Faculty

Tony Buckley, BA, is a BACP registered therapist (170042) who holds a BA Hons degree in Counselling and a Diploma in Supervision and Certificate of Education. Tony has over 25 years’ experience in the therapeutic field including supervision, private practice, and managing counsellor’s in both a university setting and an adolescent counselling service within the voluntary sector. He is the manager of the Counselling and Trauma Service for Transport for London (London Underground), which offers a time-limited trauma service. Tony is the chair of the UK Association of Sensorimotor Psychotherapists and an international Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Trainer. He is co-author of, “the Role of the Body in Fostering Resilience: a Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Perspective” (2019), published in the Journal of Body Movement and Dance Psychotherapy.

Kelley L. Callahan, PhD, LCP, is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist(CA; LCP; 21875) in private practice in Albany, CA. After attaining her graduate degree at Adelphi University, she completed an internship at The National Center for PTSD at Dartmouth Medical School followed by a two-year post-doctoral fellowship at the Victims of Violence Program at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Callahan has taught courses on somatic approaches to the treatment of trauma and attachment informed psychotherapy as an adjunct faculty member for the Somatic Psychology Programs at John F. Kennedy University and the California Institute of Integral Studies. She provides consultation and lectures on treating trauma grounded in her experience working with survivors of sexual, physical and emotional abuse, neglect, survivors and perpetrators of domestic violence, and dually diagnosed clients across outpatient and inpatient settings.

Mary Choi, MSW, LICSW, LCSW-C, (she, her, hers) is an experienced clinical social worker in private practice in Washington, D.C. and Maryland. Her current practice focuses on adults who have experienced trauma, and she incorporates a variety of psychodynamic and somatic approaches in her work, including Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and EMDR. As a first generation Asian American born in the U.S. to immigrant parents, Mary is passionate about community-based change and facilitates workshops and provides consultation on race equity and social justice with Baltimore Racial Justice Action (BRJA), a local non-profit working to undo the harmful effects of systemic racism. In addition to her work in private practice and with BRJA, she has experience in a variety of community-based mental health settings (including in home therapy, intensive outpatient programs, and community mental health clinics) working with children, adolescents, adults, groups, and families. Mary is an educator and a consultant. Her clinical interests include relational trauma, anxiety, attachment, spirituality, consciousness, and culture.

Darlene Cohn, PhD, is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in private practice with over 30 years of clinical experience. Her practice focuses on adolescence, adults, and couples who have experienced physical and developmental traumas. She includes psychodynamic and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy approaches when working with her clients. She was a past supervisor at The California Graduate Institute running individual and group supervisions and had run a first-year training group for interns.

Marie Damgaard has worked in the field of trauma, addictions, and sexuality for over 15 years, beginning with research work during her undergraduate degree in the areas of aging and sexuality, sexual experiences for men and women, and ‘non-normative’ sexual patterns.

She holds a graduate degree in Counselling Psychology specializing in mental health and addictions. During her graduate degree, she received extensive training working with clients who experience sexually compulsive behaviour and betrayal trauma. Marie has recently been accepted to complete her PhD in Clinical Sexology and is passionate about supporting diverse clients.

Marie’s clinical work is psycho-biologically informed, somatically oriented, and mindfulness focused in order to explore ways the mind can pull us into autopilot or become disconnected from ourselves, others, and the world. She has been involved with Sensorimotor Psychotherapy since 2012, and has assisted in every level of training. Marie provides both individual consultation services and facilitates group sessions for practitioners interested in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy.

Additionally, Marie works alongside marginalized populations including sex workers and transgender individuals. These experiences inform how Marie views the various expressions and depth on the continuum of sexuality. Her range of expertise spans from the shadow side, including out of control sexual behaviors and their effect on partners, to sex therapy and the rainbow end of the spectrum with more nuanced behaviors through mutual negotiation and consent. Other areas of clinical specialization include sexual trauma, erectile dysfunction, and chronic pelvic pain.

In private practice, Marie has worked in the counselling field in a variety of supportive roles. She is a sessional instructor at University of Lethbridge in the Health Sciences department, and teaches Psychology courses at Lethbridge College, along with learning about Indigenous Traditions while instructing at Red Crow College. She has also developed an Addictions Counselling curriculum for the Saskatchewan government. Marie is also Adjunct faculty for The Mindfulness Academy of Addictions and Trauma. She is currently involved in research in men’s mental health, the phenomenology of therapists’ experience working within the opioid epidemic, and the benefits of mindfulness practice for therapist’s wellbeing.

