Micaela B. Costa is a licensed independent clinical social worker in Rhode Island. She graduated magna cum laude and earned a BSW, BA in psychology and MSW from Rhode Island College and a DSW degree with Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.  Currently Micaela is employed by VA Boston Health Care as the Inpatient Mental Health Social Work Supervisor for Inpatient Psychiatry and is a part-time lecturer for Bridgewater State University graduate school of social work. Micaela earned Social Worker of the Year for the VA Boston Health Care System in 2017 and published the article “Use of prolonged exposure therapy in the discharge planning process” in the Journal of Health and Social Work in February 2021.  Micaela’s career interests are in teaching and advancing the field of social work to improve the quality of care provided to our nation’s veterans.