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, supervisor, 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. For adults, I use Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA), which also focuses on identifying healthy alternatives to using. Families have the power to heal themselves. If we ask someone to stop using drugs or alcohol, we 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 school social worker. 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 3 daughters. A true Iowa farm-girl at heart, I know the importance of hard work and the healing power of families that love each other.