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

Greg Cutter is an IT Administrator at the Austen Riggs Center.

Greg Cutter

IT Administrator

BS in marketing and communications from Bryant University

Nadine Desautels is the website coordinator at the Austen Riggs Center, where she updates website content, analyzes data, edits video and photography for online consumption, and maintains the Austen Riggs social media accounts. In addition, she is responsible for maintaining the website’s functionality and Google Ads account.

Prior to becoming the Website Coordinator, she worked in various roles at Austen Riggs including: Executive Assistant to the Medical Director/CEO, Development, Marketing, and Education Assistant, and Database Assistant. She is also the Conference Coordinator for the Rapaport Klein Study Group.

Social Media Strategist certificate from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Marketing Measurement & Analytics and Search Marketing School certificates from MarketingProfs

Website Coordinator

Karen Dinofrio is the medical office assistant at the Austen Riggs Center.

Medical Office Assistant

Neesha Dolan is a Therapeutic Community Program and nursing administrative assistant at the Austen Riggs Center.

Neesha Dolan is the Therapeutic Community Program and nursing administrative assistant at the Austen Riggs Center.

Neesha Dolan

Therapeutic Community Program and Nursing Administrative Assistant 

MA in clinical psychology from the University of Denver

PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Denver

Internship in adult clinical psychology at Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital

Two year-long fellowships at Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital in adolescent and family treatment and psychological assessment

Donna Elmendorf, PhD, is the director of the Therapeutic Community Program and the Activities Program at the Austen Riggs Center. Dr. Elmendorf also serves as a psychotherapist and a psychotherapy supervisor in the Center's Adult Psychoanalytic Training Program and Fellowship in Hospital-Based Psychotherapy. She provides group consultation and supervision and leads the Center's consultation service. She also leads the Human Development Initiative, bringing developmentally informed, relationship-based interventions to our local Berkshire community.

Dr. Elmendorf’s work as an organizational and group relations consultant supports her efforts to better understand the social dynamics of psychological disturbance within the Therapeutic Community at Austen Riggs. Prior to coming to Riggs, her experience at the Adolescent and Family Treatment Center at McLean Hospital as well as her work at the counseling center at Bard College at Simon’s Rock deepened her understanding of the developmental transition from adolescence to adulthood.

Dr. Elmendorf is actively involved in the Berkshire community, having served on the board of several local and state organizations involved with mental health, education, and environmental conservation. She is working with several colleagues to develop an understanding of how tuning into emotional experience and sharing such experience in relation to the task of a group or organization is an often overlooked and underappreciated aspect of leadership.

Professional Affiliations/Organizational Memberships

International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations (ISPSO)

Center for the Study of Groups and Social Systems (CSGSS)

American Residential Treatment Association (ARTA)

Chair of the Leadership Committee of the American Residential Treatment Association (ARTA)

Certified Consultant, A.K. Rice Institute

Co-founder and Faculty, Leading from Experience

Anna Freud Educational Achievement Award from the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA) (2017)

John Leopold Weil and Geraldine Rickard Weil Memorial Charitable Foundation, Inc. grant recipient (2017, 2018, 2019) in support of Human Development Initiative

Symptomatic behavior as interpersonal communication, competence and regression in group dynamics, and social cognition in young children.

Donna Elmendorf, PhD, is the director of the Therapeutic Community Program at the Austen Riggs Center.

Donna Elmendorf, PhD

Director of Therapeutic Community Program

BA from the University of North Carolina Wilmington

Predoctoral internship at Emory University School of Medicine

Psychoanalytic training at the Austen Riggs Center (ACPEinc Accredited)

Kathryn (Kate) Gallagher is a staff psychologist at the Austen Riggs Center. She earned her PhD in clinical psychology from Georgia State University and is a graduate of the Austen Riggs Center Adult Psychoanalytic Training Program and Fellowship in Hospital-Based Psychotherapy. Her graduate research primarily focused on understanding and preventing violence against women, a public health crisis rooted in gender inequality and issues of basic human rights. As a full-time practicing clinician, Dr. Gallagher has shifted her attention to another significant human rights and equity issue–inadequate access to affordable mental health care. Dr. Gallagher is especially committed to supporting efforts to appeal insurer denials of medically necessary mental health treatment.

Staff Psychologist, Insurance and Utilization Review Specialist

MD from the American University of Beirut

Residency training in psychiatry at the Mayo Clinic Fellowship in psychoanalytic studies at the Austen Riggs Center

Samar Habl, MD, is the director of admissions and associate medical director at the Austen Riggs Center. Dr. Habl is a certified board psychiatrist, a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, and a team leader Austen Riggs.

Consulted at various leadership development programs in different business schools

The study of groups and social systems as it pertains to organizational life and the application of group relation theories to leadership development.

Director of Admissions and Associate Medical Director

Gary Harrington is the system administrator at the Austen Riggs Center. He supports the clinical mission by assuring documentation software is operational and secure. With the rest of the IT team, he address a variety of hardware needs and troubleshoots problems as needed. In addition, he provides orientation and education to new staff.

Mr. Harrington has worked at Riggs since 1981; first in nursing, then in performance improvement, and finally in IT. His various roles have given him the unique opportunity to become familiar with the institution from different perspectives, both clinical and non-clinical.

Outside of Riggs, Mr. Harrington is involved with the Western Mass Medical Reserve Corps (radio communications and participation in disaster response as needed).

System Administrator

Currently working on a bachelor’s degree in psychology (scheduled to complete in December 2022)

Professional Affiliations / Organizational Memberships

Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology

The National Society of Leadership and Success

Abigail Headley is an administrative assistant and measurement-informed care clinical assistant at the Austen Riggs Center.

Administrative Assistant/Measurement-Informed Care Clinical Assistant

BA in psychology and education from Bard College at Simon’s Rock

Summer Heller is the Executive Assistant to the Medical Director/CEO and the Erikson Institute Program Assistant.

She previously worked as an intern to the Dean of Studies at Bard College at Simon’s Rock. In this role she was responsible for institutional data keeping, updating the school's communications processed, and serving as a liaison between students and administration.

Executive Assistant to the Medical Director/CEO & Erikson Institute Program Assistant

Undergraduate degree from Brown University

MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Medical internship at St. Vincent’s Hospital

Psychiatric residency at New York Hospital’s Payne Whitney Clinic

Fellowship in psychoanalytic studies at the Austen Riggs Center

Nicholas A. Holliday, MD, is the director of medical services and a staff psychiatrist at Riggs.

Dr, Holliday fulfilled a four-year service commitment with the Army as a general medical officer, which included tours in Germany and Brooklyn, and deployment to Somalia for Operation Restore Hope.

Director of Medical Services

David Jordan provides oversight of and direction for all dietary/food needs for patients and staff at the Center.

Director of Dietary/Executive Chef

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

Administrative Staff

Greg Cutter

Nadine Desautels, BS

Karen Dinofrio

Neesha Dolan

Donna M. Elmendorf, PhD

Kathryn Gallagher, PhD

Samar Habl, MD

Gary Harrington

Abigail Headley

Summer Heller

Nicholas A. Holliday, MD

David Jordan

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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