants in Crisis; Development of Brief Solution Spiritual Care Using Art for Migrants in Mental Health Trauma Crisis facing help seeking barriers; Indigenous/First Nations/Native Populations and Traditional Wellness Collaboration; Hispanic/Latinx Populations; Dual diagnosis/Substance Treatment; High Functioning Autism; Navigating Multi-layered Agency Settings Policy and Ethics; Middle/High School Based Mental Health, Spiritual, Ecumenical and Biblical Care in Clinical Practice; Religious Trauma; International and domestic clients of various Indigenous, mostly South American but also Romani, African and Asian Descent; Interdisciplinary Concepts/Interventions in DBT/CBT; Therapeutic Art and Visual Guided Imagery; International Consulting on Interagency Client and Staff Safety Policy Development and Accountability in NGO /FBO Orphanages/Agencies.

Teaching Philosophy

My pedagogical approach is enhancing each student’s holistic and professional identity formation through use of presenting various considerations about assignments addressing holistic layers of knowledge from theoretical to application layers of practice as emerging formal helpers and models. I encourage students to develop a unique professional voice paired with authenticity to enhance the social betterment of society, in serving the needs of the Latinx, diverse and marginalized cultures and groups. Course work and feedback serve as a sand tray environment for effectively curating empathy, higher ethics, scholarly literature application to professionally explore, maneuver and shape micro, mezzo, and macro spaces among peers and practicum. I encourage growth through feedback to enhance deep contributions while encouraging balance by honoring higher social/relational identity needs. I endorse balance for non-traditional students facing role strain by affording flexibility and encouraging the health of choosing “good enough” longitudinal holistic academic/work/life outcomes over immediate academic “perfection” in academic product prioritization at expense of larger self. 

Outside Interests

I enjoy time with my husband of almost 30 years, three incredible sons and one daughter-in-law, time with friends and faith community. I love studying and teaching Biblical and other Spiritualities, and time in nature. I enjoy informally tracking climate information, solar and geomagnetic field data, impacts on earth, water, atmospheric, health, and mental health data. Synchronicity and patterns in nature, mundane experience, client and spiritual care fascinates me. I am a painter and enjoy earth and conceptual art, and occasionally play violin in a band. Other interests include Volunteerism, Community Service Learning, Semiotics, Science, Logic Models and Cybernetics in spiritual and clinical care. I am interested in algorithms of fit and ethics in cognitive and social spiritual space, cognitive distortion barriers in ethics, pedagogy and in formal helping in occupational, spiritual, religious, and social settings.  I am "Tia" to a migrant teen and his family who lived with us last year.