Monique Holeyfield (M. L. Holly)
Monique Holeyfield was born December 2, 1958, which means she's 56 and proud of it. She was born and raised in Stamford, Connecticut, moved to Tennessee about 20 years ago, and is still not a country girl yet! She went to college at Chattanooga State and UTC. Her Masters (psychology specializing in addiction) was received from Capella University. Her life experience as a 20 plus years recovering addict after a 16-year crack addiction had her well prepared for this degree.
All three of her degrees put her in the front lines to help others. Bonus: she also has a degree in mechanical drafting and blueprinting and was a consultant for partnership working with boys in state custody in a personally created program. Obviously she does not work for the big bucks within a non-profit organization; however, helping others to cross the bridges of “I can’t” to the bridges of “I can” (her personal motto) seems to outweigh the money factor at this time.
As a writer she has contributed monthly articles for the former Chattanooga Health and Wellness magazine, and has been a contributing writer for The Metro. She has published two books (Letters from Prison and Swimming in Addiction) and has written poetry since the third grade.
She is presently employed (since 2002) at a local mental health center as Clinical Services Coordinator, Psychologist, and Supervisor of Case Management. Her previous positions with the mental health center have included Case Manager, Child Behavioral Specialist/Life Skills Teacher (at Jasper Elementary), Crisis Coordinator, Psych Technician, and Life Skills Educator for A&D. Prior to working at the mental health center she was a pre-school teacher and Intervention Specialist.
Monique has a great desire to continue learning new things about this, that, and the other, a habit instilled in her by her mother since childhood. Because working in the mental health field can be overwhelming, stressful, and sometimes depressing, activities not related to mental health are taken seriously. Serving as Vice President of the CWG is a great way to stay close to writing and keep her mind out of mental health when not at the office working.
Besides writing and mental health, she loves to travel, especially by plane. If there was one thing people should know about Monique it would be that she always thinks outside of the box for anything thing she does or creates. One of her favorite things to do is to create out of the box programs for churches and other entities. She has also organized events/programs for church and work.
One of her highlight moments was a full-coverage article written about her transformation from addict to successful recovering addict in Figure Magazine, and her future goals are to become a full-time writer and guest speaker and to find that special guy while she can still move on her own.
All three of her degrees put her in the front lines to help others. Bonus: she also has a degree in mechanical drafting and blueprinting and was a consultant for partnership working with boys in state custody in a personally created program. Obviously she does not work for the big bucks within a non-profit organization; however, helping others to cross the bridges of “I can’t” to the bridges of “I can” (her personal motto) seems to outweigh the money factor at this time.
As a writer she has contributed monthly articles for the former Chattanooga Health and Wellness magazine, and has been a contributing writer for The Metro. She has published two books (Letters from Prison and Swimming in Addiction) and has written poetry since the third grade.
She is presently employed (since 2002) at a local mental health center as Clinical Services Coordinator, Psychologist, and Supervisor of Case Management. Her previous positions with the mental health center have included Case Manager, Child Behavioral Specialist/Life Skills Teacher (at Jasper Elementary), Crisis Coordinator, Psych Technician, and Life Skills Educator for A&D. Prior to working at the mental health center she was a pre-school teacher and Intervention Specialist.
Monique has a great desire to continue learning new things about this, that, and the other, a habit instilled in her by her mother since childhood. Because working in the mental health field can be overwhelming, stressful, and sometimes depressing, activities not related to mental health are taken seriously. Serving as Vice President of the CWG is a great way to stay close to writing and keep her mind out of mental health when not at the office working.
Besides writing and mental health, she loves to travel, especially by plane. If there was one thing people should know about Monique it would be that she always thinks outside of the box for anything thing she does or creates. One of her favorite things to do is to create out of the box programs for churches and other entities. She has also organized events/programs for church and work.
One of her highlight moments was a full-coverage article written about her transformation from addict to successful recovering addict in Figure Magazine, and her future goals are to become a full-time writer and guest speaker and to find that special guy while she can still move on her own.