Margaret Blaustein, Ph.D

The Director of Training and Education at The Trauma Center at JRI in Brookline, MA.  Dr. Blaustein is a practicing clinical psychologist who specializes in the assessment and treatment of complex childhood trauma.  She is co-developer of the Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency (ARC©; Kinniburgh & Blaustein, 2005) treatment framework, designated a promising practice for treatment of childhood trauma by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and has provided extensive didactic and interactive training to clinicians, educators, professionals, and consumers regarding the impact of and intervention for childhood-onset trauma.   In addition to clinical practice, Dr. Blaustein is involved in research on the impact of trauma on both children and adults, is a member of the Complex Trauma Taskforce of the NCTSN, and is past Chair of the Child Trauma Special Interest Group within the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS)

Alexandra Cook, Ph.D.

Alexandra Cook, Ph.D., the Director of Development, has been at the Trauma Center since 1995. Dr. Cook graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in Psychology and then obtained her M.A. and Ph.D. at Boston University. After completing her post-doctoral fellowship at the Trauma Center, she went on to become the Director of Children's Services from 1997 until 2004. Dr. Cook has a special interest in trauma evaluations and psychological testing. She has co-authored a book, With the Phoenix Rising: Lessons form Ten Resilient Women Who Overcame the Trauma of Childhood Sexual Abuse, and been the lead author on a White Paper, Complex Trauma in Children and Adolescents.

Richard L. Jacobs, Psy.D.

Dr. Jacobs has been with the Trauma Center since 1999, providing supervision, teaching a course on Mind/Body/Spirit, and helping to keep the Center at the cutting edge of treatment. In addition to private practice, he has been on staff at McLean Hospital, Cambridge Hospital Behavioral Medicine, and Somerville Hospital. HIs study of Eastern Psychology dates back to 1970, and he has pursued and intergration of Eastern and Western approaches since then

Joseph Spinazzola, Ph.D.

Executive Director of the Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute, Dr.
Spinazzola received his Ph.D. from Duke University, completed his Clinical Psychology Internship at New York University / Bellevue Hospital, and holds an appointment at Boston University School of Medicine. In his 10th year with the Trauma Center, Dr. Spinazzola is actively involved with all aspects of our Center's programming and service, serving as a clinician, clinical supervisor, senior trainer, and as Associate Director of our Research Department. Dr. Spinazzola manages the Trauma Center's National Child Traumatic Stress Network Community Treatment & Services program. He is also the Principal Investigator of a youth violence prevention program working with Urban Improv to develop and evaluate theater-based programming for traumatized children in the Boston Public Schools. Dr. Spinazzola is a member of The Forensic Panel, a national forensic expert witness firm providing peer reviewed forensic expert testimony in psychiatry, psychology and the forensic sciences. Dr. Spinazzola provides local and national consultation to health service agencies on trauma-informed systems change. Dr. Spinazzola specializes in the assessment, diagnostic classification and treatment of complex adaptation to childhood trauma in children and adolescents. He has authored over 30 publications and scholarly conference presentations in this area. Receiving a Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies from Duke University, Dr. Spinazzola has engaged in formal training and research in the areas of human sexuality and gender role socialization, identity development, gender-based oppression, silencing and resilience, and adolescent development and giftedness. Dr. Spinazzola holds particular interest in dissociative coping and adaptation in survivors of complex trauma; in lifespan development, psychodynamic, and existential perspectives on trauma and recovery; and in the role of transformative action - including improvisational theater, cooperative play, and expressive arts - in the recovery process.

Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.

Medical Director, has been active as a clinician, researcher and teacher in the area of posttraumatic stress and related phenomena since the 1970s. His work integrates developmental, biological, psychodynamic and interpersonal aspects of the impact of trauma and its treatment. His book Psychological Trauma was the first integrative text on the subject, painting the far ranging impact of trauma on the entire person and the range of therapeutic issues which need to be addressed for recovery. Dr. van der Kolk and his various collaborators have published extensively on the impact of trauma on development, such as dissociative problems, borderline personality and self-mutilation, cognitive development in traumatized children and adults, and the psychobiology of trauma. He was co-principal investigator of the DSM IV Field Trials for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. His current research is on how trauma affects memory processes and brain imaging studies of PTSD. Dr. van der Kolk is past President of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University Medical School, Co-Director of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network Community Practice Site and Medical Director of the Trauma Center at HRI Hospital in Brookline, Massachusetts. He has taught at universities and hospitals across the United States and around the world, including Europe, Africa, Russia, Australia, Israel, and China. His latest book, co-edited with Alexander McFarlane and Lars Weisaeth, explores what we have learned in the past twenty years of the re-discovery of the role of trauma in psychiatric illness. Traumatic Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body, and Society was published by Guilford Press in May, 1996.

Marla Zucker, Ph.D

Director of Clinical Services of the Trauma Center at JRI and Licensed Clinical Psychologist. Dr. Zucker received her Ph.D. from Georgia State University in Atlanta and completed her Clinical Psychology Internship at Duke University Medical Center and Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Trauma Center. Dr. Zucker is a Staff Psychologist and Supervisor at the Trauma Center, working clinically with traumatized children, adolescents, and adults, as well as specializing in psychological and neuropsychological assessment. Dr. Zucker is also the Research Coordinator of a youth violence prevention program collaborating with Urban Improv. Dr. Zucker has authored numerous publications and scholarly conference presentations in the areas of trauma and trauma treatment and developmental learning and attention disorders.