Since spring 1999, Clohessy, 38, has worked for the Lee Pesky Learning Center, a non-profit organization in Boise that helps identify and remediate learning disabilities, such as dyslexia and attention deficit disorder.  Most of the Center's clients are children.

As Director of Educational and Clinical Services, she directs and supervises a staff of 13, as well as evaluates and counsels clients of her own. Before joining the Center, Clohessy worked five years in private practice.  Her training focused on early childhood development and neuropsychology - understanding the relationship between the brain and behavior.

"With the size of Boise, it's difficult to specialize too much in private practice, so I was doing a broader practice than I wanted," Clohessy said.  "That's part of the reason the Center was such a good fit for me."

Clohessy is also the breadwinner for her family.  Her husband, Steve, stays home fulltime with their two sons, so trading the inconsistency of private practice with the security of a steady paycheck has been an easy transition, she said.

"The Center allows me to focus my interest on learning disabilities, which ties into my background in child development - and specifically cognitive development," Clohessy said.  She considers her work a calling.  "Much of it is administrative and management, but I work with kids, too, and teach a course for teachers, addressing social and emotional needs in the classroom," Clohessy said.  "If a teacher has a student with special needs, this class shows them how to support that student, and help with the development of the other students."

Clohessy has served on the Continuing Education Committee for the Idaho Psychology Association for three years, and has chaired the committee for two years.  "It's a natural extension of what we do at the center, she said.  "It's a way to give back.  My committee helps sponsor workshops for psychologists to receive continuing education credit so they can continue to learn.  The common wisdom in psychology is that 10 years after graduate school, everything you learn is obsolete."

Asked what's next, Clohessy said she hadn't mapped out her career journey, but hoped to further develop her management skills in her current field.  "I have a general interest in continuing to work with children and those who work with children in some capacity," she said.  "My mother has been a good role model for me.  She started out as a teacher, then had several career changes into administration, public television, and executive director of the Boise Philharmonic."

"I want to keep my options open," Clohessy said.  "There's a lot of growth and change than can continue throughout a person's life."