Robert Aikin, LICSW

Robert Aikin is a Staff Clinician at our Brookline and Acton, MA locations. He has worked with children and adolescents who have experienced complex trauma in a number of settings: school-based therapy, in-home family preservation, outpatient therapy, treatment foster care, and acute partial hospital programs. Robert directed residential programs for adjudicated youth, treatment foster care, and an outpatient mental health center. He received his Masters degree in Social Work from the University of Pittsburgh and a Certificate in Child and Adolescent Trauma Treatment at the University of Maryland. Additionally, Robert has trained in Attachment Therapy with Daniel Hughes and completed the live-supervised Family Therapy Training Program at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic.

Joshua Arvidson, MSS, LCSW

Joshua Arvidson, LCSW is the Director of the Alaska Child Trauma Center at ACMHS, a center specializing in treating young children who have experienced complex trauma. Joshua is also the Founder and Director of the Anchorage Childcare Mental Health Consultation Program where he leads a multi-agency team providing trauma-informed mental health consultation to childcare and early learning programs. Joshua also serves as the statewide coordinator for Alaska's Childcare Mental Health Consultation Network and the Alaska Early Childhood Mental Health Learning Network. He is a Director and former Board President for an Infant Learning and Early Education Program that provides developmental services to children 0-3 and teaches courses on child trauma for the University of Alaska Anchorage.

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) treatment framework, designated a promising practice for treatment of childhood trauma by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and co-author of the text, "Treating Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents", published by Guilford Press. She has provided extensive didactic and interactive training to clinicians, educators, professionals, and consumers regarding the impact of and intervention for childhood-onset traumaIn 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)

Marta Casas, M.A.

Marta Casas, M.Ed., graduated from Javeriana University in Bogotá, Colombia, as a Clinical Psychologist in 1981. In 2002, Marta moved to Boston to become part of the clinical team at the Trauma Center, where she continues doing trauma evaluations of minors, refugees and survivors of human trafficking. In 2007 Marta was trained by and is now part of the alumni of the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma – Global Mental Health. Marta currently works as a staff clinician at the Child Witness to Violence Project at Boston Medical Center. She is also a member of the training team of the Massachusetts Child Trauma Project. Marta has done extensive work and training on the interplay between psychological trauma and cultural identity.

Michelle Contreras, M.A.

Michelle Contreras, M.A., is a consultant for Project REACH, a Trauma Center program that offers trauma-focused mental health services to victims of human trafficking and consultation and training to providers working with trafficking victims throughout the United States. She also provides clinical evaluations at the Trauma Center. Ms. Contreras has a Licensure in Clinical Psychology granted by Universidad Rafael Landívar in Guatemala City, Guatemala (1999), and received her Master's Degree from the Boston Graduate School of Psycho-analysis. She is currently pursuing a Doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology and was granted a certification in traumatic stress studies by the Trauma Center. She has a special interest in the diagnosis and treatment of people who have experienced various forms of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, and war-related trauma, including the particular ways in which such stressors affect new immigrants in the U.S

Alexandra Cook, Ph.D.

Alexandra Cook, Ph.D., Associate Director and 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.

Wendy D'Andrea, Ph.D.

Dr. D'Andrea is a researcher, clinician and teacher with expertise in how interpersonal violence affects people throughout the lifespan. She began working with trauma at a Rape Crisis Center in the 1990's, and was surprised by the limited understanding psychiatry held about the experience and impact of childhood abuse. Following those lines, her work focuses on the differences between acute trauma and chronic trauma. Her research investigates how self-regulatory processes are impacted by prolonged traumatization and re-shaped through therapeutic interventions. Her work aims to use knowledge about the impact of trauma on the body to develop self-regulation and healing. She also works to help the DSM's task force to broaden diagnosis to include trauma-informed assessment, and with programs in Gaza to help children thrive despite chronic adversity. Dr. D'Andrea has served as an Assistant Professor at The New School for Social Research and Senior Trainer at the Trauma Center at JRI since 2010.

