CLINICAL CHAPTERS

Pima County, AZ - CHAPTER

Frances Almstrom, LMFT

Frances is an LMFT in private practice, with extensive work experience with children in the foster system. While at community mental health non-profits, she ran a 0-5 program for children in foster care, later taking a therapy position. She received her master’s from the University of Phoenix, and has additional training in psychodrama, attachment, and Emotionally Focused Therapy. She is currently partnering with a Parent Education organization to develop and offer parenting classes for parents raising children with attachment issues (adoptive parents, foster parents, and re-united parents).

Miles H. Overholt, D.S.W.

Miles is a practicing family therapist and hypnotherapist who has extensive experience in working with families, couples and children. He was trained by staff members of the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic and incorporates the systems approach of Traditional Chinese Medicine into his work with patients. He has been in private practice in New Jersey for over thirty years and currently resides in Tucson, AZ. He also has over 30 years of consulting and research expertise in strategy execution and organizational design, as well as in guiding change for organizations, teams, and individuals. He is the author of Building Flexible Organizations: A People-Centered Approach and has written numerous articles on strategy execution, change processes, organizational behavior and organizational alignment. His undergraduate degree is from Lafayette College and he earned his doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania.

Denver, CO

Meghan Hinman, MA, LCAT

Meghan is a licensed creative arts therapist and depth psychotherapist, operating a private psychotherapy practice in midtown Manhattan. She is an adjunct faculty member in the music therapy department at Montclair State University in New Jersey and currently completing doctoral research at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Her background includes work in group homes and emergency shelters for adolescents, and her current practice focuses on adults and adolescents.

Marjorie J. Peterson, LCSW

Marjorie J. Peterson is a Connecticut-based a licensed clinical social worker has been working with foster children for the past 10 years, as both a therapist and a case manager. She brings to her work a solid understanding of the needs facing children who have suffered abuse, neglect and fractured relationships. A strong advocate for children involved with the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, Peterson has a network of colleagues with whom she works to advance services for children in care. She also advocates at the state level to improve mental health care for foster children.

New Haven, CT

Nakia Hamlett, PhD

Dr. Hamlett received her doctorate in clinical psychology from The University at Albany, State University of New York. She also completed pre-and postdoctoral fellowships in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Hamlett holds a Master’s Degree in Special Education and has extensive experience working with children with emotional and behavioral problems and developmental disabilities in both school and home settings. Since the early days of her career, Dr. Hamlett has been devoted to the treatment of children, young adults, and families managing the deleterious effects of poverty, trauma exposure, and educational marginalization.

Miami, FL

Iris Pitaluga, LMHC

Iris Pitaluga is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the state of Florida.  She has a Masters Addiction Counselor certification by the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors, and a Substance Abuse Professional certification by the Department of DOT.  Iris has over 20 years of experience in the field of mental health counseling, and over 15 years in private practice. Prior to opening her own practice, she worked in a variety of settings which gave her the opportunity to develop extensive clinical experience with different populations and aspects of the helping profession.   She developed skills in education, clinical assessment, treatment, and management.   During this time, she also became acquainted with the field of Biofeedback and Neuro-feedback.  Her goal became to develop a practice with a holistic approach to help individuals not just on the psychological portion, but on the physical aspects of healing, as well.  For the past three years, education has become a key component of Alternatives Counseling Center, Inc.  Iris firmly believes that education is the door for self-awareness, independence, and personal growth.  Therefore, she offers, a series of workshops in human growth and mind/body health.  Some of the topics are; Insomnia, Stress, Anxiety, ADD, Relationships, and Parenting skills.

