Sharon Dietsche, LISCW, LCSW-C joined Embark in 2021 as Executive Director of the Tysons Corner clinic.
Sharon has dedicated her 30-year career to creating healthier families and communities. Her endeavors started in the child welfare field in Orlando, Florida, as a foster care and adoptions counselor. After receiving her Masters, she began her clinical work at Edgewood Center for Children and Families in San Francisco where she led clinical treatment teams serving children and families with severe trauma histories. Then, as Director, Mental Health, she served as one of the creative forces in the development of Our Second Home, an early childhood family resource center south of the city.
From California, Sharon’s career brought her to the national capital area, where she joined the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) in 2009 as a Senior Practice Associate. Her work focused on school social work, behavioral health, and child, adolescent, and family issues. Among other accomplishments, she led the development of the NASW standards for social work practice with clients with substance use disorders and the NASW policy statement on adolescent and young adult health.
Sharon then served as Director, Prevention & Early Intervention at the DC Department of Behavioral Health. There she oversaw early childhood, school-based mental health, and substance use prevention programs. She transitioned to her next position in 2020 as Director, Program Operations for the Center for Adoption Support and Education where she oversaw all direct services for the organization.
Sharon holds a Bachelors and Masters in Social Work from the University of Central Florida and in 2020 earned certification in Leading Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from Northwestern University. Since 2004, she has served as a subject matter expert in the development of the professional social work licensing exams in California and with the Association of Social Work Boards.
Sharon and her husband Tom are parents to three children. Their youngest joined their family in 2018 through international adoption. They currently reside in Silver Spring, Maryland.