Activities Staff

Administrative Staff

Finance

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Information Technology (IT)

Communications

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Clinical Social Workers

Erikson Institute Distinguished Faculty

Erikson Institute Staff

Faculty

Leadership

Nursing Staff

Remote Access Intensive Outpatient Program

Therapeutic Community Staff

Therapy Staff

Fellows

Psychology

BA in clinical psychology from Rutgers University

MA in clinical psychology from Fairleigh Dickenson University

PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Arkansas

Pre-doctoral internship at Massachusetts Mental Health Center (a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School system)

Fellowship in psychoanalytic studies at the Austen Riggs Center

MBA from the University of Massachusetts Isenberg School of Management

Steven Ackerman, PhD, is a treatment team leader, a psychotherapist, a consultant to the therapeutic community program, and the accreditation manager at the Austen Riggs Center. Dr. Ackerman is also the chair of the Austen Riggs Institutional Review Board.

Certified in psychoanalysis by the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABAPsa)

Studying the therapeutic alliance through examining the interaction between personality, psychopathology, and psychotherapy process.

Accreditation Manager/Team Leader/Chair of the Austen Riggs Institutional Review Board/Staff Psychologist

BA in cell biology and neuroscience from Rutgers University

MD from Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Instruction at the Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis

John Azer, MD, is a staff psychiatrist at the Austen Riggs Center.

Psychodynamic psychotherapy, neuromodulation, and addictions

Fellow in Psychiatry

Psychiatry residency at McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University

Psychotherapy training at the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute

Marina Bayeva, MD, PhD, is the director of psychopharmacology and a staff psychiatrist at the Austen Riggs Center.

Recipient of the Chair’s Choice Award from the Society of Biological Psychiatry

Honorable Mention by the NIMH Outstanding Resident Award Program

Marina Bayeva, MD, PhD, is the director of psychopharmacology and a fellow in psychiatry at the Austen Riggs Center.

Director of Psychopharmacology/Fellow in Psychiatry

BA in psychology from Michigan State University

MA and PsyD from the George Washington University

Predoctoral internship at The Sisters of Mercy Hospital-Marian Center

Postdoctoral Fellowship in psychodynamic psychotherapy and psychoanalytic studies at the Austen Riggs Center

Michael Blake, PsyD, is a staff psychologist, team leader, and the manager of clinical and organizational evaluation at the Austen Riggs Center.

As an undergrad, Dr. Blake completed an internship at Kids Company in London, England, focused on providing alternative treatments for at-risk youth and adolescents.

During predoctoral internship, he provided crisis psychotherapy, group therapy, family therapy, and psychological testing from a psychodynamic perspective.

Improving psychodynamic understanding of groups, organizations, and leadership. Learning more about the relationship between fantasy, play, and meaning making.


Team Leader/Manager of Clinical and Organizational Evaluation/Staff Psychologist

PsyD in clinical psychology from Antioch University New England

Pre-doctoral internship at UMass Amherst’s Center for Counseling and Psychological Health

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

Dr. Bliss has provided psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychological testing in a variety of settings including community mental health and college counseling. While on internship, Dr. Bliss also completed a post-graduate fellowship program through the Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis.

Professional Affiliations/Organizational Memberships

Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis

APA Division 39, Section IX (Psychoanalysis for Social Responsibility)

The intersection of religion and spirituality and psychology

Fellow in Psychology

Post-doc residency at Berkshire Medical Center

Charles Blomquist, MD, is a Fellow in hospital-based psychotherapy and psychoanalytic studies at the Austen Riggs Center.

Post-baccalaureate in pre-medical studies at Bryn Mawr College

DO and MS in academic medicine at New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine

Vivian Chan, MD, is a Fellow in hospital-based psychotherapy and psychoanalytic studies at the Austen Riggs Center.

Dr. Chan completed her psychiatry residency at the Mount Sinai Morningside West Hospital Centers, where she worked in various clinical settings, including an outpatient psychiatric center and intensive outpatient program. She complimented her psychotherapy training with further instruction at the Psychoanalytic Association of New York.