Tampa, FL

Carrie Simmons, LMHC

Carrie Simmons has a private practice in Tampa, Florida. She is experienced in working with children and families, including foster and adoptive youth and families. Carrie has also worked in juvenile detention programs associated with the Department of Juvenile Justice. Carrie is currently being trained in Neurofeedback and involved in a research project in the Brain Focus Laboratory with the University of South Florida. She has conducted previous research involving a longitudinal study which targeted how having a one year old child impacted the ability to co-parent. Carrie is a Registered Mental Health Counselor Intern in supervision with Michael Eastridge, PhD, ABPP.

Tracy Hacker, LCSW

Tracy Hacker is a licensed clinical social worker, and is currently employed with All Children’s Hospital.  She is working with the Healthy Start Grant, a federally sponsored project that is working to decrease infant mortality rates among African Americans in 5 specific zip codes in St. Petersburg, FL.  Tracy has experience working with children and their families that have been reunified after completing a child protection case plan.  She is experienced working with children and families, including foster and adoptive youth and families.

Atlanta Georgia - CHAPTER

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Clarissa Benjamin-Smith

Maria Bivins, PsyD, MAED, MA

Dr. D. Maria Bivins-Smith is a licensed Psychologist in Georgia with a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology. She completed her coursework in the Clinical Psychology Doctoral program at Argosy University, Georgia School of Professional Psychology. She earned a Masters of Arts in Education from San Francisco State University. Her areas of specialty include medical and forensic psychology. She has garnered clinical experience at the Atlanta VA, Stoney Brook Counseling Center (Chelmsford, Massachusetts), the Psychotherapy Institute for Individual, Family and Community Development (Antioch, California), and from other community mental health clinics.

Boston, MA - CHAPTER

Ayelet Barkai

Ruth Drasin, PhD

Ruth is a Clinical Psychologist who has been in private practice treating children, adolescents, and adults in Cambridge, Massachusetts for the past 15 years. She received her PhD from the University of Michigan where she studied a variety of parent losses, including parent death, divorce, and adoption. Her current interests include contemporary families, such as single parent and same-sex parent families. Dr. Drasin is an advanced candidate at the Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis and a Clinical Instructor in Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Northampton, MA - CHAPTER

Karen Zilberstein, LCSW

Karen Zilberstein, LCSW is a child and family therapist in Northampton, MA and Adjunct Associate Professor at Smith College School for Social Work, where she teaches and coordinates the Child Development Team. She currently serves on the design team and chairs the training resource working group for the Re-envisioning Foster Care in America (REFCA) initiative.  REFCA works collaboratively with the Department of Children and Families to bring innovative programs and provide trainings to improve systems of care and outcomes for foster children.

Sally Popper, PhD

Sally Popper has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, and has worked as a researcher and therapist exploring the impact of attachment disruption and early trauma on the development of children and working with their families to help them heal. As a board member of the national parent/professional organization, ATTACh, she worked to bring information from new research to the clinical practice and parenting of members and helped to write the ATTACh publication, Attachment-Focused Therapy:  A Professional Practice Guide.

Minneapolis, MN - CHAPTERS

Chris Ochocki, LPCC & Steph Ochocki, MSSW, LICSW

Chris and Steph live in Saint Paul.  Chris is a therapist at Headway Emotional Health Services, working in Burnsville High School, and facilitates a group on healthy relationships at a local treatment center.  Steph is the lead school social worker in Anoka-Hennepin and works as the school social worker at Andover Elementary.  Steph is also pursuing her Doctorate at the University of Tennessee in clinical practice and leadership.  They spend their free-time with their two girls enjoying the playgrounds around the twin cities.

Missoula, MO

Catherine Jenni, PhD

Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Cathy has been a Professor of Counselor Education at the University of Montana in Missoula for the past 26 years. Cathy has a small private practice and is a CASA volunteer, which led to an interest in the wellbeing of foster children, youth and foster care alumni. Cathy previously taught Early Childhood Education at Solano College and was a head teacher at Bing Nursery School at Stanford University. She was also a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia, West Africa. Cathy is trained at Level I and Level II in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, focusing on relational and physical trauma and recovery. She also has studied at the University of California, Berkeley with Mary Main and Eric Hesse on the Adult Attachment Interview. Cathy is a Black Belt in the Nia practice and is a grandmother of eleven.

