Carla M. Saccone

Prior to joining Children’s Friend and Family Services in August, 2009 as President and CEO, Carla Saccone was Vice President of Programs for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC) beginning in October, 2003. In this capacity, she provided program leadership to a 129 year old, private non-profit children’s agency dedicated to preventing child abuse and neglect.

Previously, Ms. Saccone was the North East Area Director of the Department of Mental Health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for two years. In this capacity, she was responsible for a broad network of mental health services. She oversaw the Area’s state operated and contracted mental health services. This system of care had an operating budget of $75M which included a state operated 144 bed continuing care inpatient facility as well as outpatient, community, residential and case management services. She provided leadership and direction regarding initiatives relative to diversity and cultural competence, major policy making decisions and collaborative management, employee, client and provider relations. Ms. Saccone served the Department of Mental Health in several leadership capacities for nearly 25 years.

Ms. Saccone holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Boston University, School of Social Work and Social Welfare and is a licensed social worker.

Suzanne Gruhl

Suzanne is a CPA with over 20 years of nonprofit auditing and operational experience. As Director of Nonprofit Services for a Boston-based CPA firm and as CFO for a major nonprofit organization, Suzanne has not only advised but managed nonprofit organizations for most of her professional career. She is active in the North Shore nonprofit community and has served on the Boards of a number of organizations. She holds an MBA from Boston University. Suzanne joined Children's Friend in August 2005.

Diane Young, LMHC

Diane is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with Master’s Degrees in Counseling Psychology and Early Childhood Education. She has been at Children’s Friend for 6 years. During the past three years, she had been Site Director of the Salem Site where she managed the largest site and had a clinical staff of 15 Master’s level clinicians. Currently, Diane is now the Vice President of Clinical Services and oversees four Site Directors and a staff of 70 clinicians, as well as oversight for our Youth Mentoring, Teen Parent and Juvenile Court Clinic Programs. Diane has a strong background in emergency psychiatric work and was trained in an inpatient psychiatric unit. In addition, Diane is the Program Manager for the organization’s Brief Strategic Family Therapy (BSFT) program, which is based on a family systems approach in treating families with acting out children and adolescents. She went through a rigorous training program and is now a Certified BSFT therapist. Finally, Diane specializes in treating youth who have both learning disabilities and mental health issues.