New Children’s Director Joins New Horizons
Press Release: March 25, 2008
John Romano, CEO of New Horizons, announced that Laura Contrera, LCSW, has the joined the organization as Director of Children’s Services. Contrera is responsible for managing the organizations’ mental health and substance programs that serve children and adolescents in Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee and St. Lucie Counties.
“We are very fortunate to have found someone with Laura’s background,” said Romano. “With her wealth of experience, she is a perfect fit for New Horizons. “
The new director has spent the past five years working for the Department of Children and Families in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Program Office. She served as the Children’s Mental Health Director for Palm Beach County and managed more than five million dollars in contracts for community and residential mental health services for children and families. Prior to her service at DCF, she was a Children’s Targeted Case Manager for South County Mental Health Center in Delray Beach, Florida.
“I have a passion for children,” said Contrera. “And I’m very excited about the opportunity to work with an agency that is committed to expanding services to children and families in the community.”
Contrera has a degree in Fashion Merchandising and graduated with a BA in Marketing from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. After working for almost a decade in the fashion industry in the Big Apple, she came to a crossroads in her career. She discovered that her volunteer work in a soup kitchen…serving the homeless…was much more rewarding than her fashion career. “I learned that it was important to give back,” she said.
She packed up the Gucci bags and shoes, moved to southern Florida, and earned her Master’s Degree in Social Work from Florida International University in North Miami. “When I graduated, I really planned on working with the homeless,” she said. “But, the only opening was as a children’s case manager...I accepted the job and I was hooked.”