North Central NJ

Debra Roelke, PhD

Debi is a Clinical Psychologist and Psychoanalyst with a private practice in Morristown, New Jersey. Her practice includes psychotherapy with both adults and young children. Debi’s background includes postdoctoral training in Infant and Preschool Mental Health, and she was a Mental Health Consultant at the Newark Preschool Council Head Start program for five years. Debi has served on the Advisory Board of the New Jersey Association for Infant Mental Health and has presented widely on a number of topics in early child development. Debi is currently a faculty member at the Center for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis of New Jersey.

New York Citywide - CHAPTER

Donna Alulema

Donna is an Art Therapist born and raised in NYC. As a child, Donna was always artistically inclined but also had a desire to help others. While working on her Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design, she felt something was missing and decided to fuse her passion for art and helping others. From there, she pursued a Masters in Art Therapy at LIU CW Post. She has experience with various populations, including at-risk youth, children exposed to domestic violence, adults and children with developmental disabilities, and recently immigrated youth. She has also served on the board for the New York Coalition for Creative Art Therapies as treasurer. Finally, she has developed a small group called The Creatives NYC with two fellow arts colleagues  and now is excited to be joining A Home Within as the Clinical Director.

Miriam Alkon, PsyD

Miriam is a Clinical and School Psychologist and practices as a Psychologist with the Infant-Parent Court Intervention Project of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, focusing on Child-Parent Psychotherapy. She is involved in research evaluating the efficacy of this intervention for children in foster care, including assessing whether permanency and continuity are facilitated. Miriam is part of New York City policy work-groups on a variety of topics in child welfare. Miriam maintains a part-time private practice in Manhattan where she works with children, adolescents, and their families.

Ally Merchant, MA

Almas (Ally) Merchant is a clinical psychologist practicing in Brooklyn. Apart from private practice, she also works at Brightpoint Health, a non profit agency providing both, physical and mental health care to community members as well as homeless populations around New York City. Besides her clinical work, she is also the externship coordinator at Brightpoint Health, where she supervises externs from doctoral programs in psychology. Prior to this, she worked in juvenile justice in New York City. She came to AHW because of her own training experiences in working with foster care children and youth in New York City throughout her graduate school experience. Ally's primary orientation is psychoanalytic and she specializes in trauma as well as child and adolescent psychotherapy. To this end, Ally is engaged within Division 39 of the APA (Division of Psychoanalysis) and the Association of Psychoanalysis in Culture and Society.

Hudson River Valley, NY - CHAPTER

Hal Chorny, PhD

Hal Chorny is newly retired from his private practice and continues as clinical director of the Hudson River Valley Chapter where he co-leads two consultation groups. He brings his psychoanalytic training into discussions of cases but insists on keeping to ordinary language and never using jargon. He is leaving for New Zealand after the conference and plans to do more traveling about the world and also within his own psyche. Our chapter was one of the early ones and continues to grow and flourish.

Jenny Bates, LCSW

Jenny has been working with children and families for the past 15 years. Currently, she is in private practice in Kingston, New York and specializes in Dynamic Play Therapy with children and families with trauma, divorce, and learning disabilities.

Chicago, IL

Mandy Jones, LCSW, JD

Mandy is a licensed clinical social worker and licensed attorney specializing in working with children, adolescents, and families. She completed her graduate clinical training with youths in Michigan’s foster care system.  Mandy has advocated for the best interest of children in the child welfare system through legal training with the Cook County Office of the Public Guardian and the Michigan Attorney General: Children and Youth Services Division.  She currently works as an Adoption Preservation Therapist, where she specializes in treating children who have experienced early childhood trauma, as well as improving attachment to heal adoptive families. Additionally, Mandy provides contractual therapy through The Theraplay Institute, which focuses on building and repairing attachments. Most recently, she has started her own private practice, Connected Counseling Chicago.  Mandy earned her BA in Political Science and her BS in Psychology from Loyola University Chicago. She earned her Master of Clinical Social Work and Juris Doctorate from Michigan State University.

