Meet Our Staff
Carolyn Khan
Executive Director
Carolyn Khan holds a master degree from Governor’s State University. She is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, a Certified Domestic Violence Professional, past president of the Illinois Certified Domestic Violence Professional Board, past president of the Illinois Mental Health Counselors Association. She has over 18 years of experience in the counseling field with a special focus on young children and their families. She is the former clinical director of a domestic violence shelter program where she oversaw all aspect of agency program as well as the development of new programs. She attended Erickson Institute Train the Trainer training that focused on teaching other professionals how to intervene with young children dealing with trauma. She has presented throughout the state on a variety of topics but has a special focus on trauma and young children. She is an experience family counselor with special focus on families with children birth to 5. She has developed and implemented:
​
-
School crisis responses team for grade schools
-
Hispanic counseling and parenting program
-
After school teen parent program
-
Parenting program that reached out to 12 local schools,
-
Parenting and counseling program for domestic violence victims who were involved in DCFS
-
Survivors of sexual abuse and their families group
-
ADHD self-esteem group for 7 year old boys.
Karen Olalde
Counselor
Karen Olalde, MS Ed is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and a Certified Domestic Violence Professional. She earned her Masters degree from Western Illinois University. She has over ten years of clinical experience in assisting children and families who have suffered severe trauma and abuse. She has worked with diverse populations including at risk youth, women and children coping with domestic violence, juveniles on probation, physically and sexually abused children, and families involved with the child welfare system. She conducted numerous child and teen groups in a school setting focusing on grief, loss, social skills, anxiety and life transitions. She has presented throughout the state on a variety of topics such as parenting skills, domestic violence; grief, and compassion fatigue.