Meet Our Board of Directors

KATHY TIDWELL, LCSW 
BOARD PRESIDENT & CLINIC DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Kathy founded Tidwell Social Work in 2000 as a mental health clinic specializing in refugee trauma. She has a deep commitment to welcoming refugees and creating places where they feel welcome, safe and free to heal and build a new life. The clinic transitioned to a not-for-profit organization in November of 2014 and she has chaired the Board of Directors since that time. She has been cutting back on her role at the clinic and currently works part-time. Her focus is primarily providing leadership input, clinical supervision for new clinicians and training, particularly around cross-cultural practice and trauma. She has over thirty years of post-graduate mental health and child welfare experience in Idaho. Over the course of her career she has worked as a clinical social worker, clinical supervisor, manager, business owner and consultant.

Slobodonka Hodzic is originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina. She came to USA as a refugee in 1996. She moved first to Twin Falls, Idaho, and relocate to Boise in 2001. Ms. Hodzic started working with Agency for New Americans in April 2001 as a Case Manager, and she has been in Assistant Director position from 2003. Ms. Hodzic graduated from Boise State University, majoring in Accountancy, in 2014. Ms. Hodzic was honored to become a member of Tidwell Social Work Service & Consulting Board of Directors because Ms. Hodzic has been working with Kathy Tidwell in different capacities from 2001. Ms. Hodzic is honored to be a part of creating a non-for –profit organization that has a long history working and being part of Boise refugee community.

Andrew graduated from Northwest Nazarene University with a Master’s Degree in School Counseling in May of 2018. Andrew has been involved with refugee communities and mental health work for the last ten years. His history includes work as an interpreter supervisor, program director, marketing director, community-based rehabilitation provider, case manager, and public relations officer. Andrew is a member of the Idaho School Counselor Association and is a Credentialed Academic Associate in the Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy.

Michal is Associate Professor of linguistics in the English department at Boise State University. She is the founding director of the Mary Ellen Ryder Linguistics Lab and the Boise Language Project, a project connecting students and faculty with members of the refugee community to document the languages spoken in Boise.

April is an Assistant Professor for the Department of Psychology at Boise State University. Her research interests include family and romantic relationships, family stress and resilience, and intergenerational continuities in socioeconomic conditions among others. Dr. Masarik received her Ph.D. in Human Development and a M.S. in Child Development from UC Davis, and a B.S. in Psychology from Boise State University. Her recent postdoctoral research experience involved the Family Transitions Project, which focused on the identification of genetic, social, and psychological influences on human development.