Michelle Kuecker, LCSW, LAC

I am passionate about working with teenagers and their families. I started my career as a substance abuse counselor working with kids who were in trouble within the juvenile system at Denver Juvenile Probation-TASC. As part of this, I did in-home and office-based treatment with both English and Spanish speaking families. I continued my love of teenagers when I went to the Office of the State Public Defender as a Juvenile Social Worker. There I helped identify treatment needs and services, worked to develop mitigation, and helped find solutions to keeping kids out of jail and prison.

I am a certified Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) clinician, coder, and trainer. I discovered CRAFT while working with Spanish-speaking families at TASC and believe in the power of including family members in their loved one’s addictions. Additionally, I work with adolescents using the Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (A-CRA) to help teenagers get sober and identify pro-social activities in the community. Families have the power to heal themselves. I also knows that if I ask someone to stop using drugs or alcohol, I need to help them discover healthy, pro-social activities to keep them sober.

Currently, I work with teenagers in the Cherry Creek School District as a substance abuse counselor. I also contract for Dr. Robert Meyers training and coaching clinicians around the world in the CRAFT and A-CRA approaches. I have worked with rural, urban, and tribal communities to train clinicians in the CRAFT approach.

I live in Centennial, CO with my husband and our young daughter. A true Iowa farm-girl at heart, I know the importance of hard work and the healing power of families that love each other.