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Psychology

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.

Professional Affiliations/Organizational Memberships

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

Marilyn Charles, PhD, ABPP

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.

Heather Churchill, PhD

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

BA in psychology from the University of North Carolina Wilmington

PhD in clinical psychology from Georgia State University

Predoctoral internship at Emory University School of Medicine

Fellowship in Psychoanalytic Studies at the Austen Riggs Center

Kathryn (Kate) Gallagher, PhD, ABPP, is a staff psychologist, clinical supervisor, and faculty member at the Austen Riggs Center. Her graduate research primarily focused on understanding and preventing violence against women, a public health crisis rooted in gender inequality and fundamental human rights issues. Now, 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. She is particularly committed to supporting efforts to appeal insurer denials of medically necessary mental health treatment.

Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN), Steering Committee Member

Board Certified in Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP)

Board Certified in Psychoanalysis by the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP)

Kate Gallagher, PhD, ABPP

Staff Psychologist, Insurance and Utilization Review Specialist

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

Fellowship in psychoanalytic studies at the Austen Riggs Center

Dan Knauss, PsyD, ABPP, is the director of training, a staff psychologist, and vice-chair of the Institutional Review Board at the Austen Riggs Center. 

He holds interests in infant mental health, epistemic trust in systems of care, and mentalization informed approaches to treatment. Dr. Knauss is board certified in psychoanalysis and is active in organizations promoting psychoanalytic thinking and approaches to treatment. He serves on the boards of the Accreditation Council for Psychoanalytic Education, Inc., the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Psychology, and as a Member at Large on the board for The Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology, Division 39, of the American Psychological Association. 

In addition, he serves on the Editorial Board for 

 and formerly served on the Editorial Board of the 

Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association

. He is passionate about psychoanalytic education and supervision.

Board Certified by the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis

Member at large on the Board of The Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology (SPPP), Division 39, The American Psychological Association

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

Daniel Knauss, PsyD, APBB

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

Student in the International Psychotherapy Institute Combined Child Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis Training Program

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. She also maintains a private practice where she treats adults, adolescents, and children.

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)

Accreditation Council for Psychoanalytic Education (ACPEinc) Board of Trustees member

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, ABPP, 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

Kristin L. McLaughlin, PhD, ABPP, headshot.

Kristin L. McLaughlin, PhD, ABPP

Staff Psychologist/Eating Disorder 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

Psychology

Marilyn Charles, PhD, ABPP

Heather Churchill, PsyD

Kathryn Gallagher, PhD, ABPP

Daniel Knauss, PsyD, ABPP

Megan Kolano, PsyD, ABPP

Kristin L. McLaughlin, PhD, 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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