About Meredith Flanagan, LICSW

My name is Meredith Flanagan, I am a LICSW (Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker) and Mental Health Professional with more than 20 years of experience as a social worker, educator, therapist, and community organizer. I have worked in a variety of fields such as domestic violence and crisis intervention, developmental disabilities, healthcare, and public education. Among my proudest achievements is being an RPCV (Returned Peace Corps Corps Volunteer), serving in Ecuador and Honduras.

My passion is turning life’s challenges and roadblocks into opportunities and strengths that drive us forward creating new and exciting possibilities. My website and blog, upsidedownflan.com reflect this strengths-based approach to life that I work to bring to my clients and staff.

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

— Mahatma Gandhi

My Experience

I have been in clinical practice for over 10 years and work primarily with clients who battle depression, anxiety, ADHD, PTSD, and adjustment disorder. In addition to my clinical work, I have been working in the field of public education for the past 8 years and currently hold a position as a Special Education Administrator. My intimate connection to Latin America and other world cultures (3 years living and working in England and Switzerland and 3 years in Latin America) helps me bridge the gaps between systems and the communities I work in, creating greater access to support and information.

My professional education and training began at Siena College from where I earned a BSW, I also have an MSW from the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work and recently earned an Advanced Certificate of Graduate Studies from Salem State University in Educational Leadership. Check out my linked in profile here for more information about my work and qualifications.

However, my credentials are not just in the degrees, certifications, licenses, and trainings I have attended, it is also in the lived experience of someone who has also struggled with and overcome depression. This life experience has been my greatest teacher and coupled with my professional background gives me the personal perspective as well as the professional know-how to support you through your life’s ups and downs.

My Work

Being a social worker is at the core of my work where I support the life journey of my clients, students, and families as they manage the ups and downs that life throws at us. In schools, I support teachers, students, and parents alike as they navigate their own upside-downs of life. In my clinical practice, I have the opportunity to work with people individually to create a life that they want.

My Adventures

I am and have always been an avid adventurer and wanderer. I love the outdoors, I love adventure and I love the thrill (and challenge) of personal struggle in the natural world. I see these struggles and challenges as parallel to many of the mental health struggles, many of us encounter in our lives. It is also one of the ways in which I have worked to embrace all of which I write about here in this blog.

I crave change and challenge and whether I am in my home state of Massachusetts or in some far-flung corner of the world, I look for it and it sustains me. When I don’t know what to do, I go outside!

Lots More To Come

My personal struggles with depression have helped me to understand life and its mysterious twists and turns…. it motivates me and drives me to bring you all of that which I have spent my life learning personally and professionally. I hope you will join me on this journey by joining the Upside Down Flan community here. There’s lots more coming… I am just getting started! 😉