Christina Dickinson, CAC II, is a founding trainer of SPI, a certified addictions counselor in Colorado since 1992(NLC.0000580) and is a mentor for SPI’s Trainer Development Program. She also has a private practice in Boulder, CO. Christina is certified in both Hakomi Therapy and Focused Expressive Psychotherapy and was the co-creator and facilitator of Whole Person Health Center, a family program for outpatient treatment center in Boulder, CO from 1989- 1994. Trained in a wide variety of treatment modalities including EMDR, Pia Mellody's model at The Meadows, and hospice, she teaches internationally on the subjects of trauma and addiction. Christina is actively consulting on SPI’s curriculum projects with a focus on the integrity of the SP method and principles.

Lana Epstein, MSW, MA, LICSW, (1020709) is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker in MA; an LCSW in NY an EMDRIA-Approved Consultant in EMDR, a former ASCH-approved consultant in Hypnosis. Lana has maintained a private practice in Lexington, MA since 1984, and currently has office hours in NYC. Her focus has been individual, couple, and group psychotherapies specializing in the treatment of clients who have survived traumatic childhoods. She is a past supervisor at the Trauma Center and was a member of the NESTTD board for 6 years. Integrating a number of therapeutic models, Lana presents internationally and is interested in the integration of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and EMDR.

Rebeca Farca, PhDc, LMFT, is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (CA; LMFT115571), also licensed in Humanist Counseling and Gestalt Group Processing by the IHPG Institute in Mexico, and has training in CORE Energetics. She is a doctoral candidate at The Institute for Clinical Social Work. Rebeca holds a private practice in Los Angeles, CA, providing somatic therapy for individuals suffering from trauma and developmental wounds. Her professional interests include PTSD, chronic pain, sexual trauma, military trauma, phantom limb syndrome, as well as childhood neglect and abuse. Rebeca is past faculty at Antioch Santa Barbara, where she taught an introduction to Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. She developed and presented a workshop for the Department of Veteran Affairs in Los Angeles, CA, entitled, “Surviving the Aftermath: A Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Approach to the Wounds of War.” Rebeca also developed the “SPI Protocol for Clinicians of Victims of War, Violence and Other Traumatic Events” which she presented with Dr. Pat Ogden in the free webinar entitled, “Building Resilience in Times of War, Violence, and Other Traumatic Events”. She currently divides her time between clinical practice, guest lecturing at agencies and institutions, and teaching Sensorimotor Psychotherapy.

Janina Fisher, PhD is a licensed Clinical Psychologist (MA; LCP 6468) with 38 years in practice, as well as assistant educational director at SPI and a former instructor at the Trauma Center, an outpatient clinic and research center founded by Bessel van der Kolk. Known for her expertise on the treatment of trauma and dissociation, she is also an EMDRIA-Approved EMDR Consultant and former Instructor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Fisher has been an invited speaker at the Cape Cod Institute, Harvard Medical School Conference Series, Psychotherapy Networker, Annual Conference of the EMDR International Association, and many other conferences. She is co-author with Pat Ogden of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Interventions for Trauma and Attachment (2015) and the author of Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors: Overcoming Self-Alienation (2017). Dr. Fisher lectures and teaches internationally on the integration of research and treatment and how to introduce newer trauma treatment paradigms into traditional therapeutic approaches. For more information, visit www.janinafisher.com

Jennifer Gardner, MSW, LICSW, CST, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker(MA; LCSW; 1030466) with 25 years' experience working with children and individuals in diverse settings including healthcare, community mental health, early intervention and private practice. Since 2005, she has held a private practice in Reading, MA, providing psychotherapy to couples and adults using a variety of modalities including Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, EMDR and psychodynamic intervention. She is Certified in Early Intervention in MA, holds an MSW from Salem State University, and a Certificate in Sex Therapy from the University of Michigan and is an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist . Since her Certification as a Sensorimotor Psychotherapist in 2016, she has supported students toward certification in New York, Boston, and Dublin. Her interests include attachment, sex therapy, and relationships including couples and caregivers. Jennifer trains and provides consultation internationally for SPI and is co-developing a course in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for working with couples.

