Residential life at Spaulding is filled with the hallmarks of growing up – attending public school, sports and dance lessons, afterschool activities, learning to drive, encountering natural consequences when behavior steps over a line, discovering who you are, and so on. Amanda Champagne, vice president of family services, says that creating that at-home atmosphere and engagement within the community have been her top priorities as she works with her team to foster the stability and sense of belonging that is essential to child development.
Under her leadership, the residential program morphed from one that felt institutional – with points, levels, and strict rules and practices – to one that wraps children in a homelike setting filled with warmth and support. She summarized the results in one word – amazing! “Kids can relax and heal. If they don’t feel safe and at peace, then they are still in a place of crisis and can’t work on a treatment plan,” she explains.
Behaviorists, clinicians and health services providers are woven into daily life at the cottage residences. Amanda explains that Spaulding’s residential, clinical, behavioral and health programs were once siloed. When she became executive director of family services in 2020, she made it her mission to integrate the four departments into one unified residential program. “We now have a Family Service Department that has clinical, behavioral, health and community-based services that are integrated into everything we do,” she explains.
Amanda looks back at her almost 25-year career at Spaulding and laughs that she would never have predicted that she would be where she is today. Her cousin had attended Spaulding and her mother worked here, but she planned on taking a different path. While she was figuring out her next step after high school, she took a per diem job in Spaulding’s residential program. “I had experienced Spaulding through my cousin, but being part of the mission was different. It just really spoke to me. You could feel the inclusiveness, authenticity and passion. Helping the kids reach a point where they are ok with who they are is incredible.”
Amanda joined Spaulding in 2000. Since then, she has filled multiple roles, including residential assistant, residential counselor, shift leader, program secretary, assistant director of residential services, and director of residential services. In 2020, she was named executive director of family services and became vice president of family services in 2023. Along the way, she raised three children as a single mother as well as a stepson and received her B.A. in psychology from Granite State College, an M.A. in psychology dual major child and adolescent development from Southern NH University (SNHU), and an M.B.A. from SNHU. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in education from Capella University.
Amanda also serves as an adjunct faculty member at the University of New Hampshire and teaches in the continuing education program for foster families and employees at New Hampshire’s Division of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF). Inspired by Spaulding’s own experience becoming accredited by CARF® International, an independent, nonprofit accreditor of health and human services organizations, Amanda trained to become a CARF peer surveyor. She began serving as a CARF surveyor in 2024.
Amanda’s accomplishments were recognized in 2023 by New Hampshire Business Review’s Outstanding Women in Business Award. Her multiple roles admittedly keep her extremely busy, but Amanda wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Whenever I wonder if I want to do something else, I go hang out with the kids at Spaulding and it reminds me why I am doing this,” she said.
