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

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

Evan Good, PhD, is a postdoctoral Fellow in psychodynamic psychotherapy and psychoanalytic studies who provides psychotherapy and psychological testing at the Austen Riggs Center.

Evan Good, PhD, is a fellow in psychology at the Austen Riggs Center.

Evan Good, PhD

Fellow in Psychology

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

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

PsyD in clinical psychology from Wheaton College

Predoctoral internship and an advanced internship at the Albert & Jessie Danielsen Institute at Boston University

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

Dr. Kazimov has provided psychotherapy and psychological assessments in various settings, including forensic, academic, and community mental health clinics.

Through various diverse experiences, Kazimov has developed a holistic understanding of people’s needs, encompassing not only the biological, psychological, and social aspects but also the spiritual dimensions of human nature.

The theory and practice of relational psychoanalytic therapy, attachment theory, relational spirituality, complex trauma, and grief.

Shirin Kazimov, PsyD, is a fellow in psychology at the Austen Riggs Center.

Shirin Kazimov, PsyD

MS in counseling psychology with an emphasis in marriage and family therapy from California Lutheran University

PsyD in clinical psychology from California Lutheran University

Fellowship in Infant-Parent Mental Health at the University of Massachusetts Boston

Daniel Knauss, PsyD, ABPP, is the director of training and a staff psychologist at the Austen Riggs Center. Dr. Knauss also coordinates the Grand Rounds at Austen Riggs.

Dr. Knauss has worked clinically in a variety of settings including private practice, community mental health, university counseling centers, medical centers, and residential treatment settings.

Dr. Knauss is an active presenter at national and international conferences and has published in peer-reviewed journals. He currently serves on the Editorial Board for the 

Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association

 and is vice-chair of the Austen Riggs Center Institutional Review Board. Dr. Knauss has a passion for education, having taught undergraduate and graduate level psychology courses at private and public universities and has experience providing clinical supervision to psychology graduate students.

Board Certified by the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis

Mentalization-informed approaches to treatment, infant and early-childhood mental health, and working with expectant parents.

Director of Training/Staff Psychologist/Grand Rounds Coordinator

BAs in psychology and criminal justice from Virginia Commonwealth University

PsyD in clinical psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

Two-year fellowship with the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis

Megan Kolano, PsyD, is a staff psychologist, assistant team leader, and faculty member at the Austen Riggs Center.

Dr. Kolano has worked clinically in a variety of contexts including correctional centers, community-based residential settings, psychiatric hospitals, psychoanalytic institutes, and outpatient private practices.

Dr. Kolano enjoys writing, teaching and has taught courses related to psychological testing and psychoanalytic theory and practice. She has presented professionally on subjects such as schizophrenia, psychosis and spiritual experiences, object-relating and subject-relating in adolescent texting, working psychoanalytically with individuals with developmental disabilities, and humor and horror in teaching the Rorschach.

Professional Affiliations/Organizational Memberships

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

A.K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems (AKRI)

American Psychoanalytic Association (APSaA)

AKRI Training and Certification in group consultancy

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

Megan Kolano, PsyD, is an assistant team leader and staff psychologist at the Austen Riggs Center.

Megan Kolano, PsyD

Assistant Team Leader/Staff Psychologist

BA in psychology from San José State University

PhD in counseling psychology from the University at Albany, State University of New York

Pre-doctoral internship in clinical psychology at the Psychology Internship Consortium affiliated with Albany Medical Center.

Kristin L. McLaughlin, PhD, is a staff psychologist who provides psychotherapy and psychological testing at the Austen Riggs Center. In addition, she serves as the eating disorder specialist, offering consultation to teams and clinicians, providing psychodynamic supervision to the registered dietician, co-facilitating groups for patients, and providing education for staff to integrate understanding of and interventions for disordered eating within a psychodynamic treatment system. Dr. McLaughlin also coordinates the Friday Night Guest Lecture Series through Spring, 2024.

Dr. McLaughlin has provided psychotherapy in a number of settings including community mental health centers, university counseling centers, VA medical centers, a state hospital forensic unit, and hospital inpatient and outpatient psychiatry departments. She has taught undergraduate courses on the Psychology of Social Justice and Cultural Diversity, and taught and supervised students in a Masters in Mental Health Counseling graduate program.

Dr. McLaughlin has published and presented research on cultural trauma, including racial and gender-related trauma and the links between systemic oppression and mental health outcomes, especially in relation to racism and sexism. She currently supervises practicing clinicians in community mental health settings.

Psychodynamic aspects of cultural oppression, social justice, and identity

The role of insight in psychodynamic/psychoanalytic psychotherapy

Staff Psychologist/Eating Disorder Specialist

MD from University of Miami School of Medicine

Residency through the Cambridge Hospital/Austen Riggs Center Combined Residency Program

David Mintz, MD, is a staff psychiatrist who joined the Austen Riggs Center in 1996. He presently serves as the director of psychiatric education, the associate director of training, and as a team leader. He also is principal investigator for the research initiative in Psychodynamic Psychopharmacology and author of the book 

Psychodynamic Psychopharmacology: Caring for the Treatment-Resistant Patient

 (2022, American Psychiatric Association Publishing). Dr. Mintz also coordinates the Elective in Psychodynamic Psychiatry at the Austen Riggs Center.

American Psychiatric Association, former leader of the Psychotherapy Caucus

American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, Psychoanalytic Fellow and elected Trustee

Medical Student Education Committee member of the American Psychoanalytic Association

Teichner Scholar at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University Psychiatry Residency Program

Psychological aspects of taking and prescribing medications, psychodynamic aspects of medical education, professionalism, and clinical care of psychiatric patients with treatment-refractory conditions.

Director of Psychiatric Education/Associate Director of Training/Team Leader

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.

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

MD from the Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons

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

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

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

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

Kathryn Gallagher, PhD

Evan Good, PhD

Samar Habl, MD

Nicholas A. Holliday, MD

Shirin Kazimov, PsyD

Daniel Knauss, PsyD, ABPP

Megan Kolano, PsyD, ABPP

Kristin L. McLaughlin, PhD

David Mintz, MD

Margaret Parish, PhD, ABPP

Eric M. Plakun, MD, DLFAPA, FACPsych

Jeremy Ridenour, PsyD, ABPP

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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