Activities Staff

Administrative Staff

Finance

Human Resources

Information Technology (IT)

Development

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

MD from the Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons

Fellowship in psychoanalytic studies at the Austen Riggs Center

Eric Plakun, MD, is the Senior Consultant to the Erikson Institute for Education, Research, and Advocacy and the former Medical Director/CEO of the Austen Riggs Center (2018-2024). 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 45 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.

Professional Affiliations/Organizational Memberships

 (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

Eric M. Plakun, MD,

Senior Consultant, Erikson Institute for Education, Research, and Advocacy

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

Donna Plankey

Accounts Receivable & Insurance Billing Coordinator

Dylan Quinn is a Therapeutic Community staff member and an assistant program manager at the Austen Riggs Center.

Dylan Quinn

Therapeutic Community Staff Member

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

Karen Reder, LPN

Staff Nurse

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

Nester Riva, MSPM, PMP, CSL

Director of Facilities

PsyD in clinical psychology from the George Washington University

Predoctoral internship at the Albany Psychology Internship Consortium

madeline river, PsyD, is a postdoctoral Fellow in psychodynamic psychotherapy and psychoanalytic studies who provides psychotherapy and psychological testing at the Austen Riggs Center.

Dr. river has provided psychological assessment and psychoanalytic psychotherapy in community mental health clinics, academic medical centers, and psychiatric hospital settings.

While pursuing a doctoral degree in Washington DC, they completed a psychoanalytic fellowship with the Washington-Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis. They also served as the event planning assistant for the Contemporary Freudian Society and participated in the CFS psychoanalytic fellowship program for three years.

Through their experiences in psychoanalytic communities both in the United States and in Vienna, Austria, Dr. river has developed an appreciation for the ways in which intrapsychic, familial, institutional, and cultural contexts shape identity and relationships.

madeline river, PsyD, is a fellow in psychology at the Austen Riggs Center.

madeline river, PsyD

Fellow in Psychology

Arti Roots Ross is a Therapeutic Community staff member at the Austen Riggs Center.

Arti Roots Ross

BA in psychology from Southern Illinois University

MSW from the University of North Carolina

David Rosenthal, LICSW, is a clinical social worker at the Austen Riggs Center. He provides direct patient care, family consultation, and family therapy.

Mr. Rosenthal has 28 years of clinical social work experience working at Bennington College, the Brien Center, and most recently at Berkshire Medical Center.

Former associate professor of psychology at Southern Vermont College

David Rosenthal, LICSW, is a clinical social worker at the Austen Riggs Center.

David Rosenthal, LICSW

Brittany Roy is the HR/payroll specialist at the Austen Riggs Center.

Prior to working at Austen Riggs, Ms. Roy was the payroll, benefits, and systems specialist at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. Prior to working at Kripula, she was employed at Paydata processing and setting up payrolls.

Brittany Roy

HR/Payroll Specialist

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

Eric M. Plakun, MD, DLFAPA, FACPsych

Donna Plankey

Dylan Quinn

Karen Reder, LPN

Molly Reider, LICSW

David Reiss, MD

Jeremy Ridenour, PsyD, ABPP

Nestor Riva, MSPM, PMP, CSL

madeline river, PsyD

Arti Roots Ross

David Rosenthal, LICSW

Brittany Roy

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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