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.

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 "Treating Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents: How to Foster Resilience Through Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency" 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)

Marta Casas, M.A.

Marta Casas graduated from Javeriana University in Bogota, Columbia, as a Clinical Psychologist in 1981. Initially, she created and implemented a mental health program for disenfranchised populations in Bogota. In 2000, she was contracted to work with survivors of Colombia's political war. The impact of this experience motivated her to move to Boston to become part of the Trauma Center's team, as a VOCA clinician working with complexly traumatized adults. Currently, she is the clinical liaison between the Trauma Center and the Latino Health Institute in Boston, where she also coordinates a SAMHSA-funded program to provide trauma-informed services for Latino children and their families. The growing Colombian war has furthered her interest in the aftermath of political violence and is the reason why she also trained at the Harvard Refugee Program in Global Mental Health.

Michelle Contreras, M.A.

Michelle Contreras, M.A., is the Program Coordinator of Project REACH and a Clinical Intern 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 Psychoanalysis. She is currently pursuing a Doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology in Boston, MA. Ms. Contreras was granted a certification in traumatic stress studies by the Trauma Center, where she currently works as a bilingual clinician. 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., 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.

David Emerson, E-RYT.

Coordinator of Yoga Services Program, 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 the implementation, supervision and oversight of the yoga intervention component of the two recent pilot studies conducted by Dr. van der Kolk to assess the utility and feasibility of yoga instruction with traumatized adults with PTSD. Mr. Emerson has extensive experience in the instruction of yoga with PTSD and mental illness populations, and has developed and conducted yoga groups for several rape crisis, domestic violence, mental health and veterans administration centers and clinics throughout Greater Boston.

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. Before coming to the Trauma Center, Lee worked for many years in management at an inpatient psychiatric hospital and Harvard University.

Fabiola Figueroa, M.A.

Fabiola Figueroa, M.A. is a Staff Clinician at the Trauma Center, in our Brookline and Acton, MA locations. She received her Master's Degree in Marriage & Family Therapy from Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, California, and worked for the Chadwick Center in San Diego as an MFT treating victims of domestic violence. Ms. Figueroa's doctoral dissertation for the California School of Professional Psychology in San Diego, California, focuses on memory and trauma in child witnesses of domestic violence. Her research interests include memory, trauma, psychological testing, and designing creative treatment interventions for PTSD and dissociation.

Heather Finn, LICSW

Heather Finn is 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 Fischer, Ph.D.

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.

Julie Foss, MSW, MBA

Julie Foss is a Staff Clinician at the Trauma Center. She is a recent graduate of the 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. Julie is the Director of Administration at the Boston Children's Foundation and Director of Support Services at the Trauma Center.

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.

A Postdoctoral Fellow at the Trauma Center, Dr. Gapen received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Emory University in Atlanta, GA. Before attending graduate school, his interests included acting, and he received a B.A. in Theater from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His work with acting theory led to an interest in the "drama of everyday life" and informs his approach to therapy. His clinical and research interests have focused on the effects of trauma in low-income, historically underserved populations. He has worked clinically with children and adults in a variety of settings including both private and public hospitals. His research has examined the effects of contextual factors on the expression of PTSD symptoms, cognitive processing alterations as a result of traumatization, and the intersection of psychosis and PTSD.

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 psycholofy 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 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 men abuse survivors.

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.

Michelle Harris, LMHC

Michelle Harris, MA, ATR-BC, LMHC specializes in trauma informed art therapy work with children, adolescents, and adults. She trains teachers and administrators in the Boston Public School system on approaches to improve learning outcomes for students with trauma exposure. She has also trained psychologists in Guatemala in trauma informed clinical work and is a co-founding member of the "El Tendedero" project which hopes to extend this work throughout Latin America. She developed the Positive Sensory Group, a skills-building group on self-care and safe alternatives to dissociative responses in daily life. Ms. Harris also leads collaborative community art projects such as the "Incest Survivors Speaking Truth to the Next Generation Project" where the quilt making process facilitates dialogue about how incest survivors can speak to children in a preventive, proactive, and developmentally appropriate manner about incest. She has also collaborated with the Coast Miwok / Southern Pomo tribe on a quilt expressing faith and tribal identity. Ms. Harris runs an art space at Harvard University and teaches at Lesley University in the Expressive Therapy Graduate Studies Department. She is a clinician, trainer, and faculty at the Trauma Center.

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.

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

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 "Treating Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents: How to Foster Resilience Through Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency", and 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.

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.

Kathleen Lentz, M.D.

A clinical supervisor at the Trauma Center, Dr. Lentz has a private practice in Concord, Massachusetts, providing psychotherapy and psychopharmacology assessment and treatment. She sees adults, adolescents, and children as young as four years of age. She is especially interested in helping with attachment and trauma-based difficulties. In the past, she has worked in psychiatric inpatient and residential treatment programs, both long- and short-term, public as well as private, and with different age groups and levels of acuity. She uses EMDR, and is a trained mediator. Her psychiatry training was at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center.

Sharman Nathanson, LICSW

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.

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.

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.

Ritu Sharma, Ph.D.

Assistant Director of the Trauma Center, Dr. Sharma received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Suffolk University. She completed her Postdoctoral Fellowships at Two Brattle Center, where she trained intensively in dialectical behavior therapy for adults and adolescents, and at the Trauma Center. She has worked in a diverse range of clinical settings including college counseling centers, state hospital psychiatric inpatient units, child and adolescent partial hospital, and outpatient clinics. She has focused on working with adults and adolescents within individual and group therapy contexts. Dr. Sharma is currently a staff clinician and the research coordinator of the NIH-funded yoga study at the Trauma Center.

Jessica Shore, Psy.D.

Jessica Shore is a Post-doctoral Fellow and Staff Clinician at the Trauma Center. She graduated from the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology with a doctorate in clinical psychology and wrote her dissertation on the Experiences of Men in Committed Relationships with Female Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse. Her past training experience includes work with childlren and adolescents in school and hospital settings and with adults in both inpatient and outpatient therapeutic settings. Dr. Shore works with children, adolescents, adults and families.

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 11th 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 Co-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. 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.

Janice Stubblefield-Tave, LICSW

A licensed social worker, Janice has been at the Trauma Center for four years. She has over 15 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, M.A., RYT

A Staff Clinician at the Trauma Center, Jenn Turner received her Masters of Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a Trauma Specialization from Lesley University. Ms. Turner's past training experiences include work with female survivors of trauma and substance abuse treatment in both residential and hospital settings. A Kripalu Certified Yoga Instructor, Ms. Turner teaches a weekly yoga class at the Trauma Center. Drawing from her experience, Ms. Turner integrates mindfulness practices into the therapeutic setting.

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 in Brookline for the last 20 years. Her specialization is in the area of child development, and the treatment of children and families. Special interests include adoption and adoptive families, the special nature of that attachment and implications for development., and the development of new treatments for complex trauma in young children. She spent 15 years working with severely disordered children including traumatized children and their parents, using innovative methodologies and the use of videotape study at the Language & Cognitive Development Center. In addition, she has worked in psychiatric inpatient and outpatient settings at Boston University Medical Center, schools and mental health clinics, 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.

Ilya Yacevich, LAMFT

Ilya Yacevich, LAMFT, 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.

Amanda Zelechoski, J.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Zelechoski is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Trauma Center. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Drexel University and her law degree at Villanova University. Dr. Zelechoski has worked clinically with adults, children, and families in inpatient, outpatient, and forensic settings. Her research interests include intervention development and evaluation for at-risk, traumatized youth, mental health assessment, and the intersection of psychology, law, and public policy.

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.