David Emerson, E-RYT

Director of Yoga Services at the Trauma Center in Brookline Massachusetts, Dave Emerson is an accomplished yoga instructor and founder of the Black Lotus Yoga Project, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to the teaching of yoga to individuals with PTSD. Mr. Emerson was responsible for curriculum development, supervision and oversight of the yoga intervention component of the first of its kind, NIH funded study, conducted by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk to assess the utility and feasibility of yoga instruction with severely traumatized adults with PTSD. Mr. Emerson has extensive experience in the instruction of yoga with PTSD in various populations, and has developed and conducted yoga groups for several rape crisis centers, domestic violence programs, residential programs for youth, military bases, and Veterans Administration centers and clinics throughout the east coast of the United States. In addition to co-authoring several scholarly articles on the subject of yoga and trauma, Mr. Emerson is the co-author of "Overcoming Trauma through Yoga", released in 2011 by North Atlantic Books.

Lee Fallontowne, B.A.

Lee serves as Office Manager for the Behavioral Health and Trauma Services Division at the Trauma Center. She graduated from Lesley College with a B.A. degree in U.S. History and Women's Studies. Before coming to the Trauma Center, Lee worked for many years as an administrative manager and public relations coordinator of an acute-care inpatient psychiatric hospital. She also served for over a decade as an assistant registrar at Harvard University.

Amy Fingland, M.A.

Amy Fingland, M.A., is a predoctoral intern at the Trauma Center. She is currently a third year graduate student at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology working on her doctorate in Clinical Psychology. Her prior training experiences include work with both adolescents and adults in school, day treatment, residential, and inpatient settings. Her clinical training has focused primarily on therapeutic work with individuals with Complex Trauma and Dissociative Disorders.

Heather Finn, LICSW

Heather Finn is the Assistant Clinical Director and a Staff Clinician at the Trauma Center specializing in the treatment of children, adolescents and families. She graduated from Smith College School for Social Work in 2001, and her work has focused on providing comprehensive clinical assessment and therapy services to complexly traumatized children and families in shelter, residential treatment and outpatient community mental health settings. In addition to her work at the Trauma Center, Heather also provides clinical supervision and individual therapy to children, adolescents and adults at Riverside Community Care.

Janina Fisher, Ph.D.

Dr. Fisher received her Ph.D. from Boston College and completed her Clinical Psychology internship at Cambridge Hospital, as well as a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in trauma treatment at the Victims of Violence Program, Cambridge Hospital. Since completing her post-doctoral training, she has been in full-time private practice at the Center for integrative Healing in Watertown and has been an Instructor at both the Trauma Center and Harvard Medical School, Cambridge Hospital. In addition, Dr. Fisher is an EMDR Approved Consultant, a trainer in Sersorimotor Psychotherapy, and Past President of the New England Society for the Treatment of Trauma and Dissociation. Dr. Fisher lectures nationally and internationally on topics related to trauma, dissociation, and the implications of the neurobiological research for treatment.

Amy Fitzpatrick, LICSW, Ed.M.

Amy Fitzpatrick is a Staff Clinician at the Trauma Center. She has worked with children, adolescents, and adults who have experienced complex trauma in a variety of settings: psychiatric inpatient units, home-based therapy, and in the courts. After completing a Master's in Education from Harvard University and an MSW from Simmons College, she went on to receive a Post-Master's Certificate in Relational and Multi-Contextual Treatment of Trauma. In addition, she has trained in Internal Family Systems Therapy, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, and in the treatment of children with trauma-attachment problems with Daniel Hughes.