Raphaël Gazon, MPsych, LCP, holds master degrees in psychology and cognitive behavioral psychotherapy from Catholic University of Louvain, in Belgium. With more than 15 years of clinical experience in various places including university, day care psychiatry, drug addiction unit, home consultation service and private practice, he provides individual and group therapy for patients with severe personality disorders and complex trauma. He has trained in various treatment modalities in the fields of psychological trauma and personality disorders. Raphaël is the director at the PEPS-E Center, a psychotherapy practice that specializes in the treatment of emotional disorders, psychic traumas and attachment disorders, and he sits on the board of ESTD. He is an experienced, international supervisor and lecturer in the fields of psychological trauma, attachment disorders, and borderline personality disorder.

Amy Gladstone, PhD, LCSW, is a clinician(NY;LCSW; 28110), supervisor, workshop leader, and social work educator with over 25 years of clinical experience. She has a PhD from Rutgers University, where she teaches doctoral level courses on affect regulation and attachment. She is also on the faculty of the Integrative Trauma Treatment Program of the National Institute for the Psychotherapies in New York City. Dr. Gladstone is certified in Somatic Experiencing and has treated trauma survivors in many different settings including hospitals, Head Start programs, and social service agencies. In her private practice, she specializes in attachment trauma and combines psychodynamic and somatic approaches to treatment.

Bonnie Goldstein, LCSW, Ed.M, Ph.D. (CA; LCP; 15621) is the founder and director of Lifespan Psychological Services in Los Angeles. She leads a team dedicated helping clients navigate life’s complexities by addressing developmental issues, family systems, trauma, grief and loss counseling for children and adults, and transitions-to-adulthood. Using a Sensorimotor Psychotherapy approach to working with children, adolescents, and families, she joins Dr. Pat Ogden and the curriculum team at the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute in creating and adapting Sensorimotor Psychotherapy treatment modalities and interventions to treat child, adolescent, family and group populations. She is co-editor of Understanding, Diagnosing and Treating Attention Deficit Disorder/Hyperactivity Disorder in Children and Adolescents; The Handbook of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy; A Guide to Diagnosis and Treatment, Volumes I & II; A Text for Children and Their Families; I Will Know What to Do: A Guide to Dealing with Trauma”

Lisa Johnson Taylor, MA, LP, (she, her, hers) is a Licensed Psychologist who has practiced in the mental health field for over 30 years. She has worked with children, adolescents, adults and families in a variety of capacities (including school based day treatment, in home family therapy, intensive outpatient programs, and mental health clinics). In 2005, Lisa found her passion as she stumbled upon the powerful transformation that unfolds integrating Sensorimotor Psychotherapy into groups. She continues to co-facilitate experiences to collectively access the wisdom of the body leading her Trauma Skills groups as well as experimenting with Restorative workshops for Therapists. Although SP primarily informs her work, she synthesizes aspects of IFS, ART, AIR Network, spirituality, nature based healing and other somatic based inquiry. Lisa is committed to an ongoing mindful study of how her cis- gendered white body privilege impacts all those she intersects with. She is facilitating the White Body Race and Privilege book study for SP students. She also provides SP Consultation.

Laia Jorba, LPC, PhD (she, her, hers), (LPC.0013182) is a Catalan teacher, counselor, supervisor and mentor, originally from Barcelona and currently residing in Colorado. She holds a master’s degree from Naropa University with specialties in Body Psychotherapy and Dance Movement Therapy. She works with community-based programs and has a private practice. Her clinical interests include working with immigrant clients and marginalized communities, chronic pain, complex trauma and dissociation as well as exploring the embodied experience of migration. She also as a doctorate from the University Autonomous of Barcelona on Political Science, where she studied integration of migrant populations. She has taught at different universities including UAB and Naropa, and lectures nationally and internationally.

Hanneke Kalisvaart, PhD, is a Dutch psychomotor therapist and researcher at Altrecht psychosomatic medicine, a mental health center specializing in the treatment of clients with somatic symptom disorder in Zeist, the Netherlands. Since she started working as a therapist in 1994 she has been interested in the impact of serious illness and somatic symptoms on well-being. She uses sensorimotor psychotherapy to treat underlying trauma and attachment issues. Hanneke earned her master’s degree in human movement sciences from Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and her doctorate degree in social sciences from Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Her research concerns clients’ relationship to their body with somatic symptoms, and nonverbal assessment methods such as own body drawings. Hanneke is a guest lecturer at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Windesheim University of Applied Sciences Zwolle and has often presented on her research and clinical work.