Served as chief resident in final year of residency

Presented nationally at the American Psychiatric Association on promoting the practice and education of psychodynamic psychotherapy in psychiatric residencies

Completed a yearlong AOA Training in Policy Studies (TIPS) program

Completed research in the final two years of residency on developing a predictive model for inpatient psychiatric readmissions utilizing big data

Presented at Grand Rounds on using narrative medicine and existential psychotherapy as frameworks for understanding psychiatry training and treatment

MA and PhD in clinical psychology at Michigan State University

Predoctoral internship at the Michigan State University Counseling Center

Marilyn Charles, PhD, ABPP, is a staff psychologist, team leader, supervisor, and member of the therapy staff at the Austen Riggs Center.

During her predoctoral internship, she was part of the Multi-Ethnic Counseling Center Alliance (MECCA) and has continued to promote dialogues across difference in her roles as (former) president of Division 39 (Psychoanalysis) of the American Psychological Association, (current) co-chair of APCS and international coordinator of the Psychoanalytic Track at UDEM. Her writing, teaching, supervision, and consultations have focused on encouraging the development of future generations of clinicians and on promoting higher standards of practice in the field.

A poet and artist herself, Dr. Charles has worked extensively with artists, writers, and musicians. She has a special interest in the creative process and is continues to investigate factors that facilitate and inhibit creativity. She also has a particular interest in the intergenerational transmission of trauma and its relationship to psychosis. She is actively engaged in mentoring, creating professional opportunities, creating opportunities for dialogue, and promoting community involvement for those in the helping professions, including her consultation work with 

 in Sydney, Australia, and with counseling centers and residential treatment centers in this country.

International Coordinator, Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM)

Member, Association for Psychosocial Studies (APS)

Teaching Associate in Psychiatry, Cambridge Health Alliance, Harvard Medical School

Training Analyst with the Michigan Psychoanalytic Council and the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis

 and is a member of the editorial boards of numerous psychoanalytic journals

Co-Chair of the Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society (APCS)

Winner of the American Board & Academy of Psychoanalysis (ABAPsa) Book Prize for 2020 in the Applied Category for her book co-edited with Jill Bellinson, PhD, entitled 

The Importance of Play in Early Childhood Education: Psychoanalytic, Attachment, and Developmental Perspectives

Creativity, psychosis, resilience, and the intergenerational transmission of trauma

Team Leader/Staff Psychologist

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.

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

Sandra Delgado, PsyD, is a staff psychologist at the Austen Riggs Center.

Sandra Delgado, PsyD

Staff Psychologist

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.

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

BS from University of Connecticut Honors Program (University Scholar)

Candidate at the Western New England Institute of Psychoanalysis

Consultant Candidate at the A. K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems

Heather Forouhar Graff, MD, is a staff psychiatrist, therapist and assistant team leader at the Austen Riggs Center. She consults to process groups that are aimed at studying relationships to authority.

Dr. Forouhar began her education as a painter at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a special interest in perceptual phenomena such as pattern recognition and the interaction and relativity of color. As an undergraduate, she was a research fellow at The University of Chicago studying the neural correlates of learning and memory in songbirds as a model for language development.

She has presented on the nocebo effect in treatment resistance, the value of process groups in the experiential learning of group dynamics in psychiatric residents and on the narcissistic vulnerabilities of trainees and the associated obstacles to learning within the supervisory relationship.

Center for the Study of Groups and Social Systems

Western New England Institute for Psychoanalysis

Board Certified in Psychiatry and Neurology

Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellowship in Biological Sciences at The University of Chicago

Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellowship in Computational Neuroscience at The University of Chicago

Frieda Fromm-Reichmann Award from the American Academy of Psychodynamic Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis

Boelhouwer Award for excellence in research, teaching and leadership from the Institute of Living

Psychoanalysis and the psychodynamics of groups and leadership

Assistant Team Leader/Staff Psychiatrist

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

Therapy Staff

Steven Ackerman, PhD, MBA, ABPP

John Azer, MD

Marina Bayeva, MD, PhD

Michael Blake, PsyD

Abigail Bliss, PsyD

Charles Blomquist, MD

Vivian Chan, DO, MS

Marilyn Charles, PhD, ABPP

Heather Churchill, PsyD

Sandra Delgado, PsyD

Donna M. Elmendorf, PhD

Heather Forouhar Graff, MD

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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