Julie Foss, MBA, LCSW

Julie Foss is a Staff Clinician at the Trauma Center specializing in the treatment of children, adolescents and families. She graduated from Boston College School of Social Work and School of Management, where she received her dual degree of MSW and MBA. Julie has worked clinically with adult, adolescent, and child survivors of trauma. She has treated individuals in school, outpatient, and residential settings. Ms. Foss was formerly Director of Support Services/Associate Grant Manager at the Trauma Center and the Director of Administration at the Boston Children's Foundation and Project Joy.

Dawna Gabowitz, Ph.D.

Clinical Director of Metrowest Behavioral Health Center in Acton, Massachusetts, Dr. Gabowitz received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology, with a focus in neuropsychology, from Suffolk University, and completed her post-doctoral fellowship at The Trauma Center. Since completing her training, Dr. Gabowitz has participated in research and clinical work primarily focused on chronic/complex childhood trauma and neuropsychological assessment, and has provided trainings on this subject.

Mark Gapen, Ph.D.

Dr. Gapen began his career working on an NIMH-funded study of risks and resilience factors for PTSD in a large urban hospital in Atlanta, GA. Additionally, Dr. Gapen worked in the Atlanta VA, and community and academic health settings before beginning a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Trauma Center in Boston, MA. During his fellowship, Dr. Gapen earned a Certificate in Traumatic Stress Studies, worked with chronically traumatized individuals of all ages, and was the research coordinator for a study investigating the effectiveness of neurofeedback in ameliorating the physiological symptoms associated with PTSD. More recently, Dr. Gapen was the Clinical Research Psychologist for the Uniformed Services Program at the Brattleboro Retreat. In this role, Dr. Gapen provided direct service to police, firefighters, active and retired military, corrections officers, and other uniformed service professionals. Currently, Dr. Gapen is the Internship Program Manager for the Psychology Predoctoral Internship Program at Community Services Institute, Inc. In this role, he has led an initiative to train interns in neurofeedback. Additionally, Dr. Gapen continues to collaborate on research iniatives with the Trauma Center. He is the clinical research supervisor for the neurofeedback study. Dr. Gapen has extensive experience working in multi-disciplinary settings and incorporates multiple contextual factors into his conceptualization of psychopathology.

Nyssa Green, Psy.D.

Nyssa Green, Psy.D. is a postdoctoral fellow and clinician at the Trauma Center. She received her Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Northwestern University and her doctorate in Clinical psychology at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology. Dr. Green has worked clinically with children, adolescents, and adults in school, residential, and outpatient settings. Her past training experience includes work with GLBTQ survivors of domestic violence, assault, and bias crime. Dr. Green has also worked with programs in Kenya and Malawi and has particular interest in international/cultural issues related to trauma and resiliency.

Fran Grossman, Ph.D.

Frances K. Grossman, Ph.D., ABPP, has been a supervisor and faculty member at the Trauma Center since spring of 2002. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Yale University in 1965, was on the faculty at Yale from 1965-1969 and has taught at Boston University since 1969. Currently she teaches Ethics in Psychology in the graduate program at Boston University and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Assessment, and Treatment in the Masters in Counseling Psychology Program at Lesley University. She and some colleagues wrote "With the Phoenix Rising: Stories from 10 Resilient Women Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse"(Jossey Bass, 1999), as well as more recent journal articles on resilient male abuse survivors.

Liz Gruenfeld, Ed.M.

Liz Gruenfeld, Ed.M. is a predoctoral social work intern and clinician, serving with Project REACH at the Trauma Center. She received a B.A. from Smith College, a Master's Degree in Arts Education from Harvard University and is a current MSW/PhD student at Boston College Graduate School of Social Work. Ms. Gruenfeld has worked with diverse children and adults affected by trauma in schools, community clinics, and residential treatment centers in 12 countries over 15 years. She has worked extensively with Latino immigrants in the U.S. (fluent in Spanish), and in varied communities across Latin America, the Middle East, and North Africa providing therapy, teaching, training and consultation. Ms. Gruenfeld is particularly interested in trauma related to migration, geopolitical conflict and intergenerational transmission, and specializes in using techniques from yoga (multiple 200-hour yoga teacher trainings), the arts, indigenous healing, and spirituality to partner with youth and adults in coping and recovery.

