Paul Lyons has worked in the field of specialized counseling and assessment since 1979. Paul began his career in Holyoke during the Massachusetts Deinstitutionalization Movement, transitioning youth incarcerated in secure juvenile justice and hospital settings to Community Based Treatment programs.. Paul worked as an outreach crisis counselor and later, for 25 years, as a therapist, counseling children, youth and families and helping to develop intensive community based residential and foster care programs.
He earned certification as a Certified Juvenile Court Clinician working with the Franklin/Hampshire Juvenile Court and as a Qualified Diagnostician for Massachusetts Behavioral Health Partnership as a result of his assessment and counseling specialties working with youth and families with firesetting and sexual behavior problems. He assists and consults to the Northwest District Attorney’s Office in their NoFires Juvenile FireSetter Intervention Program in collaboration with participating fire departments throughout western massachusetts.
Paul, a Certified School Adjustment Counselor/Social Worker, recently retired from the Amherst Public Schools in Special Education after 13 years. Paul is a Vietnam Era Army Veteran and serves on the Board of Directors of the Veterans Education Project located in Amherst. V.E.P. provides first person classroom educational lessons presented by veteran speakers to numerous schools and institutions about the lessons and consequences of war and ways to identify and manage trauma. Paul has worked for 39 years in collaboration with many area schools, juvenile/district courts and state institutions.
He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Massachusetts and Antioch University. He has a Masters Degree in Education and is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor.