01 · Who Pam works with

Pam works with stress, Anxiety, family conflicts and trauma and abuse

Pam lists 17 specialisms and 28 further focus areas. Specialisms are the subjects Pam chose to list first, which is the closest a listing gets to “this is my actual practice”.

02 · In Pam's own words

What Pam says about the work

Reproduced in full and unedited - not summarised, not tightened, not rewritten in a house voice.

Pam Bolarinho, LICSW, currently a full time VP of Acute Care Services. I have worked in the field of social work for twenty plus years in various clinical support and leadership roles. I started her career as a social worker with the Healthy Families Program and then as a social worker for the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families until obtaining her Master’s Degree in Social Work from Bridgewater State University where I was also the Class Representative for her MSW cohort. In addition to my role as the ESP Director for the past three years, my prior experience includes working as the Clinical Director for inpatient psychiatric facility as well as the Social Work Manager at an acute medical hospital for over seven years. I am a proud Portuguese American who immigrated to the United States at age five. SI have have dedicated my life to helping those in need, especially the most vulnerable populations. I have been working closely with many community providers including the Suicide Prevention Coalition, Help & Hope Southcoast, Labor & Human Trafficking, and Opioid Taskforce to name a few. I was instrumental in starting a co-response program with the local Police Department nearly three years ago resulting in over 400 patient’s being seen in the community as part of the co-response model; I am proud of the great work that program is doing in keeping over sixty-five percent of those individuals home who may have otherwise ended up in a local emergency room. I have worked closely with individual providers, community agencies, local police departments and with the Massachusetts Behavioral Health Partnership and Beacon Health Options in identifying ways to continue to divert patients from seeking the emergency room as their first line for their behavioral health needs.

I have always been a patient centered/strength based clinician and find that when you take that approach people tend to respond to treatment in a positive way with positive outcomes. Throughout my career I have worked with trauma victims, end of life, foster care/adoption, individual suffers from reactive attachment disorder, elders, adults suffering from addiction as well as ongoing mental health and chronic mental health.

Pam Bolarinho, on the BetterHelp listing · read 7 Oct 2026

03 · How Pam works

The 6 approaches Pam lists, in plain English

These are the clinical methods Pam lists. The descriptions are Maker Therapy's, not Pam's - a general explanation of what each method is, so the list means something before you have spoken to anybody. They are not a claim about how Pam runs a session.

Client-Centred TherapyPerson-centred · Rogerian

The therapist does not steer toward a technique or a diagnosis. They offer sustained, non-judgemental attention and reflect back what they hear, on the premise that people find their own direction when they are genuinely listened to. Often what people mean by “someone who just gets it”.

Cognitive Behavioural TherapyCBT

Structured, present-focused work on the loop between what you think, how you feel and what you then do. Usually means noticing a thought pattern in the room, testing it against evidence, and practising something different between sessions. Among the most heavily researched talking therapies for depression and anxiety.

Motivational InterviewingMI

A way of talking about change with somebody who is genuinely in two minds about it. The therapist does not argue for the change; they help you say your own reasons out loud, which is the part that predicts whether it happens. Common around substance use and health behaviour.

Narrative Therapy

Treats the story you tell about your life as something that can be examined and retold rather than as the plain facts. Separates the person from the problem - “the anxiety” rather than “your anxiety” - to make room for the parts the current story leaves out.

Solution-Focused Brief TherapySFBT

Starts from where you want to end up rather than from how you got here. Sessions look for the times the problem is already smaller and work out what is different about those, so the number of sessions tends to be short and the work concrete.

Trauma-Focused TherapyTF-CBT · trauma-informed

CBT adapted for people whose difficulty is rooted in a frightening or overwhelming event. Pacing is the point: safety and stabilisation come first, the memory itself is approached gradually and only when you are ready, and the aim is that recalling it stops hijacking the present.

04 · What happens next

From this page to a first session

Pam practises through BetterHelp, so the route in is BetterHelp's. This is that sequence, written by Maker Therapy from the platform's published process - not a description of Pam's own practice, and not a promise about how quickly anything happens.

1. A questionnaire, not a booking form

   BetterHelp opens with a set of questions about what you are dealing with, what you want from therapy, and any preferences on the therapist. You are not booking Pam at this point.

2. Naming Pam specifically

   BetterHelp matches algorithmically by default, so asking for Pam is a step you have to take. There is a field for requesting a specific therapist during sign-up, and you can switch afterwards from your account. Starting from a link on this page does not by itself assign you to Pam.

3. If the caseload is full

   You will be offered somebody else rather than put on a waitlist. Worth knowing, because it is easy to assume a match is the person you asked for.

4. The first conversation

   A first session is typically history and orientation: what brought you, what has been tried, what you want to be different. It is also where the questions in the next section belong.

5. If the fit is wrong

   Changing therapist on BetterHelp does not need a reason. A first session that does not click is common and is not a verdict on therapy. That option existing is the main practical difference between a platform and a private practice.

05 · Before you commit

4 questions worth asking Pam

Built from what Pam actually lists, so they are answerable and specific rather than generic. Maker Therapy's, not Pam's - Pam has not seen them and is under no obligation to answer any of them.

• “You list both Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Client-Centred Therapy. Which do you lean on with someone like me?”

  Those two point in different directions - one structured and led by the therapist, the other led by you. The answer tells you what the sessions will actually feel like.

• “How do you decide when someone is ready to work on a traumatic memory itself?”

  Pacing is the biggest safety question in trauma work. A clear, unhurried answer here matters more than any credential.

• “With 20 years in, what has changed most in how you work?”

  Long experience is only an advantage if it has been examined. This tends to surface whether it has.

• “How do you handle the gap between sessions if something comes up?”

  On BetterHelp this varies a great deal by therapist. Better to know the rhythm now than to discover it on a bad week.

06 · Practical details

Credentials and licensing

Credential

LICSW

Licensed in

Massachusetts

Licence

MA LICSW LICSW115631

Licence number

LICSW115631

Licence expires

22 May 2027

NPI

1407339484

Years in practice

20

Gender

Female

Languages

English, Portuguese

International clients

Not accepted

Listed since

15 May 2026

07 · Provenance

Where every line on this page came from

Pam's name, credential, state, subjects, approaches and biography are read from BetterHelp's therapist roster, which Maker Therapy re-reads once a day; this page reflects the reading taken on 7 Oct 2026. The licence number and NPI are cross-checked against public registers.

The plain-English method descriptions, the first-session walkthrough and the questions are written by Maker Therapy and labelled as such wherever they appear.

Maker Therapy is not BetterHelp, does not take bookings, and has not met Pam. There are no reviews or ratings on this page because we have no way to verify one. If you start therapy through a link here, we may be paid a commission - it does not change your price and it does not affect who appears here or in what order.

Something on this page wrong or out of date? Report it and it will be checked against the source.