Katherine Vincent Lamb (she/her) is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified Theraplay Practitioner with a degree in Art Therapy and Counseling. Prior to returning to school to pursue clinical training, Katherine worked for over a decade in residential and community-based programs for children and youth, providing case management services and later co-directing an after-school program in a Chicago public elementary school. Katherine is certified in the ARC trauma treatment framework and has experience working with children who have experienced personal and communal traumatic events. She supports children and adolescents navigating issues of identity and self-esteem, adjusting to parental divorce or separation, and developing skills in self-expression and regulation. In her therapeutic work, Katherine combines her understanding of art therapy, play-based approaches and sensory regulation techniques to support clients’ growth. In addition to offering caregiver-child therapy and individual art therapy for children and adolescents, Katherine provides support for parents and caregivers as they identify parenting approaches that align with their own strengths, values and goals.
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AAMFT Approved Supervisor, Certified Theraplay Practitioner, TBRI Practitioner
Jeremy Johnson is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the state of Tennessee with over 25 years of experience working with adults, children, and families. Jeremy is a Certified Theraplay Practitioner, a Theraplay Supervisor-in-Training, and a Theraplay Trainer. Jeremy is passionate about using Theraplay strategies in his work with children and their families in his private practice in Hendersonville, Tennessee. His areas of interest and expertise include working with families and children with attachment issues, anxiety and depression issues, impulse control and behavior issues, self-esteem issues, and children from divorced homes. Jeremy also specializes in working with adoptive and foster families, and he brings a unique perspective to this work as he and his wife, Kelli, are adoptive parents.
Jeremy is a Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) Practitioner and has extensive training in Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT). He is also a Certified Brainspotting Practitioner.
Jeremy serves as a faculty supervisor for the Marriage and Family Therapy graduate program at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, and he is an AAMFT Approved Supervisor. Jeremy completed his Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. Jeremy can be reached at [email protected] or via his website at www.theconnectionplace.org.
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is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and Certified Theraplay Therapist. Ritamaria completed her graduate training at Roosevelt University and has spent her professional career as a pediatric therapist, clinical supervisor, and as the clinical director of a child and family private practice, Individual and Family Connection, located in Chicago, Il and River Forest, Il.
Ritamaria’s areas of expertise and passion include building healthy attachments and bonds between children and their caretaker. She has experience working with children who have had relational trauma, abuse, neglect, loss, “BiG T” traumas, and medical trauma. Ritamaria is also focused in supporting parents by helping them understand the meaning behind their child’s behavior. Ritamaria uses a strengths-based approach and in addition to Theraplay, Ritamaria is trained in Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy and EMDR.
Ritamaria has a warm, supportive presence. Her clients and supervisees share they feel at ease when they meet Ritamaria for the first time. Ritamaria is able to connect with some of the most ‘hard to reach’ clients by validating their struggles and taking the time to understand the unique way they experience the world. She is often quick to identify her client’s strengths (even when they can’t find them for themselves) and is able to help them utilize these strengths to reach their personal goals. Ritamaria views therapy and supervision as a collaborative effort to create positive change and strengthen family systems and relationships.
Ritamaria Laird may be reached at [email protected]
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Kirsten is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Certified Theraplay Practitioner. She earned her Master of Social Work with a mental health concentration from the University of Illinois at Chicago. There, she also earned a certificate in Integrated Behavioral Health with children and adolescents. Kirsten has received additional training in Attachment, Regulation, and Competency (ARC), Trust Based Relational Interventions (TBRI), the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), and adoption related mental health.
Kirsten uses a strengths-based approach to promote secure attachments, foster healthy relationships between family members, and promote mutual enjoyment of each other. She has worked with youth in care, the refugee community, and youth and families who have adopted or have guardianship through DCFS. She has experience working with these communities on issues of trauma, grief, loss, displacement, identity, and other related issues. Kirsten can be reached at [email protected].
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Kerri Garner, LPC, specializes in the use of Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy and EMDR along with Theraplay® in her work with children, adolescents, families, and adults from all over the world. An adoptive mother herself, Kerri is passionate about bringing children and their caregivers into closer, healing relationships with each other. While her specialties include childhood abuse, trauma, attachment, PTSD, relationships, and parenting, she enjoys working with cross-cultural transition, immigrant families, and adjustment related to multicultural experiences as well.