Kekuni Minton, PhD, is a founding trainer of SPI and co-author of Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy (2009). Dr. Minton (CO; NLC.0001765) holds a private practice in Colorado since 1988, specializing in trauma and attachment issues with individual and couples. Dr. Minton was the president psychotherapist at the Boulder County AIDS Project (1992- 1995) and past faculty member at Naropa University (1995 – 2006). His doctoral thesis in clinical psychology focused on somatic relational therapy, and he has special interests in meditation and cultural trauma. Dr. Minton is first author on, La Narrazione del Corpo; la Psicoterapia Sensomotoria Integrata Nella Terapia di Coppia (2018), published in Italy. He trains internationally for SPI and is developing a course in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for working with couples.

Pat Ogden, PhD, (she/her), is a pioneer in somatic psychology, the creator of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy method, and founder of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute. Dr. Ogden is a clinician, consultant, international lecturer, and the first author of two groundbreaking books in somatic psychology: Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Interventions for Trauma and Attachment (2015). Her third book, The Pocket Guide to Sensorimotor Psychotherapy in Context, advocates for an anti-racist perspective in psychotherapy practice. Her current interests include couple therapy, child and family therapy, social justice, diversity, inclusion, consciousness, and the philosophical/spiritual principles that underlie her work.

Esther Perez, MA, LMFT (CA; LMFT; 48330) obtained an M.A in Counseling Psychology and an M.A. in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica, CA. As a bilingual Senior Trainer for the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, Esther currently teaches across Europe. As a consummate learner-teacher, Esther has committed herself to deeply integrating a number of modalities supported in the emerging research on neuroscience and attachment. Embodying the spirit of Unity, one of the core foundations of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy®, Esther studies how Sensorimotor Psychotherapy® intersects with EMDR, Internal Family Systems, and Mentalization Based Treatment. Esther uses her learning to inform her work with adults, adopted children and adolescents with attachment related issues, complex trauma and dissociation in her private practice in Malaga, Spain in addition to consulting with graduates of various levels from the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy® trainings.

Marko Punkanen, PhD, (01002312831) is a music therapist, dance/movement therapist, trauma psychotherapist, trauma psychotherapy trainer, certified sensorimotor psychotherapist® and SPI trainer. He has over 20 years experience in the treatment of severe traumatization. His specialist area is in the treatment of complex and attachment trauma, the bodily symptoms of trauma (somatoform dissociation) and the use of the body in trauma treatment. He is the founder and director of the Nyanssi Therapy Centre, which offers music therapy, dance-movement therapy, psychotherapy, vibroaocustic therapy (VAT) and supervision services in Lahti Finland. He is the co-founder of the first extensive Vibroacoustic therapy (VAT) training in Finland, and he has studied for example the possibilities of VAT in drug rehabilitation. He is also one of the founders of the VIBRAC - Skille-Lehikoinen Centre for Vibroacoustic Therapy and Research. From 2007-2011 Marko worked as a researcher in Finnish Centre of Excellence in Interdisciplinary Music Research in University of Jyväskylä. He was part of the research team which investigated the perception and preferences of emotions in music by depressed patients and the efficacy of improvisational, individual music therapy for depression (https://www.clearvuehealth.com/b/music-therapy-depression/). He currently works as a music/dance-movement/psychotherapist and supervisor in private practice and as a trauma psychotherapy trainer in University of Oulu, and as a trainer in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute. He is actively involved with trauma psychotherapy, music therapy and dance/movement therapy training in Finland.

Raymond Rodrgiuez, LCSW-R, Rev., is an Afro-Latino Licensed Clinical Social Worker(NY; LCSW; 077444-1) with over twenty years of experience working with community-based programs. He holds a master’s degree in Social Work from Columbia University, and is a trauma specialist assisting clients with complex psychological trauma and PTSD. In addition to private practice, he is the founder and clinical director of Aldea Counseling Services, a group psychotherapy practice in Harlem, NY, servicing primarily people of color. He has taught at Hostos Community College of the City University of New York, Columbia University School of Social Work, and Smith College School of Social Work, and is currently on faculty at the Trauma Studies Center of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy and the Integrative Trauma Certificate Program of the National Institute for the Psychotherapies. Raymond formerly served on the boards of the National Association of Puerto Rican and Hispanic Social Workers and the No More Fear Foundation. His clinical interests include family therapy, working with immigrant client, race-based oppression, LGBTQI empowerment, spirituality, and working with marginalized communities in community-based mental health. He lives in the Bronx with his partner and son.

