Activities Staff

Administrative Staff

Finance

Human Resources

Information Technology (IT)

Communications

Admissions Staff

Clinical Social Workers

Erikson Institute Distinguished Faculty

Erikson Institute Staff

Faculty

Leadership

Nursing Staff

Online Intensive Outpatient Program

Therapeutic Community Staff

Therapy Staff

Fellows

Psychology

PhD in clinical psychology from Derner Institute at Adelphi University

Postdoctoral fellowship in psychoanalytic studies at the Austen Riggs Center

Margaret Parish, PhD, is the director of patient care. A clinical psychologist, she provides and supervises psychotherapy, psychological assessment, and group consultation. She is interested in the unconscious dynamics of groups, families, communities, workplaces, and other social systems, and their impact on individual psychology.

Professional Affiliations/Organizational Memberships

A K Rice Institute certified group relations consultant

International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations

American Psychological Association (APA) divisions 39 (Psychoanalysis) 29 (Psychotherapy) and 49 (Group)

Center for the Study of Groups and Social Systems former board president and secretary

American Journal of Psychoanalysis editorial board

Margaret Parish, PhD, is the director of patient care at the Austen Riggs Center.

Margaret Parish, PhD

Director of Patient Care

Katrina Perez, RN, is a staff nurse at the Austen Riggs Center.

Staff Nurse

PhD in Clinical Psychology from The Derner School at Adelphi University

Predoctoral Internship at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School

Seth Pitman, PhD, is the Associate Director of the 

 for College Students and Emerging Adults in Massachusetts at the Austen Riggs Center. In addition to providing individual therapy and leading groups, Dr. Pitman designed and manages the IOP's measurement-based care initiative, an evidence-based practice of using systematic and routine assessment to inform treatment decisions and engage patients in their care.

Dr. Pitman is passionate about integrating clinical research and practice to improve treatment outcomes and foster communication within the field of mental healthcare. He is committed to translating what we know works best for patients to policymakers and organizations that have a hand in guiding resources and helping improve access to quality care for all, including those from economically, racially, and gender diverse backgrounds.

APA Division 29 – Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training

Society of Personality Assessment (SPA), Martin Mayman Award (2021)

Division 29, Jeffrey E. Barnett Psychotherapy Research Paper Award recipient (2017)

Adelphi University, George Stricker Fellowship Award, 2nd place recipient (2015)

Associate Director of Online IOP 

MD from the Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons

Fellowship in psychoanalytic studies at the Austen Riggs Center

As the medical director/CEO of Riggs, which is a non-profit, Eric Plakun, MD, reports to a dedicated Board of Trustees. He is responsible for all areas of the institution from the provision of patient care to the operational mechanics and strategic planning. He has a particular interest in mental health advocacy, full implementation of the mental health parity law, access-to-care issues, and reducing health disparities.

Dr. Plakun was the director of admissions for 35 years and has dedicated nearly his entire professional career to Riggs (more than 40 years) and its unique way of looking at and treating mental disorders. Other roles have included treatment team leader, psychotherapy supervisor, and co-principal investigator of a prospective, longitudinal study of treatment outcome.

Dr. Plakun has long been active in the American Psychiatric Association as a voice advancing the importance of psychotherapy as part of the identity and skills of psychiatrists, and as a member of the Assembly Executive Committee and Board of Trustees. He served as Plaintiffs’ expert on adult mental disorders in the landmark Wit v. United Behavioral Health federal class-action. The strong plaintiffs’ verdict was hailed as a “game-changer” in the implementation of the mental health parity law by Former Congressman Patrick Kennedy.

 (APA) - APA Board of Trustees member representing New England and Eastern Canada

Psychoanalytic Fellow and former Trustee of the 

American Academy of Psychodynamic Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis

 and member of its College of Research Fellows

Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry Psychotherapy Committee

National Association for Behavioral Healthcare

Board-certified psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, researcher, and forensic psychiatrist

Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association

2003 Massachusetts Psychiatric Society “Outstanding Psychiatrist in Clinical Psychiatry”

2017 Honored by American Psychoanalytic Association for “Championing psychoanalytic and psychodynamic psychotherapy treatment within American psychiatry and paving the way towards a return to a more individualized treatment model”

Diagnosis, treatment, longitudinal course, and outcome of patients with borderline personality disorder and treatment-resistant disorders

Medical Director/CEO

Donna Plankey is the accounts receivable & insurance billing coordinator at the Austen Riggs Center.

Accounts Receivable & Insurance Billing Coordinator

Cheryl Puntil, MN, APRN, PMH-CNS, BC, is the chief nursing officer at the Austen Riggs Center. The Austen Riggs Center specializes in the long-term treatment of persons with psychiatric disorders with intensive psychodynamic psychotherapy promoting resilience and self-direction in adults (18+) with complex psychiatric problems.

She has more than 40 years of psychiatric mental health (PMH) experience and has worked in specialty areas such as geriatric, medical, and adult psychiatric nursing. Her expertise lies in caring for: those who have diagnoses of depression, dementia, and delirium; those at risk for suicide; and those receiving electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). She was a clinical nurse specialist (CNS) at the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA for more than 20 years and was most recently an instructor at Hawaii Community College, where she was on the tenure track teaching ASN/LPN students.

