Austen Riggs Center Names Jeremy Ridenour, PsyD, ABPP, Director of Admissions as Center Deepens Focus on Clinical Fit and Access

October 19, 2026 — Stockbridge, MA — The Austen Riggs Center has named Jeremy Ridenour, PsyD, ABPP, Director of Admissions, effective at the end of September. Kyle Shepard, DO, will become Associate Director of Admissions.

The appointments come as Riggs continues to place greater emphasis on helping patients, families, and referring clinicians understand not simply how to enter treatment, but whether the Center’s distinctive open, voluntary residential model is the right clinical fit.

At Riggs, admission begins with a conversation about an individual’s history, prior treatment, current difficulties, and capacity to make use of intensive treatment in an open therapeutic community. The process is designed to help patients and those supporting them make an informed decision about care, even when that decision is that another setting may be more appropriate.

“Admissions at Riggs is a clinical function in the fullest sense. It begins with careful listening and a thoughtful assessment of whether our treatment can be useful to a particular person,” said Oscar F. Hills, MD, Medical Director and CEO of the Austen Riggs Center. “Jeremy brings deep knowledge of our treatment, substantial experience working with complex psychiatric presentations, and a commitment to helping patients, families, and clinicians make good decisions about care. With Kyle joining him, we have a strong clinical leadership team for this important point of entry into Riggs. We are also deeply grateful to Samar for her leadership of Admissions and pleased that she will continue to play an important role at Riggs as Associate Medical Director.”

Prior to his appointment as Director of Admissions, Ridenour served as Associate Director of Admissions and Director of Psychological Testing. He completed the Austen Riggs Fellowship in Psychoanalytic Studies and is board certified by the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis. His clinical and scholarly work has focused on personality assessment and the psychotherapeutic treatment of people with psychosis.

In recent years, Ridenour has also become a prominent voice in communicating the Riggs treatment approach to patients, families, and mental health professionals. He has written and presented on questions of identity, agency, recovery, and the psychotherapy of psychosis, and has worked alongside the admissions team to help clinicians and families assess when longer-term, intensive residential treatment may be appropriate.

"People often contact us when they are in a dire situation, trying to find a way to get unstuck or to pick up the pieces after a traumatic event or psychiatric crisis." said Ridenour. "Our goal is to partner with them to figure out what went wrong and how to use their capacity and courage to help them create a life that might allow them to feel like they matter and belong. I look forward to building on the thoughtful work of our admission team and continue to collaborate with patients, families, referring clinicians, and organizations." 

As Associate Director of Admissions, Shepard will bring experience spanning acute inpatient psychiatry and intensive psychodynamic treatment. A board-certified psychiatrist, Shepard previously served as an inpatient attending physician at the Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital before completing the Austen Riggs Fellowship. He is currently a staff psychiatrist at Riggs and coordinates the Center’s Grand Rounds program.

Ridenour succeeds Samar Habl, MD, who will continue at Austen Riggs as Associate Medical Director and a member of the clinical staff. Habl, a board-certified psychiatrist and psychoanalytic psychotherapist who completed the Austen Riggs Fellowship, has provided important clinical leadership to the admissions function while helping patients, families, and referring professionals navigate decisions about treatment.

The leadership transition comes as Riggs has increased opportunities for prospective patients, families, and mental health professionals to speak directly with clinicians about the Center’s treatment model and appropriate referrals. Riggs now offers live online information sessions for both prospective patients and families and referring professionals, alongside individual consultation with the admissions team.

Austen Riggs provides residential psychiatric treatment for adults 18 and older whose difficulties are often complex, longstanding, and persistent despite previous treatment. Its open, voluntary treatment setting combines intensive psychodynamic psychotherapy with psychiatric care and participation in a therapeutic community.

For information about admission to the Austen Riggs Center, visit www.austenriggs.org/admission or call 800.517.4447.

The Austen Riggs Center is an open psychiatric residential treatment center and therapeutic community, as well as an institute for education, research, and advocacy in mental health. Located in the Berkshire Hills of Western Massachusetts, Riggs has served adults since its founding in 1919. In addition to its residential program, Riggs offers a fully online course of treatment for college students and other emerging adults in Massachusetts and Vermont through its Online Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP). Riggs focuses on understanding the psychological dilemmas underlying symptomatic behavior so that individuals can increasingly take charge of their lives. Through its Erikson Institute for Education, Research, and Advocacy, Riggs also conducts research, professional training, and community outreach locally and beyond. For more information, visit www.AustenRiggs.org.

Media Contact:
Aaron Beatty
Communications Officer
Austen Riggs Center
413.931.5245
aaron.beatty@austenriggs.net