Frank Guastella-Anderson, M.D.

Psychiatrist and supervisor at the Trauma Center. Private practice in Concord, MA. Specializing in medication management, EMDR and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy.

Cecile Gunn Desmond, M.Div.

Cecile Gunn Desmond is a Postdoctoral Fellow at The Trauma Center. Ms. Gunn Desmond obtained her M.Div. from Boston University and is finishing her Ph.D. in the Counseling Psychology and Religion Program at Boston University. She has experience working with traumatized adults and families in Boston and Los Angeles through community mental health clinics and faith-based social services. Ms. Gunn Desmond’s clinical interests include an integrated approach to treating individuals who have experienced trauma, paying attention to the whole person, including how faith, religious beliefs, spirituality, or existential beliefs intersect with recovery from trauma. Her research interests include how systems of meaning are impacted by the experience of trauma and how they can facilitate recovery.

Hilary Hodgdon, Ph.D.

Hilary Hodgdon is the Assistant Director of Research at the Trauma Center and Director of Trauma Informed Services at the van der Kolk Center, a residential treatment facility for youth ages 12 to 22 years specializing the treatment of complex trauma. She also serves as an Associate Director of the Complex Trauma Treatment Network, a SAMSHA Category II training network housed at the Trauma Center. Dr. Hodgdon received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia in 2010 and has worked clinically with children and families in community mental health settings. Her research interests center on the crossover of youth from the child welfare to juvenile justice systems, the impact of early trauma on the development of psychopathology during adolescence, longitudinal outcomes of trauma-impacted youth and alternative treatments for complex trauma. Dr. Hodgdon is particularly interested in the assessment of children and youth involved in foster care and in issues related to the overlap between the mental health, child welfare and juvenile justice systems. She is trained in sensory-motor therapy for children (SMART), Eye Movement Desensitization Training (EMDR), EEG biofeedback (Neurofeedback) and Trauma-focused CBT.

Elizabeth K. Hopper, Ph.D.

Program Director of Project REACH, Dr. Hopper received her Ph.D. from Saint Louis University and completed her Clinical Psychology internship at the Medical College of Virginia. Dr. Hopper is the Director of Project REACH, a program that serves victims of human trafficking throughout the United States. Dr. Hopper has conducted national outreach on traumatic stress and complex trauma, focusing on cross-discipline training. She provides trauma-informed consultation in homeless shelters and to community-based clinicians. Dr. Hopper is currently a staff psychologist and supervisor at the Trauma Center.

Kay Johnson, LICSW

Kay Johnson, LICSW is a Supervisor and Clinician at the Trauma Center. She has over 25 years of experience working in various outpatient settings with many different populations (adults and children; mental health; victims of violent crime; substance abuse and other addictions; sexual, physical and emotional abuse survivors; dual diagnosis). Kay specializes in working with trauma and co-occurring disorders (addictions and mental health). She has an expertise in utilizing the Seeking Safety stabilization model, as well as working with complex trauma and dissociation. She received her Master's degree in Social Work from Columbia University in New York in 1986 and has taught there since 2007.

Cynthia Kennedy, LICSW

Cynthia Kennedy, LICSW is a consultant for Project REACH, a Trauma Center program that offers trauma-focused mental health services to victims of human trafficking and consultation and training to providers working with trafficking victims throughout the United States. Ms. Kennedy received a Masters in Social Work and Masters in Pastoral Ministry from Boston College. She completed a post-graduate fellowship in trauma and post-traumatic stress at the Victims of Violence Program at Cambridge Hospital. She has worked clinically with asylum seekers, immigrants, and survivors of complex trauma.

Anna Kharaz, M.A.