Chicago North, IL

Alyse Almadani, MA • Chicago

Alyse Almadani graduated from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology with a degree in Clinical Counseling and concentration in Latino Mental Health.  After completing research on the intersection of race, culture, and trauma, Alyse began her clinical career working with victims and survivors of domestic violence. In her current role, she provides in home services for youth in foster care and their families, and serves as a TARGET therapist implementing a statewide research project. Additionally, Alyse runs consultation and networking groups in her agency and community, as a strong advocate for collaboration and support throughout the helping profession.

Portland, ME

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Diane Kindler, MSW

A graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Social Work, Diane has extensive experience in child welfare and children's mental health in the public and private, non-profit sectors. She spent ten-plus years in private practice working with children, adolescents and their families around issues such as trauma, attachment and post-adoption support. She worked for Casey Family Services in CT and ME as a supervisor, deputy division director and agency clinical director. Her areas of interest include working with older youth in foster care as well as young adults who have aged out of the child welfare system. As part of her work with Casey she was involved with the development of a practice model to move older youth from foster care to permanent families via reunification, guardianship and/or adoption. She is an accredited instructor of both the youth and adult versions of Mental Health First Aid.

Charlotte, NC

Tiffany Huggins, LPC

Tiffany Huggins graduated from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC with a degree in Community Counseling. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor in North and South Carolina. She has a private practice in Charlotte, NC. Tiffany treats children, adolescents, and adults. She is a subcontractor with Logistics Health, providing services to military personnel post-deployment. Tiffany also works with the American Red Cross in Disaster Mental Health.

Medina, OH

Suzanne LeSure, PhD

Suzanne is a Psychologist with over 25 years of experience with children, adolescents, adults and families. She received her B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University, her M.A. in Child and Family Studies from Syracuse University and her PhD in Psychology from Syracuse University. She completed an internship in Pediatric and Child Clinical Psychology at Milwaukee Children’s Hospital, Medical College of Wisconsin and received post-doctoral training in Community Mental Health at Community Mental Health Services of Medina. Her professional career has included experience in community mental health, in hospital based practice, in private practice and in teaching other professionals.

Portland, OR

Laura Orgel, PhD

Although originally from New York, Portland has been my home since 1981. I have worked with children my whole adult life, first as an educator and now as a psychologist. I have a Master’s in Early Childhood Special Education from Bank Street College of Education and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Fielding Graduate University. Currently, I have a private practice where I work with children, families, couples and adults. As an adjunct faculty member at Pacific University and at Morrison Child and Family Services, I also supervise psychology practicum students, interns and residents during their years of clinical training. All of my work is influenced by a great love for children and a belief in the centrality of relationships to human development and mental health. My doctoral dissertation looked at attachment as a mediator of the relationship between maltreatment history and children’s behavior problems in a foster care population. Much of my early training and experience was with children and families in day treatment and community mental health settings, where child welfare involvement and foster care placements were ubiquitous. I have provided psychological evaluations for hundreds of children who were in the state’s custody. I have been a member of Portland’s branch of A Home Within since its beginnings in 2009, and I have carried a continuous AHW case since 2012.

Joseph Schaller, PsyD

Joe Schaller has been in clinical practice in the Philadelphia area for over 20 years as both a Clinical Psychologist and Marriage and Family Therapist. He currently maintains a private practice of adults, adolescents, and children, with specialization in play therapy and sand tray therapy. He has worked extensively with local child and family services agencies with special attention to issues related to temporary placement, foster care, and adoption. He is also experienced in working with children with Learning and Developmental Disabilities. Dr. Schaller is recently past-president of the Philadelphia Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology and continues in a leadership position within Division 39 (Psychoanalysis) of the American Psychological Association. He is an Adjunct Clinical Professor at the Institute for Graduate Clinical Psychology at Widener University and a graduate of the Institute for Relational Psychoanalysis of Philadelphia.

