April Donohue, PhD
Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Donohue was born and raised in Maryland. She graduated from University of Delaware with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Biological Sciences. After a few psychology classes, she found her career path. She attended graduate school at Northern Illinois University, where she focused her education on working with children and families. Dr. Donohue’s training included completion of a full year internship at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Upon receiving her doctorate degree, she joined the staff at UMMC’s child and adolescent outpatient psychiatry clinic. She continued to build on her training in cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) based approaches in treating anxiety, depression, disruptive behaviors, and social challenges in youth. She also developed an expertise in diagnosing and treating trauma in children and adolescents. She has completed numerous trainings to further develop her skills in treating PTSD in children, including a certification in trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy (TF-CBT), as well as other trauma treatment approaches. Thanks in part to a lifelong love of mystery novels, she approaches children’s difficulties and subsequent intervention as a puzzle to solve. She works with families to figure out all of the relevant pieces to their child’s puzzle, addressing each one through treatment to help them get back on track. Dr. Donohue is excited to offer psychological testing services for children and young adolescents as an additional tool to better understand their strengths and needs.
In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Donohue has a passion for teaching others about the field of developmental psychology and evidenced based treatment approaches. As an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, she continues to help train future child and adolescent psychologists and psychiatrists. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and three children. They like having fun outdoors, taking their dog for walks, watching Nationals baseball, and family trips to the beach.
Tara Mechlin, LCSW-C
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Mrs. Mechlin grew up in Maryland and Virginia and received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Longwood University. After college, she worked for a treatment foster care agency in Columbia, Maryland where she learned about what children and families experience in the child welfare system. She then joined the Resident Teaching Program in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Mrs. Mechlin worked as a full-time classroom teacher while completing coursework to earn a Maryland teaching certificate in early childhood education. Through her work experience in the foster care and education systems, Mrs. Mechlin realized she wanted to return to school to focus on helping children who were experiencing emotional and behavioral issues. She received a Master’s of Social Work with concentrations in clinical practice and mental health from the University of Maryland. Upon graduation, she began working as an outpatient therapist at the University of Maryland Medical Center Outpatient Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic. Mrs. Mechlin is nationally certified in trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) and has completed training in Strengthening Family Coping Resources (SFCR) and Barkley behavior management skills.
In addition to her clinic work, Mrs. Mechlin has provided therapy supervision to child psychiatry fellows completing their in-clinic training. She believes that children enter treatment with many existing strengths, and that these strengths are the foundation for positive growth. Aside from her dedicated work helping children and families, Mrs. Mechlin enjoys spending time with her husband and friends. Her other interests include: traveling, exercise, watching the Baltimore Ravens, and baking.