Rochelle Sharpe Lohrasbe, PhD, RCC, is a Registered Clinical Counsellor who holds an MA in Learning and Development and a PhD in Child and Youth Care (Therapeutic). Rochelle began her career in forensic psychiatric nursing and she has accumulated more than 30 years of clinical experience in the areas of post-traumatic stress and developmental wounding. In her private clinical practice in British Columbia, Canada, Rochelle sees “children of all ages” who have endured abuse, neglect, and other traumatic/adverse experiences. She is a Sensorimotor Psychotherapy local, regional, and international facilitator and a curriculum/instructional design consultant, an EMDRIA-approved consultant and holds certifications in Clinical Hypnosis, Neuroptimal Neurofeedback and Havening Techniques. Rochelle presents regularly at ISSTD conferences and regional workshops internationally and provides educational workshops for psychotherapists on Trauma and Dissociation. She recently published on the integration of EMDR and SP, and co-authored “Somatic Resources: Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Approach to Stabilising Arousal in Child and Family Treatment” (2017), published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy.

Faan Yeen Sidor, Psy.D. (she, her, hers) is a licensed clinical psychologist. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign, and her Doctorate degree from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology.  Faan Yeen has over twenty years of clinical experience including over a decade as a subject matter expert with active-duty military members, veterans and their families, suffering from combat-related PTSD, complex trauma. In her role as Supervising Psychologist at SARP (substance-abuse recovery program), she supervised and trained substance-abuse counselors and social workers. She also served as adjunct faculty for The Chicago Medical School teaching and supervising psychiatric residents. Faan Yeen is a first-generation American, born to immigrant parents from China and Hungary. Her passions include work with racialized trauma, gender-related trauma, relational trauma, and attachment. Her professional experience and personal background have led her to incorporate spirituality, culture, intergenerational trauma and healing into her work. Her current areas of exploration are indigenous healing practices and ritual. 

Mason A. Sommers, PhD, is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist(CA;PSY; 9348) in private practice with over 39 years of clinical experience. He supports regional development of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy in Los Angeles, and has been training in Los Angeles, Boston, and North Carolina. His practice specializes in couples and adult individual therapy, combining analytic, psychodynamic, and somatic psychotherapies in his work. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from UCLA, and his Master or Arts and Doctorate degrees in clinical psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology, Los Angeles. Dr. Sommers is a former clinical instructor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and served as a three-term President of the Board of Directors of the Maple Counseling Center, a non-profit counseling agency and training facility for mental health professionals. Dr. Sommers volunteers as a Donate Life/One Legacy Ambassador, working to increase awareness of the need for organ and tissue registry and donation.

Patrick Weeg, MSW, LCSW, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker(CO; CSW.09923512), holds a masters degree in social work, from the University of Iowa, focusing on family systems. As an adjunct faculty member at Denver University's Graduate School of Social Work, he teaches assessment and treatment of trauma. He is co-owner of a private group psychotherapy practice, the Denver Center for Integrated Counseling, where he specializes in psychotherapy for people dealing with addictions, the aftermath of traumatic stress, and struggles with healthy boundaries. He has lectured at numerous substance abuse and mental health treatment centers, facilitated family weekends for the family members of addicted loved ones, and worked in child-welfare. Patrick strives to help individuals, families, and organizations develop a culture of safety that enables people to take the risks necessary for growth—physically, psychologically, and spiritually.

Anne Westcott, MSW, LICSW, is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (MA; LICSW; 1019498) with over 20 years’ experience working with children and families. She holds a private practice in Concord, MA. Anne is a co-developer of the SMART model, a somatic approach to the treatment of traumatized children, and past trainer and supervisor at the Trauma Center at Justice Resource Center (2007-2016). Anne’s published a series: The Hidden Strengths Therapeutic Children's Storybooks (2017), that are a resource for parents, teachers, and professionals working with children ages 4-10 who have experienced trauma or a frightening situation. Anne’s current focus has been on childhood development, somatic treatment for traumatized children, educational leadership, and curriculum development, and she has completed courses in educational graphic facilitation, leadership with the Presenting Institute, and early childhood development at Harvard. Anne is working on curriculum development with SPI for the Level II: Developmental Training.