CRANSTON, R.I. –February 24, 2011 – Assistant Director of Rehabilitative Services Roberta Richman is pleased to announce that Michelle Lyn Branch of Cranston has become the Rhode Island Department of Corrections’ Supervising Clinical Psychologist.

Branch comes to the corrections department from Gateway HealthCare Inc., a community mental health organization where she served for nine years as supervisor of one of its Emergency Services Departments. Branch has also worked in the past for other community mental health organizations, including South Shore Mental Health Center as well as The Kent Center. She has 18 years of clinical experience, serving as director of the Regional Disaster Response Team at Gateway, where she assisted with the management and coordination of rehabilitative efforts for disasters such as the Station Nightclub fire as well as the flood of 2010. She has also worked as a neuropsychological clinician at Rehabilitation Hospital of Rhode Island and worked primarily with individuals suffering from traumatic brain injury. Branch has continued her involvement with this population and remains involved with the Traumatic Brain Injury Association of Rhode Island.

She also works as a contracting consultant for the Rhode Island Family Court as a diagnostic assessment clinician working with adjudicated adolescents and preparing psychological and psychosocial evaluations. While employed for Gateway Healthcare Inc., Branch also developed and facilitated trainings for local police departments on crisis intervention and the effective management of emotionally disturbed persons.

Branch’s clinical experience also includes individual and group psychotherapy as well as psychodiagnostic assessment and treatment of individuals with a history of chronic mental illness, co-occurring disorders, legal involvement, etc. Branch also earned a certification as a Qualified Mental Health Practitioner, which allowed her to work closely with individuals in crisis and at risk for suicide or deliberate self-harm. As a result, Branch has an extensive history of involvement in supervising and training staff around areas of suicide prevention and crisis intervention.

She serves as an Army officer for the Rhode Island National Guard with 15 years experience as a behavioral health officer for the Medical Detachment located at Quonset Air Force Base. Branch served as the Air Guard’s state coordinator of the Post Deployment Health Reassessment Program working with soldiers and veterans on post-deployment as well as all readjustment issues.

Branch received her undergraduate degree in behavioral sciences from Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vt. She is a 1993 graduate of the University of Rhode Island where she earned a master’s degree in Human Development, Counseling, Family Studies and Clinical Psychology.