Kerri earned her Masters in Pastoral Counseling from Loyola University Chicago in 1999, and has been a Licensed Professional Counselor since 2001. She practiced in Chicago and Phoenix for many years, serving children and families in group homes, foster care, and private practice. For most of the past decade, Kerri lived and worked in Nairobi, Kenya, where she had a thriving private practice that served the diverse international community there. She also partnered with several childrens’ homes, providing therapy to their children and, more importantly, training the Kenyan caregivers and staff in Theraplay and trauma-informed care. Kerri spearheaded and led the first ever Level One Theraplay training of counseling professionals in East Africa in February of 2020.
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Zaya Gillogly (she/her/hers) is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Certified Theraplay Practitioner, and Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) Practitioner. She is a Theraplay Supervisor-in-Training, Theraplay Trainer-in-Trainer, and is working toward becoming a Registered Play Therapist. She works with youth of all ages, and their families, who have experienced physical or emotional abuse, developmental trauma, neglect, domestic violence, separation, divorce, and/or loss. Zaya has experience working with youth who are adopted and their families on grief, loss, identity, and other adoption-related topics. She aims to build a working alliance with families to identify the specific needs of their child. Zaya aims to create space for parent and child to experience connection, attunement, and mutual enjoyment as a tool to build their relationship. Utilizing the power of relationships to meet the needs of the child, Zaya supports families in creating positive emotional and behavioral changes.
Zaya earned her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work at Ohio University and her Master’s degree in Social Work with a concentration in mental health at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has worked in community mental health, youth and domestic violence shelters, LGBTQ centers, and home-based services. Zaya has additional training in Attachment, Regulation, and Competency (ARC), adoption-competent mental health, non-directive play therapy techniques, and art-based techniques. Zaya can be reached at [email protected]
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Anita Johanson Maddox is a licensed clinical counselor and licensed professional educator with over thirty years of experience in varied settings that include a community mental health center, the Special Education District of Lake County, and 20 years at The Theraplay Institute. She has enjoyed working with a variety of populations from infants to the elderly. Her experience as a staff therapist at a Community Mental Health Center involved treating individuals and groups with both young families and the chronically mentally ill. During that time, she also worked at The Children’s Memorial Hospital (renamed Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago) as an Infant Care Volunteer Coordinator. She was employed for thirteen years at The Special Education District of Lake County (SEDOL) as a Family Specialist. In the Spring of 2020, she became a Contractual Therapist at The Theraplay Institute. Anita has an interest in treating young children, children who have a variety of concerns that include, but are not limited to, characteristics of autism, medical and or developmental concerns, trauma and attachment concerns, and parent-child relationship difficulties. Using Theraplay® techniques, she guides families in experiencing happiness and togetherness. As a result, families achieve increased closeness and discover more positive ways of interacting. Anita creates a connection with families, and helps them develop a new perspective of their child’s worthiness and special strengths. Various experiences in her life have sparked her interest in working with families to assist them in understanding, accepting, and respecting each other. Anita has discovered the empowerment that can be provided to people who have experienced challenges in their lives.
Anita is a Certified Theraplay Practitioner and a Registered Play Therapist – Supervisor. She has co-presented at The Theraplay Institute International Conferences and also co-authored an article which was published in The Theraplay Institute Newsletter, as well as a chapter in the book Applications of Family and Group Theraplay, Rowman & Littlefield Publisher, 2009, edited by Evangeline Munns. In addition to mental health licenses in Illinois and Wisconsin, Anita also has a State of Illinois Educators License Early Childhood (Birth to Third Grade).
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Dr. Serrano is a mental health clinician with over 14 years of varied clinical experiences in community mental health counseling centers, private practice, and inpatient facilities in rural, suburban, and urban areas within the Midwest. Dr. Serrano attended Northern Illinois University and received his Bachelor’s Degree in psychology. Then, after completing his Master’s Degree in counseling from Indiana’s Ball State University in 2008, he served as a therapist to the Southside of Chicago for over three and a half years. In 2012, he began his doctoral program in clinical psychology from Adler University in Chicago and graduated in 2017. Upon completion of his doctorate, he returned as a clinician to the Southside Chicago community while simultaneously working as the clinical director of a group practice in the Northwest Illinois suburbs. Dr. Serrano has an emphasis in treating behavioral challenges, mood and anxiety disorders, and relational difficulties amongst individuals, families, and couples ranging from childhood to geriatrics.
Dr. Serrano also has clinical experience and interest in incorporating art, humor, and comic culture into therapy to promote growth and achievement of clinical goals. He is an avid comic book fan and has presented his research on the influence of comic books on moral development to various nationwide cities and audiences. He is also a founding member of a team that studies and nationally presents on the interconnectedness between comic books and their psychological significance to people and society. Lastly, he is a mixed media artist whose work has been displayed in books, events, and in various public locations around the United States.
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