Anna Kharaz, M.A. is a clinician and research assistant at the Trauma Center. She studied Neuroscience and Psychology at Brandeis University and completed her Master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling and Behavioral Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. She has worked for institutions such as Harvard Medical School, the National Institutes of Health, Boston Medical Center, and the Veterans Administration Hospital. She has experience working with children, adolescents and adults in outpatient and partial hospitalization settings. Anna is also a certified Kripalu yoga teacher.

Kristine Kinniburgh, LICSW

Kristine Kinniburgh has worked with complexly traumatized children in a range of settings, including state funded residential & after school programs, hospital settings, alternative educational settings, transitional living programs and in the Boston Public Schools. She is the originator and co-developer of the Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency (ARC) treatment framework, and co-author of the text, "Treating Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents", published by Guilford Press. She has consulted on this framework with agencies across the U.S.

Kristina Konnath, LICSW

Kristina Konnath, MSW, LICSW, is a Staff Clinician at the Trauma Center, where she works with children and families providing a variety of clinical services including individual and family therapy, trauma and sexual abuse evaluations, and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy - Adaptations (PCIT-A). Additionally, she co-coordinates the Pathways to Permanency Program, providing specialized services for foster, kinship, and adoptive families. She also trains community-based providers in the implementation of PCIT-A and Child Adult Relationship Enhancement (CARE). Ms. Konnath’s previous experience includes working at the National Center on Family Homelessness, where she assisted in developing curricula and presentations, as well as local and national training and consultation on the effects of violence and trauma in the lives of children and families experiencing homelessness. Additionally, Ms. Konnath worked in a residential treatment facility providing individual, group and family therapy with children and their families. She received her Master’s degree in Social Work from Boston College in 2001 and continued her clinical training by completing the Trauma Certificate Program with the Trauma Center in 2003. 

Deborah Korn, Psy.D.

Debbie Korn, Psy.D., maintains a private practice in Cambridge, MA and serves as a faculty member at the Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute. She has been on the faculty of the EMDR Institute for the past 19 years and is the former Clinical Director of the Womens’ Trauma Programs at Charter Brookside and Charles River Hospitals. Dr. Korn has authored or co-authored several prominent articles focused on EMDR, including a comprehensive review of EMDR applications with Complex PTSD. Dr. Korn is an EMDRIA-approved consultant and a past board member of NESTTD. She is also on the Editorial Board of the Journal of EMDR Practice and Research. She presents and consults internationally on the treatment of adult survivors of childhood abuse and neglect. As a clinician, teacher, researcher, and consultant, Dr. Korn is known for her knowledge and integration of many different clinical models.

Erika Lally, LMHC, ATR-BC

Erika is a clinician, supervisor and trainer at the Trauma Center. She coordinates the Trauma Center's Child Evaluation Services and consults on the Multidisciplinary Assessment Team at the Cambridge Department of Social Services.

Erika holds a Masters in Art Therapy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Massachusetts and a Registered, Board Certified Art Therapist as recognized by the American Art Therapy Association. She has provided trauma treatment for both children and adults for fifteen years. Erika specializes in treating complex trauma and she is EMDR level two certified.

Erika also is a adjunct faculty member at Lesley College, teaching in their Master's Level Expressive Therapies Division.

Regina Musicaro, B.A., ALM

Ms. Musicaro is the Clinical Research Coordinator at the Trauma Center. She received a B.A. in psychology concentrating in evolutionary studies and psychobiology from SUNY New Paltz. She then worked as a research assistant at the Harvard University cognitive neuroscience Lab of Aging and Cognition and as a staff member at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. She has volunteered in several research labs, including the Geriatric Neuropsychology Lab at the Boston V.A. Hospital, the Harvard Program for Refugee Trauma, and The Child Study Center at NYU. Ms. Musicaro practices the indigenous art form of Capoeira Angola with Kilombo Novo, a group seeking to reduce loss caused by poverty, urban violence and trauma.

