ß÷ßäÉçÇø

Laurel Salmon, MS, LMFT, EMDR is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Adjunct Professor in the Marriage and Family Therapy program at ß÷ßäÉçÇø, and she will join the program as Visiting Faculty in Fall 2026. She is a former Chief Executive Officer of CANDLE (Community Awareness Network for a Drug-free Life & Environment), where she led school-based and community mental health programming and helped expand services, including the development of a children’s mental health clinic to increase access to care for youth and families.

Laurel has held clinical leadership roles as a Clinical Supervisor and Clinic Director across multiple settings, including the Center for Safety & Change, SCO Family of Services, and Steinway Child & Family Services. Across her work as a clinician, supervisor, and educator, her through-line is mentorship and advocacy—supporting emerging clinicians while strengthening the systems that shape children’s wellbeing. Her approach is relational, trauma-informed, and equity-centered, with a focus on practical, systems-based interventions that translate directly into real-world care.

Laurel believes that as a society we need to do more to create safety in the systems that children live in by supporting schools, families and youth serving professionals.  In 2016, Laurel published The Four Questions, her framework for integrating oppression analysis into clinical work and clinical supervision. 

She is committed to telling the truth about how racism, sexism, homophobia, classism and all power disparities impact the way we experience the world. She directs a critical eye at our criminal justice system, school systems, political system and media. She has a strong background in socially just mental health treatment, domestic violence and complicated trauma as well as clinical training and education.  

Laurel is a proud Aunt to two adorable little humans and determined to better the world they grow up in!