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Psychology

Predoctoral internship at Utah State Hospital

Postdoctoral Fellowship in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and Psychoanalytic Studies at the Austen Riggs Center

Heather Churchill, PhD, is the associate director of the Therapeutic Community Program, the director of health and wellness, and a staff psychologist who provides psychotherapy and psychological testing at the Austen Riggs Center.

During her graduate training, she was a teaching assistant for several classes, including History and Systems of Psychology, as well as Cognitive and Projective Assessment. Also during her graduate training, she completed the New York Society Fellowship program, as well as the Couple and Family Fellowship program at the Washington Center for Psychoanalysis. During her internship at Utah State Hospital, she received intensive training in dialectical behavioral therapy and provided individual, group, and family therapy, as well as psychological assessments.

Churchill is a certified group relations consultant with the AK Rice Institute and former president of the Center for the Study of Groups and Social Systems, a non-profit whose mission is to further the understanding of groups dynamics and social systems.

University Fellowship Award for academic and scholarly achievement from George Washington University

The overlap between psychodynamic psychotherapy and other psychotherapies, such as dialectical behavioral therapy, as well as how integrating components of a psychodynamic approach may improve the quality of care in non-dynamic intensive treatment milieus.

Heather Churchill, PhD

Director of Health and Wellness/Associate Director of the Therapeutic Community Program

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. 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

Director of Therapeutic Community Program

Peter Hummel, MA, is the Therapeutic Community Center group and activities coordinator and a senior program manager at the Austen Riggs Center.

Peter Hummel, MA

Therapeutic Community Center Group and Activities Coordinator/Senior Program Manager

Cornelia Kalisher is a staff member in the Therapeutic Community Program at the Austen Riggs Center.

Cornelia Kalisher, LSW

Therapeutic Community Staff Member

Rosibel Mejia is a therapeutic community staff member and assistant program manager at the Austen Riggs Center.

Rosibel Mejia is a therapeutic community staff member at the Austen Riggs Center.

Rosibel Mejia

Therapeutic Community Staff/Assistant Program Manager

Gary Osborne, MFA, MAT, is a substance use counselor and the assistant program manager of the IRP-G at the Austen Riggs Center.

He has previous experience with family coaching.

Training Certificate from the Anthroposophical Psychology Association

Anthroposophical Psychology Association member

Gary Osborne, MFA, MAT

Substance Use Counselor

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

Dylan Quinn

Vincent Roppolo is a Therapeutic Community staff member at the Austen Riggs Center.

Brenda St. Pierre serves in the Therapeutic Community Program as the centerwide community coordinator and is a senior program manager.

Brenda St. Pierre

Centerwide Community Coordinator/Senior Program Manager

Coach training from the Co-Active Training Institute

Faolan Sugarman-Lash, ACC, is a therapeutic community staff member at the Austen Riggs Center, where he supports patients in their ongoing journey toward wellbeing and self-responsibility. He works directly in the community milieu to provide patients the opportunity for safety, introspection, communication skills-building, and movement.

Outside of Riggs, Faolan works as a professional life coach. Prior to his time here, he worked with executives and founders who were using alcohol to avoid confronting their pain. He helped them find themselves in the context of their own story and learn how to shape their meaning around an agentically chosen self-belief. He also worked with college students as a coach and facilitator in multiple roles, helping them discern their paths and remove internal blocks from becoming who they want to be.

BA in psychology from the University at Albany

Charlene Van Alphen is a program manager and a substance use counselor at the Austen Riggs Center.

Charlene Van Alphen

Program Manager/Substance Use Counselor

Jonathan Williams, MEd, is a Therapeutic Community staff member and an assistant program manager at the Austen Riggs Center.

Jonathan Williams, MEd

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

Therapeutic Community Staff

Heather Churchill, PsyD

Donna M. Elmendorf, PhD

Peter Hummel, MA

Cornelia Kalischer, LSW

Rosibel Mejia

Gary Osborne, MFA, MAT

Dylan Quinn

Vincent Roppolo

Brenda St. Pierre

Faolan Sugarman-Lash, ACC

Charlene Van Alphen

Jonathan Williams, MEd

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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