- Client-centered approach
- Cognitive behavioral tools
- Motivational interviewing
About Pam
Pam Bolarinho, LICSW, is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker in Massachusetts with 20 years of experience. She works with adults facing stress, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, relationship problems, grief, and family-related concerns. She also helps people dealing with addiction, parenting strain, eating and intimacy-related issues, and career or life changes.
Before moving into leadership roles, Pam began her career as a social worker with the Healthy Families Program and with the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families. She earned a Master of Social Work from Bridgewater State University and served as her MSW cohort class representative. Those frontline roles shaped how she approaches clinical work today.
In later roles she led clinical teams in acute and inpatient settings. Her experience includes serving as a clinical director for an inpatient psychiatric facility and as a social work manager at an acute medical hospital for more than seven years. She currently works full time as a VP of Acute Care Services and continues collaborative work with community partners and first responders.
Pam has been involved in community initiatives such as suicide prevention, labor and human trafficking response, and opioid task force efforts. She helped develop a co-response program with a local police department that expanded community-based care and reduced emergency room use for many people.
Her clinical style emphasizes a patient-centered, strength-based approach. She draws on methods like client-centered work, cognitive behavioral techniques, motivational interviewing, narrative therapy, and solution-focused tools. She speaks English and Portuguese and has particular experience with adoption and foster care, attachment issues, blended family concerns, caregiver stress, and family of origin issues.
How Pam’s approaches translate to online work
Client-centered therapy focuses on the person’s perspective. It emphasizes listening and reflecting so people can clarify their priorities and feel heard. That approach can help when family patterns feel confusing or overwhelming.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at how thoughts, feelings, and actions connect. It uses practical strategies and short exercises to change unhelpful patterns. CBT is often useful for anxiety, depression, and stress that link back to family messages or coping habits.
Motivational Interviewing helps people resolve mixed feelings about change. It uses guided conversation to build motivation for concrete steps, which can be helpful for addictions, caregiving stress, or major life transitions.
Choosing the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will review goals, preferences, and what has or hasn’t helped before. That conversation shapes whether sessions use client-centered listening, CBT tools, motivational interviewing, or a mix of techniques.
Session formats are not listed in the biography, so please confirm available options before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit sessions into daily life, shorten check-ins when time is limited, or offer alternatives to in-person visits when travel is difficult. Licensed professionals can adapt exercises and homework to an online setting so progress continues between meetings.
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
20+ years
Listed in
Massachusetts
Languages
English, Portuguese
Frequently asked questions
Which concerns does she address related to family patterns?
She works with family of origin issues, blended family concerns, attachment and communication problems. Pam also supports people coping with grief, loss, and relationship strain.
What is her therapeutic style?
Her work is patient centered and strength based. She uses client-centered methods alongside practical therapies such as CBT and solution-focused work.
How much clinical experience does she have?
She has 20 years of social work experience across direct clinical roles and leadership positions in acute services and inpatient care.
What credentials and location apply to her practice?
She holds an MA and is a LICSW based in Massachusetts.
Does she work in languages other than English?
Sessions are offered in English and Portuguese.
Can I book virtual or phone sessions with her?
Session formats are not specified here. Please confirm the current session options before booking.
How are fees handled?
Cost varies by location and sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
What are the first steps to begin working together?
Select the See online therapy options button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and schedule a first session.
Online talk therapy is not emergency care. If you are in danger, use the emergency numbers. Looking for someone else? Find them by surname.