Families First of Palm Beach County recently announced the promotion of Melissa Wijngaarde to the position of maternal and infant mental health director.
Wijngaarde, a Wellington resident, is a licensed clinical social worker. She was promoted to the position after serving for two years as the clinical director of Families First’s Child First Program. She has expertise in the field of infant mental health, early intervention and child parent psychotherapy.
Wijngaarde came to Families First in October 2019 after 15 years at the University of Miami’s Linda Ray Intervention Center, where her work focused on child parent psychotherapy as a treatment provider, supervisor and trainer within the dependency court system. While at the University of Miami, Wijngaarde collaborated on the Miami Child Well-Being Court model, which focused on addressing the relational, emotional, developmental and mental health needs of infants and toddlers in care.
