About Us
Mission
Equip school clinicians with knowledge, support, and strategies that ensure students have equitable access to high-quality, culturally nuanced, and integrated mental health and wellness services.
Vision
For every DC public school student to experience mental wellness.
Guiding Principles
In content and structure, we center mitigating health inequities in disproportionately impacted communities.
From prevention to treatment, we emphasize teaching the continuum of mental wellness.
We leverage the collective wisdom of multi-sectoral school mental health professionals.
We elevate student, family & community voices that continuously inform our work.
A healthy mindset promotes clinician resilience, retention, and compassion, and we achieve this through self and collective care.
MOMENTUM INSTILLS ITS GUIDING PRINCIPLES THROUGH:
QUARTERLY LEARNING SESSIONS that are practical and experiential with multi-sectoral instructors
MENTORSHIP AND COHORT BUILDING that emphasizes relationships to enhance trust and growth
CLINICAL SUPERVISION that invites reflection, curiosity, and critical thinking
PRE-LEARNING SESSION, salon-style dinners
CAPSTONE PROJECT to support specialized expertise to advance the mental health community
A DEEP DIVE into DC history through the DC History Center
Our Team
Marisa Parrella, LICSW, LCSW-C
Founder and Executive Director
My professional journey has been defined by a commitment to the well being of children and families in Washington, DC, and beyond for 25 years as a clinical social worker, program designer, and implementation specialist. Through empathic leadership and a continuous growth mindset, I developed resilient and impactful clinical teams. I have been privileged to witness firsthand the profound impact of embedding culturally nuanced care and trauma-informed practices into team culture.
Healing in children necessitates not only a healthy and resilient team culture but also a blend of deep empathy, cultural curiosity, and multi sectoral collaboration with both public and private partners. I’ve come to appreciate the transformative power of fostering connections among practitioners, partners, and communities and aligning those practices with the social drivers of health.
The MOMENTUM Residency is not just an extension of my work—it is a culmination of learning hard lessons, overcoming challenges, and celebrating successes. This program is a labor of love, born from discussions with a small team of passionate and dedicated practitioners huddled in my living room. In that intimate space, we shared not just professional expertise but also our identities, perspectives, experiences, and talents. We learned, unlearned, made mistakes, and emerged as a connected, impactful, and resilient group.
The MOMENTUM Residency model draws from these experiences and relationships. The model reflects not only what we learned but the importance of the honest and respectful process in which we learned it.
Chauncey Brown
Recruitment and Operations Specialist
For over 12 years, I’ve championed diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) across education, nonprofit leadership, and public service. I spent five impactful years in Washington, DC, as a kindergarten teacher and instructional coach with Teach For America, serving both charter and public schools across our nation’s capital. These experiences deepened my belief that inclusive environments are essential for student success and fueled my passion for creating spaces where all children can thrive.
In 2024, I earned an Ed.M. in Education Policy and Analysis from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, where I served as an Equity and Inclusion Fellow. During this time, I also worked with Boston Public Schools as a Graduate Equity Fellow and interned with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, developing initiatives to advance equity in urban education.
As an Education Pioneers Strategy and Operations Fellow with MOMENTUM, I am excited to be returning to the district! My focus is to build the strategic vision of MOMENTUM, expanding its impact across the district and equipping our residents with the tools necessary for them to thrive in their roles as they work to create environments where every child can succeed.
The MOMENTUM Residency Planning Advisors
Olga Acosta Price, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Prevention and Community Health Director, Center for Health and Health Care in Schools (CHHCS) at Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University
Advisor
Colin Stewart, MD
Training Director, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
MS3 Psychiatry Clerkship Director
Georgetown University Medical Center/MedStar Georgetown University Hospital
Matthew Biel, M.D., M.Sc.
Marriott Chair of Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health
Professor, Vice Chair and Division Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Georgetown University Medical Center/MedStar Georgetown University Hospital
Karimah Ware Edwards, Psy.D.
Licensed Psychologist
Executive Director
MedStar Georgetown Center for Wellbeing in School Environments (WISE Center)
Advisor
Kerry Savage
Director of Policy and Advocacy at PAVE – Parents Amplifying Voices in Education
