Melanie Torno

Experience

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  Rapid City Area Schools, Knollwood Elementary

  Aug 2004 - Jun 2006

  Family Support Counselor

  Melanie provided support to elementary students and their families through individual, group, and family counseling, crisis intervention,truancy prevention, promoting parental involvement, collaboration with community agencies and resources, advocating for the success of students served, and home visits. Other duties included attending MDAT/TAT meetings, chairing red ribbon week committee, and participating in the Family Leadership Institute.

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  Douglas School District

  Aug 2006 - Jun 2012

  Family Services

  Melanie provided support to families of students in the Douglas School District through referrals for counseling and financial assistance, collaborating with community agencies, crisis intervention, reporting abuse and neglect, and home visits. Other duties included attending child study meetings, completing social history assessments for special education evaluations, and advocating for the services that would assist the student and the student’s family.

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  Torno Mediation & Mental Health Services

  Nov 2012 - now

  Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Custody Evaluator, Mediator, and Parent Coordinator

  Melanie provides divorce and custody mediation and mental health counseling services in a compassionate environment by a competent, fair, and direct mediator & counselor. She empowers parents to create or revise detailed parenting plans, including a visitation schedule, in a safe, professional, and confidential manner. Melanie also provides individual, family, group, and marriage counseling with expertise in abuse and trauma, play therapy, family concerns, domestic violence, marriage and relationship counseling, crisis situations, children and adolescence issues, depression and anxiety, transitions of blended families, women's issues, and cutting and self-injurious behavior.Melanie graduated from Black Hills State University in 2001 with a Bachelors of Science in Psychology and Human Services and graduated from South Dakota State University in 2004 with a Masters of Science in Counseling and Human Resource Development. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor - Mental Health (LPC-MH), Qualified Mental Health Provider (QMHP), certified school counselor, certified and court approved mediator, and a sand tray play therapist. Melanie has worked in trauma facilities, residential settings, alcohol and drug treatment facilities, and in local school districts. She has been devoted to serving families and the human services field for the past 18 years.“Along with my training in divorce and custody mediation, I have experienced all sides of a divorce and the mediation process. I have been the child in the middle, the mother on one side, and the stepmother observing my husband as the father on the other side. I do not have the belief that one gender of parents are better than the other or that all situations are the same. Each parenting plan needs to address the individual needs of the children and family involved. There is not a cookie cutter recipe for all families.” ~ Melanie Torno Show less

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  City of Summerset

  Apr 2021 - now

  Mayor