Meghan Howard
Meghan Howard is a dedicated mental health and social work professional with over 20 years of experience supporting children, youth, and families. She began her career as a student mentor in a Buffalo public school district, gaining firsthand insight into students’ academic and social needs. Meghan then spent several years as a counselor in the mental health field, working with adults before returning to the school setting as a school counselor. She further expanded her expertise as a behavioral intervention specialist, providing direct support to both children and adults diagnosed with mental health or developmental challenges. In June 2015, Meghan joined Hillside Children’s Center, where she began providing direct services to children and quickly advanced through leadership roles. In 2020, she became Care Manager Supervisor for the Children’s Health Home Program, overseeing a team of five care managers across six counties in New York State. Her team serves approximately 90 youth and families, providing care coordination, assessments, and individualized treatment plans to identify strengths and needs, and connecting families to community supports to maintain stability at home and prevent unnecessary hospitalizations. Under her guidance, Meghan’s team consistently earns the highest scores on program file audits, reflecting her commitment to quality and excellence in care. Meghan is passionate not only about the families she serves but also about supporting her team’s well-being and work-life balance. She prioritizes creating a supportive environment where her staff who are all female and many of whom have children can excel professionally while attending to their own families. Meghan encourages her team to put their loved ones first, often taking on extra responsibilities herself so they can participate in school events or family vacations without added stress. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, reading, and spending quality time with her family and dog, bringing the same dedication to her personal life as she does to her professional work.
• Suicide Prevention Training
• Crisis Response Training
• CPR Certification
• Narcan Training
• CANS Assessment Certification
• School Counseling K-12
• Buffalo State University - BA, Psych
• Canisius University - MS, School Counseling
• ASCA
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to understanding the job roles of the people I supervise because I did those roles myself before transitioning to supervisor. I came to the table with ways to assist my team to do their job better and help them so it's not so stressful. Having that background for so long of direct service really helps me understand how to best serve them and support them. I think it's also about developing the team I have now and spending the time to help and assist them to achieve their goals. I felt like it was time to take my own skills and things that I had learned from my previous supervisors and apply them to my own team. I take a personal approach to each one to make sure that I'm helping them get to where they want to be in their careers.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Over, the years I have received some great career advice. However, I think this quote is a great summary of advice I have heard "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." — John Quincy Adams. It’s important as a leader to strive to inspire others to achieve their aspirations.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I think, number one, that you have to be passionate about the field. In this field, we see a lot of people burn out because it can be a stressful field. I think finding their passion of what population they want to work with is important, and even just identifying some of the things that may be a struggle once you get into the role. I think internships are extremely important, especially in undergrad or grad school, so you can kind of get a feel for the day-to-day job responsibilities. I see sometimes kids go to school for this, and they get a degree, and they do all that work, and they get into this and they're like, this isn't what I thought it was gonna be. So I say volunteer, do an internship, get an idea of what you're gonna have to do every day before you do all that work to get there. At the end of the day, you’re going to want to have a job you enjoy and are passionate about.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I would say the greatest challenge is a lack of community supports right now. My team and I have become very creative in finding other ways to assist youth and families with their needs. I go to county meetings a few times every month, and we share resources and ideas, so it's about bringing everybody to the table and bouncing ideas off of each other. It's more of a team approach because our roles are complex and evolving constantly. I try to stay present in the communities that we serve, so I keep up to date on when there's a new practice opening up or a new program that's going to provide a service to our clients, and then educating my staff with new information so they can utilize it in their roles.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
One thing that is extremely important to me is helping my team find a balance between home and work. A lot of times they take on a lot of stress, and they all have their own kids. I try to find a balance between home and work for them. When they say they want to go to their kids' school party or take a family vacation but are concerned about getting all their work done, I will say your family come first. I will offer to take on some of that responsibility so they find a good home-life balance. I think it's hard to be a mom in this field, or just in general, to try to feel like you are doing your best at work and at home. When I'm not at work, I'm normally with my son doing some sort of sport like Taekwondo or baseball, which keeps us very busy. We like to do a lot of family vacations, go to the Outer Banks in North Carolina or Disney.