Sharman Nathanson, LICSW

Ms. Nathanson received her M.S.W. from Simmons School of Social Work. She is a Clinical Supervisor at the Trauma Center and is currently the Mental Health Coordinator at the Children's Advocacy Center of Suffolk County.

Carryl P. Navalta, Ph.D.

Carryl P. Navalta, Ph.D. is a clinical researcher affiliated with Children's Hospital Boston and is appointed as Instructor in Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Navalta's background includes applied behavior analysis, behavior therapy, and cognitive-behavioral therapy, including the use of exposure-based strategies. He has also been formally trained in Trauma Systems Therapy and provides consultation and training to agencies for the adoption and implementation of this evidence-based treatment model for childhood traumatic stress. At the Trauma Center, he is a site supervisor for the multisite Developmental Trauma Disorder field trial. Dr. Navalta is a licensed psychologist in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and maintains a part-time private practice.

Nicole Pelletier, LICSW

Nicole Pelletier, LICSW is a Staff Clinician at both the Trauma Center and the Metrowest Behavioral Health Center. She earned a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Boston College and has received training in several trauma-informed treatment models. Nicole has worked in school, residential, in-home, and outpatient mental health settings providing both individual and family services to children, adolescents, and adults with chronic and complex trauma histories. She also has experience providing comprehensive clinical assessment, and has a particular interest in working with youth involved in foster care as well as with pre-adoptive and adoptive families. Nicole specializes in treatment with young children, and she incorporates play and expressive therapy modalities into her work. In addition to her clinical role, Nicole also works with youth as a dance instructor.

Kelly Pratt, LICSW

Kelly Pratt, LICSW, is a staff clinician, consultant, supervisor and faculty trainer at the Trauma Center. Ms. Pratt received her MSW from Boston University and has worked clinically with child and adult survivors of chronic/complex trauma in individual and family therapy for over a decade. She has worked in a variety of settings including hospitals, community mental health agencies and residential programs. As a member of the training faculty at the Trauma Center, Ms. Pratt has provided local and national trainings on the impact across the lifespan. Ms. Pratt has a particular interest in dissociative coping and complex adaptations to trauma and draws from psychological, feminist relational and body-based perspectives.

Steven Procopio, ACSW, LICSW

Steven is the project coordinator for a program that works with commercially exploited adolescent males and young men. He brings extensive experience in the area of public health, with a focus on HIV, homelessness, youth services and service coordination. Steven is a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Social Work. His experience has involved implementing innovative initiatives supported by demonstration projects on HIV from the federal Department of Education, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and community based AIDS service organizations. These initiatives included employment supports for people with HIV and working with community based providers on service provision for people with HIV based on a continuum of care. Steven also worked with executive directors of AIDS organizations on the design, implementation and evaluation of a case management system for DPH funded programs in Massachusetts. Steven's work in the area of homelessness has involved managing a multi-disciplinary team of providers for a federal health disparities project with a focus on homeless persons with chronic disease. His work in youth services included work as an adolescent therapist, director of a youth shelter for runaway and homeless youth and family reunification facilitator. Steven has taught and presented on issues of male victimization on a local and national level, consulting with various groups on the effects of the commercial exploitation of boys and young men. Steven also is a faculty advisor at the Boston University School of Social Work macro practice department.

Alison Rhodes, LCSW, Ed.M.

Alison Rhodes is a Ph.D. candidate at the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work. She also received her MSW from Boston College and holds a Masters Degree in Arts in Education from Harvard University. Her clinical experiences include work with adolescents and adults in school and outpatient settings, and crisis intervention and advocacy services for sexual assault survivors. Alison is a 200 hour certified yoga instructor and has been teaching yoga in the Boston area since 2005, including serving as a yoga coach for the Trauma Center’s study of yoga for women with chronic PTSD. Her research interests include healing processes following trauma, and mindfulness, arts, and body-based treatments.

