Claudia received her undergraduate degree in sociology from Thiel College and her Masters from the University of Houston. She has worked in human services for over 20 years. She worked for the Colorado Governor’s Office for four years. The Colorado Department of Human Services has employed her since 1991.   She served as the developer and director of Colorado Family Centers for ten years. Claudia also served as Director of Children’s Health and Rehabilitation Services and recently was appointed as Manager, Early Childhood Mental Health Programs within the Division of Behavioral Health Services.

Claudia served as principal investigator for several grants related to early childhood mental health including Project BLOOM, the first system of care grant in the nation to explicitly focus on young children. She co-chaired and co-wrote Colorado’s Blue Ribbon Policy Council State Strategic Plan for Early Childhood Mental Health. She currently oversees a statewide network of early childhood specialists placed at each one of Colorado’s publicly funded mental health centers. She has written and presented on the topic of early childhood mental health policy development within the state and at national conferences.