Leda Sportolari, MSW, LCSW

Leda Sportolari, MSW, LCSW is in private practice in Bala Cynwyd, a near suburb of Philadelphia. She sees children, adolescents, adults, couples and families. Leda is a past-president and current board member of the Pennsylvania Society for Clinical Social Work. She is an adjunct faculty member at the Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, where she teaches Attachment Based Psychotherapy. Leda is active in the Philadelphia chapter of A Home Within, serving as a clinician, consultation group leader, associate clinical director, and steering committee member.

Austin, TX

Ryan Parker, LCSW

Ryan works in private practice and non-profit community mental health in Austin, where she specializes in infant-parent and early childhood mental health. Ryan received her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and M.S.W. in clinical social work from Smith College School for Social Work. She was trained in the treatment of early childhood trauma/Child-Parent Psychotherapy at the Child Trauma Institute in San Francisco in 2011-2013 and completed the University of Massachusetts/Napa Infant-Parent Mental Health Post-Graduate Fellowship and Certificate Program in 2016. Ryan has considerable experience working with children, caregivers (bio and foster), and families in the foster care system.  

Dallas, TX

Kristen Ohlenforst, PhD

Dr. Ohlenforst received her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology Graduate Program at UT Southwestern Medical Center and completed her Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Child Psychology at Stanford School of Medicine's Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic, where she provided therapy and assessment for children and adolescents with anxiety and mood disorders, eating disorders, and autism spectrum disorders. She serves as a Clinical Assistant Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center, and as the Dallas Clinical Director of A Home Within.

Houston, TX

Jamie Loveland

Dr. Jamie Loveland is a psychotherapist in private practice in Houston, TX. She received her PhD in psychodynamic psychotherapy at the Institute for Clinical Social work in Chicago, IL, and her master’s degree in clinical social work from Smith College School for Social Work. She has been working with dually-diagnosed children, adolescents and adults since 2004 and her work experience involves both inpatient and outpatient settings, including the Yale Child Conduct Clinic in New Haven, CT; the Menninger Clinic in Houston, TX; and most recently as the Clinical Director of Teen and Family Services in Houston. Dr. Loveland is a published author on the subject of combat-related trauma. She is a frequent speaker on treating substance addiction in couples and adolescents, as well as the interface of psychodynamic theory and socio-cultural issues. She is a field instructor for the University of Austin, TX, School of Social Work and consults with post-masters students on the integration of psychodynamic theory into practice.  Specialty practice areas include couples/relationships, mood disorders, adolescent issues, trauma, parenting and addictions.

Seattle, WA

Rosie Newman, LMHC, RPT

Rosie is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Child Mental Health Specialist and Registered Play Therapist. In her private practice, Seattle Play Therapy, Rosie sees children with social, emotional and behavioral challenges. She is the past president of the Washington State Association for Play Therapy and a community advocate for play therapy as a means for understanding and helping children. Rosie is an Adjunct Professor at Seattle University. She received her Masters of Arts Degree in Counseling Psychology from Seattle University, and has extensive post-graduate training in child counseling and play therapy

Washington D.C.

Libby Hazzard, LCSW

Libby Hazzard is a licensed clinical social worker at Jesse Brown VA, currently serving older adult veterans in maintaining independence at home. Prior to transitioning to the VA, Libby provided clinical services to adopted children and their families with a focus on issues of trauma and attachment. Outside of work, Libby advocates to stop domestic violence where it starts as Chair of the Board of Directors at the Center for Advancing Domestic Peace and served as the Senior Consultation Leader at A Home Within in Chicago, Illinois.