Rona Sandberg, LICSW

Rona Sandberg is a Supervisor, Staff Clinician, Coordinator of the Sexual Abuse Program, and Co-Coordinator of the Pathways to Permanency Program at the Trauma Center. Rona has been a staff member of The Trauma Center since 1999 and she has over ten years of specialized experience working with traumatized children and their families. Rona provides individual, family and group therapy as well as conducts trauma/sexual abuse evaluations. Additionally, Rona provides consultation and parent education/support to foster, kinship and adoptive families. Rona also has experience working with complexly traumatized children and families in a range of settings including domestic violence shelters, schools, and social service agencies. She received her Master's degree in Social Work from New York University in 1997.

Shannon Smith, B.S., BFA

Shannon is the Training and Marketing Coordinator for the Trauma Center. She also provides support for the My Life My Choice Program and Project REACH. She graduated from Friends University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in ballet performance. Prior to working at the Trauma Center, Shannon lived overseas in Rwanda studying the healing and reconciliation process and working in fundraising for a catch up school. Shannon has also worked at a DCF residential program for adolescent girls here in Massachusetts.

Joseph Spinazzola, Ph.D.

Dr. Spinazzola is the Executive Director of the Trauma Center and Vice President of Behavioral Health and Trauma Services at Justice Resource Institute. Dr. Spinazzola is a member of The Forensic Panel and holds an appointment at Boston University School of Medicine. In his 14th year with the Trauma Center, Dr. Spinazzola remains actively involved with provision of direct services to individuals and providers, serving as a clinician, clinical supervisor, senior trainer, and as Associate Director of our Research Department. Dr. Spinazzola is Director of the Complex Trauma Treatment Network, a national initiative to transform large regional and statewide systems of care, operated through our Center's Category II National Child Traumatic Stress Network site award. Additionally, he is Director of a National Action Partnership on Polyvictimization sponsored by the federal Office for Victims of Crime. Dr. Spinazzola specializes in the assessment, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of complex trauma in children and adults, and is the author of a number of publications in this area as well as on the topic of youth violence prevention. Dr. Spinazzola holds particular interest in dissociative coping adaptations in survivors of chronic maltreatment and neglect and in the role of transformative action in the recovery process.

Laura Stone, M.A.

Laura Stone, M.A., completed a predoctoral practicum at the Trauma Center. She received her Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Lesley University and is currently attending Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology working on her doctorate in Clinical Psychology. Her clinical experiences include work with adults, couples, families, adolescents and children in outpatient settings. She has taught Relaxation Response, Chi Quong and other wellness interventions. Laura’s areas of interest include the psychoneuroimmunology of trauma, somatic awareness and mind-body interventions for the treatment of complex trauma symptoms.

Janice Stubblefield-Tave, LICSW

A licensed social worker, Janice has been at the Trauma Center for nine years. She has over 20 years of experience with child and adult trauma survivors. In addition to providing therapy to individuals, caregivers and families, Janice coordinates group services and facilitates the women's coping skills groups. Janice attended the University of Chicago.

Rosalie Suescun, Psy.D.

Dr. Suescun has been affiliated with The Trauma Center for more than a decade. She received a Master's Degree in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University and holds a Doctor of Psychology degree from Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology (MSPP). Dr. Suescun completed a pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral fellowship at The Trauma Center. She also completed a two year post-doctoral fellowship at Two Brattle Center with a focus on Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Couples/Family work. Dr. Suescun's doctoral thesis focused on the integration of attachment and trauma in the treatment of adults. This interest continues in her work with individuals with Complex Trauma and Dissociative Disorders. Dr. Suescun is also interested in the acute experience of trauma following catastrophic events and has responded to acute events in school settings and safe houses. She was a member of the Trauma Center World Trade Center Crisis Team and the IBM International Crisis Team that responded to the Hurricane Katrina crisis.