Ms. Puntil has a passion for advocating for nursing professionalism in the healthcare arena and the practice of psychodynamic nursing.

American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA) member

Berkshire Coalition for Suicide Prevention (BCSP) board member

Lead trainer in the APNA facilitator suicide prevention training

Served on a task force for the APNA Education Committee to develop registered nurse (RN) competencies for the assessment and management of individuals at risk for suicide in the in-patient setting which resulted in publication and curriculum course development (Advocates of Hope)

Partnered with other experts to be a part of the APNA Transitions in Practice (ATP) certificate program, co-teaching risk assessment and mental status exam

APNA Annual Award for Distinguished Service / 2017

Suicide prevention, ECT, counter-transference and transference (boundaries), depression, open setting residential care, therapeutic community

Chief Nursing Officer

Dylan Quinn is a Therapeutic Community staff member at the Austen Riggs Center.

Therapeutic Community Staff Member

Karen Reder, LPN, is a staff nurse at the Austen Riggs Center.

BA from University Without Walls at UMass Amherst

MSW from Boston College School of Social Work

Molly Reider, LICSW, is a clinical social worker at the Austen Riggs Center.

Mx. Reider has clinical social work experience in the adult inpatient setting and community mental health working with children, youth, and families.

Member of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW)

Member of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS)

Certificate in Neuroscience and Social Work from Boston College School of Social Work

The use of games and play to encourage social learning and the integration of neuroscience into social work practice

Molly Reider, LICSW

Clinical Social Worker

Residency in psychiatry at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center

Graduate of the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute

David Reiss, MD, is a distinguished faculty member in the Erikson Institute for Education, Research, and Advocacy of the Austen Riggs Center. 

Dr. Reiss was the Director of the Division of Research and the Center for Family Research at George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C., as well as Vivian Gill Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences there. He has published many articles and books investigating the relationship between genetic and psychosocial factors and forming testable models of behavioral development across the life span. Also trained in psychoanalysis, he has been committed to postdoctoral research training in psychiatry and the behavioral sciences.

Clinical professor of child psychiatry at Yale

Adolf Meyer Award from the American Psychiatric Association

Distinguished Faculty in the Erikson Institute for Education, Research, and Advocacy  

BS in psychology from the University of Texas

PsyD in clinical psychology from George Washington University

Predoctoral internship at Pathways Community Health in Missouri

Fellowship in Psychoanalytic Studies at the Austen Riggs Center

Board Certified by the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis

Jeremy M. Ridenour, PsyD, ABPP, is the director of psychological testing, associate director of admissions, and a staff psychologist at the Austen Riggs Center. He is also the chair of the Erikson Scholar Search Committee.

He has written and presented on schizophrenia, paranoia, personality disorders, and psychological testing.

Psychotherapeutic treatment of individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders with a particular focus in understanding how targeting mentalization (i.e. how people think about self and other) can be an important focus for recovery. In addition, he has conducted psychological assessment research on personality disorders and psychosis

Jeremy Ridenour, PsyD, ABPP, is the associate director of admissions and the director of psychological testing at the Austen Riggs Center.

Jeremy Ridenour, PsyD, ABPP

Associate Director of Admissions/Director of Psychological Testing

BA in operations management from the University of Massachusetts

MS in project management from Boston University

Marketing and Communications at San Ignacio De Loyola University–Lima Peru

Nestor Riva, MSPM, PMP, CSL, is the director of facilities at the Austen Riggs Center and is responsible for directing the execution of critical capital projects. He provides leadership to the facilities department and oversees the functioning of all buildings and systems including maintenance, housekeeping, and contractors. Mr. Riva is appointed by the medical director/CEO as the safety manager of the Center. In addition, he is chair of the Environment of Care Committee and responsible for compliance with the Joint Commission, federal, state, local and other regulatory agencies.

Mr. Riva is a strategic operations and project management professional with many years of combined experience in facilities operations, project management, construction and leadership. He has expertise in multiple industries, and has led and managed multiple priorities and critical projects from inception to completion.

Project Management Professional (PMP) by the Project Management Institute

Construction Supervisor License (CSL) in the state of Massachusetts

Director of Facilities

Meet the Austen Riggs staff of therapists, nurses, administrators, and other healthcare professionals who work as a team on behalf of our patients. 

Staff Directory of Therapists and Teams | Austen Riggs

For more information on our residential treatment programs, or answers to any questions, please feel free to contact us. 

Meet Our Team

Margaret Parish, PhD, ABPP

Katrina Perez, RN

Seth Pitman, PhD

Eric M. Plakun, MD, DLFAPA, FACPsych

Donna Plankey

Cheryl Puntil, MN, APRN, PMH-CNS, BC

Dylan Quinn

Karen Reder, LPN

Molly Reider, LICSW

David Reiss, MD

Jeremy Ridenour, PsyD, ABPP

Nestor Riva, MSPM, PMP, CSL

Contact Us for More

For more information on our residential treatment programs, or answers to any questions, please feel free to contact us.

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