ABOUT OUR FOUNDER 

Pamela J. Samaha, LCSW, received her Master in Social Work from The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. She has over thirty-five years of experience in the mental health field. Ms. Samaha is the founder and executive director of The Child and Family Institute of Fairfield County (formally known as The Center for Attention and Related Disorders).

A graduate of The Catholic University of America, Ms. Samaha maintained a private practice treating children, adolescents and adults for over fifteen years. In addition, she hosted The Pam Samaha Show, a therapy-based, call-in radio show on WLAD for many years. In 1996, due to an unmet community need, Ms. Samaha founded The C.A.R.D. Foundation and The Center for Attention and Related Disorders. (In 2008 she combined these two entities into The Child and Family Institute of Fairfield County). 

Ms. Samaha supervises the clinical therapists at The Child and Family Institute of Fairfield County. In addition, she is a social work field advisor with Fordam University, University of Connecticut, and Western Connecticut State University. Ms. Samaha takes great pride in training social work interns to provide the highest quality of treatment and care that results in sustainable changes in clients’ lives. Ms. Samaha has received extensive post-graduate training in dialectical behavioral therapy, childhood disorders, mindfulness and EMDR.

As executive director of this agency, she is responsible for program development and implementation, grant writing, community awareness and fundraising. Ms. Samaha lectures and provides training to mental health professionals, educators and parents on children’s mental health issues.