Jenn Turner, LMHC, RYT

A Kripalu Certified Yoga Instructor, Ms. Turner teaches a weekly yoga class at the Trauma Center and is the Yoga Class Coordinator. She received her Masters of Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a Trauma Specialization from Lesley University. Ms. Turner is currently the Clinical Director at a Partial Hospital Program for dually diagnosed women.

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.

Elizabeth Warner, Psy.D.

Dr. Warner has had a psychotherapy practice with adults, adolescents and children in Brookline for the past 25 years. Her specialization is in the area of child and adolescent development, family therapy, and the impact on adults of parenting. Special interests include adoption and adoptive families, the special nature and implications of that attachment, and the development of effective treatments for complex trauma in children and adolescents. She spent 15 years working with severely disordered children including traumatized children and their parents, using innovative methodologies and the use of videotape at the Language & Cognitive Development Center. In addition, she has worked in psychiatric inpatient and outpatient settings at Boston University Medical Center, schools, mental health clinics and residential treatment, providing therapy, teaching and consultation.

Anne Westcott, LICSW

Anne Westcott, LICSW is a psychotherapist and consultant with over 20 years experience working with children, teens and families. She has a special passion for working with trauma and attachment, assisting children and adults in the process of self-discovery and healing. She is trained in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, ARC, and Attachment Therapy with Daniel Hughes. Ms. Westcott specializes in child-focused relational therapy with families affected by trauma and dissociation. She provides supervision, education and consultation to parents, educators and therapists on trauma, dissociation, attachment, and relationship regulation. Ms. Westcott received her Masters Degree from Columbia University of Social Work.

Constance Wilkinson, LMHC, MFA

Constance Wilkinson, LMHC, MFA is a clinician at the Trauma Center treating adults and children with complex PTSD and dissociative disorders. She has experience working with adult and child surivors of severe abuse and neglect, as well as combat and non-combat veterans with PTSD. She uses a present-oriented, mindfulness-based approach to encourage an increased capacity to self-regulate. A student of meditation in the Tibetan tradition since 1978, she studied Tibetan and Nepali at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, Nepal; she taught ESL and writing while studying philosophy and meditation with distinguished refugee teachers. After a decade in Nepal, she returned to the U.S. and began working with behaviorally-disordered adolescents in a residential school. In 2000, she trained in EMDR and received a Master's Degree in counseling psychology from Lesley University. Ms. Wilkinson has had a long interest in the expressive arts, including work in experimental theater and dance; she has an MFA in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College.

Kerry-Ann Williams, M.D.

Dr. Kerry-Ann Williams is a staff psychiatrist at Cambridge Health Alliance who is providing psychiatry services to children and adults at the Trauma Center and Metrowest Behavioral Health Center at JRI. She received her Doctor of Medicine degree from Creighton University School of Medicine and completed her training in General Psychiatry at the Creighton-Nebraska Psychiatry Residency program in Omaha, Nebraska. She went on to complete a fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Her current clinical interests include anxiety disorders, complex trauma, and the role of spirituality in child and adolescent psychiatry.

Ilya Yacevich, LMFT

Ilya Yacevich, LMFT, specializes in work with children and families with histories of complex and intergenerational trauma. She has a Master’s degree in Marriage & Family Therapy from St. Mary’s University and post-graduate training in International Trauma Studies. Ms. Yacevich has worked with children and families for the last decade, in a variety settings, including residential treatment, shelters, and Head Start. She has also worked with programs in India and Tanzania, and has special interest in international/ cultural issues pertaining to mental health and wellness. She is trained in CISM and is a member of the MRC Mental Health Crisis Response Team. Ms. Yacevich incorporates varies modalities in treatment, including yoga, art, sandtray, DBT, play therapy, and dance. She coordinates the GLBTQ program at the Trauma Center, as well as providing evaluations for child sexual abuse and human trafficking.

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.