Experts Guide

Ana Liza Cisneros-Howard is a behavioral health therapist based in Albemarle. In addition to providing individual therapy for children, teens and adults, she facilitates three therapeutic adult groups and co-facilitates one Dialectical Behavior Therapy group for adults weekly.

During the school year, she provides school-based therapy in several schools in Stanly County several mornings per week.

She began her career in mental health at Monarch in 2009 after earning a Masters of Social Work from the University of North Carolina. Cisneros-Howard is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and is currently receiving supervision to become a Licensed Clinical Addiction Specialist (LCAS).
Cisneros-Howard became a Registered Play Therapist (RPT) in 2014, an area focused on treating children who experience trauma through play therapy. She is also trained to work with adults who have experienced trauma. Cisneros-Howard has worked on an Intensive In-Home Team and a Day Treatment Team both focused on children and their families.

Cisneros-Howard lives in Charlotte with her husband and their Maltese dog named London.

Amanda Matthews is a psychologist for Monarch actively supporting, educating, and empowering individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

She has presented at numerous professional conferences, most recently including both the 2014 Spring and Fall North Carolina Training, Instruction, Development, and Education (NC TIDE) Conferences, the 2013 National Adolescent Perpetration Network (NAPN) International Conference, and the 2012 Spring North Carolina Juvenile Services Association (NCJSA) Conference.

Matthews graduated Summa Cum Laude from Dartmouth College, with a B.S., with Honors, in Psychological and Brain Sciences. She received her M.A. in Counseling Psychology at the University of Notre Dame.

She is also a board member of the North Carolina Association for the Management and Treatment of Sexual Offenders (NCAMTSO).

Mary Beth Young is the Assertive Community Treatment Team Lead (ACTT) for Davidson and Rowan counties, which involves supervising a team of multi-disciplinary professionals who support individuals with severe and persistent mental illness in their homes and in the community.

Young worked for Monarch from 2007 to 2010 as a Clinical Program Manager and then a therapist. In 2008, Monarch honored her with the Eula B. Cranford Professional of the Year Award. She returned to Monarch in 2016 to serve in her current role.

For the first half of her career, she worked with children and adolescents who experienced trauma and displayed severe emotional and behavioral issues. Since then, she has focused on being an administrator and working with individuals who have complex clinical issues. Her volunteer experience includes training caregivers in Senegal, Ukraine, and Haiti on how to work with young people who have experienced trauma.

Young’s areas of expertise include trauma, working with individuals who demonstrate complex clinical issues, and serving as an administrator. She has written two chapters published in the book “Healing for Hurting Hearts: A Handbook for Counseling Children and Youth in Crisis”; one titled Basic Counseling Skills and the other Healing Through Focused Play.

Young earned a Masters of Social Work (MSW) from University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and has been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) for 21 years. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends.