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Robyn Spodek-Schindler Owner/Therapist

Robyn is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Licensed Professional Art Therapist (LPAT), Registered and Board certified Art Therapist (ATR-BC) and a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC). She has been working with children, adolescents and young adults for over a decade in schools, counseling programs and hospitals. She has her educational background in Mental Health Counseling (2006) as well as Clinical Art Therapy (2008) and has studied play and sand-tray therapy techniques. Robyn started Paint the Stars with the goal of helping children feel better by getting in touch with their creative side.

Robyn has previously worked on Pediatric Units in hospitals, special needs chronic hospitalization clients, she has created and ran various Children and Adolescent Mental Health programming and she is also an adjunct professor. She also creates her own artwork while spending time with her family.

Robyn specializes in children suffering from anxiety, depression, anger issues, school/peer/family related issues as well as good and sensory issues. She recently published a chapter (Resilience of Youth Overcoming Divorce Related Stressors) in the book, “Art Therapy Practices for Resilient Youth.” She has also written and illustrated her first children’s book entitled, “Three Brave Stars,” which helps children and families coping with grief. Robyn and Paint the Stars have been nominated three times for the Best Kids Docs Nominations through New Jersey Family Magazine, 2016, 2019 and 2020. Her passion has always been helping children and creating art and she considers herself lucky to have a career doing both.

You can read some of Robyn’s online articles here:

http://grownupsmag.com/author/robynschindler/

Katie Gorga Associate Therapist

Katie is a Licensed Professional Counselor(LPC) with experience in addiction recovery working with adolescents and adults, grief counseling in small groups and working with children individually. Katie has 7+ years experience working with children of all abilities, including children diagnosed with learning disabilities and on the autism spectrum.

She completed her Master of Arts (MA) degree in Counseling with a concentration in Art Therapy from Edinboro University in 2018. She completed her Bachelor of Science (BS) in Special Education at the University of Delaware in 2011. After graduation, she studied photography, drawing, painting and art history in Florence, Italy.

Katie currently teaches special education in a middle school. She also volunteers at a grief-counseling center, helping facilitate groups for children who have experienced a loss or other traumatic experience with play and art. Through art therapy, Katie strives to help her clients explore grief, anxiety, depression and work together to build coping skills and find solutions. Outside of her professional work, Katie enjoys the beach, yoga, and painting.

Elizabeth Couturier Associate Therapist/Adult Therapist

Elizabeth Couturier (Beth) is a Board-Certified Art Therapist and a Licensed Professional Art Therapist (LPAT). She received her M.A. in Art Therapy from George Washington University (2008). As an art therapist, she has seen how art can be a powerful tool of self-expression which leads to positive self-esteem, social interaction, and an overall increase in well-being. In addition to her art therapy background, she has extensively studied Play Therapy through trainings at The Play Therapy Training Institute, as well as the Association for Play Therapy.

Beth has been in private practice for over 10 years and uses art therapy and play therapy techniques for individual counseling, group therapy, and social skills training. She specializes in therapeutic intervention for adults and children with a variety of emotional, behavioral, and learning problems. Beth has previous work experience in both school and hospital settings; Including experience working with active-duty soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC.

In addition to her clinical work, Beth is passionate about teaching and has presented and provided training to clinicians both in the United States and other countries. When not in the office, she enjoys creating her own art and spending time hiking with her husband and their Border-Aussie, Ojai.

Ella Hilsenrath Associate Therapist

Ella Hilsenrath is a Registered Art Therapist (ATR) and a graduate of the School of Visual Arts’ MPS Art Therapy program. She has clinical experience working with children, adolescents, adults, and families in community and inpatient settings. Ella found her home in the practice of art therapy during her first clinical internship at a domestic violence shelter, and later went on to write her thesis about the use of art therapy with adolescent clients on an inpatient psychiatry unit.

Ella has a patient and gentle approach to art therapy, and works on the continuum of client needs to ensure that her clients feel safe and comfortable. She believes that therapy is a mutual process of discovery and that every client has the strength to achieve their goals when offered an empathic environment.

Outside of her art therapy practice, Ella enjoys spending time with her cats and dogs. She likes working in her garden, bird watching, and swimming. Ella also works on her own fine art practice, often exploring themes that strengthen and inform her clinical practice.

Brittany Barnstead Associate Therapist

Brittany Barnstead is a graduate of Caldwell University with a masters degree in Mental Health Counseling with a specialization in Art Therapy (2020). She currently has her LAC and ATR-P. Her clinical experience ranges from young children, adolescents, adults, and geriatrics as well as individual, group, and family therapy in a variety of settings, including intensive outpatient, partial hospitalization, creative arts therapy outpatient, and acute inpatient hospitalization. Brittany has experience working with domestic violence survivors, trauma, special education, and a wide variety of mental health diagnoses. She currently works full time at a psychiatric hospital for short-term crisis stabilization with adults and geriatrics.

Brittany became passionate about art therapy after personally experiencing the healing power of creativity and art work in her own adolescence. She uses a variety of artistic mediums in both her professional art therapy work with clients as well as in her personal artistic pursuits, including paint, drawing materials, pastels, clay, fabric, fiber, paper, collage, masks, boxes, and found objects. Her method utilizes person-centered talk therapy and art directives to connect with clients and delve into the individualized therapeutic process safely while focused on healing and growth.

In her free time, Brittany enjoys working on personal art projects, traveling, exercising, watching nature and history documentaries, and playing with her cat.

Amanda Martinez Associate Therapist

Amanda is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and Board-Certified Art Therapist (ATR-BC), as well as a Licensed Professional Art Therapist (LPAT). She received her Masters in Counseling with an Art Therapy Specialization from Caldwell University (2018). She currently works full-time with families affected by domestic violence, supporting children who witnessed and experienced abuse with safely expressing emotions, processing changes within the family, and with achieving goals such as increasing communication, self-esteem, safety planning, and learning healthy coping skills.

She has previous work experience with children, teens, and adults within inpatient hospitalization and intensive outpatient treatment settings providing both individual and group therapy. Amanda is passionate about the power of art and play to create a safe space that supports children and teens struggling with appropriate expression of difficult emotions, anxiety, depression, anger/aggression, and family changes, such as divorce. She is trained in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) with children and integrates various counseling techniques into her art therapy practice depending on the individual needs of the client.

Amanda enjoys spending her free time with family, her cat, reading, and creating art.

Susanne McMahon Associate Therapist

Susanne is a trauma-informed board-certified music therapist (MT-BC) trained in trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT). She graduated with her Masters Degree in Music Therapy from Montclair State University in 2011, working in the field for over 10 years. She currently works full-time with families affected by domestic violence; supporting children and the non-offending parent who experienced family violence by safety-planning, expressing emotions safely, strengthening family communication, learning healthy coping skills, developing positive parenting techniques, processing changes in the family, and increasing self-esteem.

Susanne has previous work experience with children, teens, and adults at an in-patient psychiatric hospital, providing both group and individual therapy. She is passionate about the use of music on the healing journey, creating a safe space to process trauma and develop healthy coping skills for managing difficult emotions. Susanne integrates various counseling techniques into her music therapy practice to best meet the individual needs of her clients.

In addition to her clinical work, Susanne is also an advocate for students requiring an IEP or 504 plan in the schools, and is actively involved in local pediatric cancer foundations. In her free time, Susanne loves spending time with family and friends, making music with her daughter, exercising, and being in the great outdoors.

Gopi Shah Associate Therapist

Gopi Shah is Licensed Associate Counselor (LAC) and a graduate of Drexel University’s Art Therapy and Counseling program. She has clinical experience working with children, teens, and adults in a variety of settings such as inpatient, residential treatment, and schools. Gopi is a therapist who works in collaboration with her clients while welcoming discovery, creative autonomy, and open ended-play.

Gopi provides a compassionate atmosphere so clients feel comfortable to explore their unique lived experiences, process emotions, and gain a deeper understanding of themselves. Additionally, she believes there are infinite creative possibilities in the therapeutic space that can contribute to positive changes. Gopi does not believe it is necessary for individuals to have prior experience in the arts to participate in art therapy. Furthermore, she encourages her clients to explore materials and mediums of interest and introduces new methods of utilizing them in therapy. Her approach is rooted in ensuring individuals feel safe enough to engage in both what feels familiar and what is unfamiliar to them. This responsibility includes maintaining awareness of her client’s intersectional identities along with their unique worldview.

In her free time, Gopi enjoys spending time outdoors and attending open mics. Gopi also enjoys personal art-making through bookbinding and the fiber arts.

RaeAnne MacMillan Associate Therapist

RaeAnne is a licensed professional art therapist (LPAT) and board certified art therapist (ATR-BC). She graduated with her master’s degree in art therapy from The School of Visual Arts in New York City. Over the last ten years, she has worked with people of all ages in various settings, including internationally. Her work in Costa Rica was the basis for her graduate thesis and her presentation at the 2012 American Art Therapy Association Conference.

RaeAnne spent the year after Hurricane Sandy providing counseling to hurricane survivors and utilizing art as a means to process their grief. More recently, she has worked with domestic violence survivors including supervising a children’s art therapy program focused on reducing trauma related symptoms. Her work included but was not exclusive to creating sustainable safety plans, fostering healthy communication in family relationships, and building confidence within each person.

RaeAnne believes a sense of belonging, self-worth, grace and a little humor are essential to healing. She tries to bring these values into the therapeutic space and her client relationships. She is also a parent who enjoys making art, writing, baking, long walks in new towns, and spontaneous living room dance parties with her family.

Claudia Orozco Associate Therapist

Claudia Orozco, MT-BC, completed a music therapy program at Montclair State University. She completed four years of coursework and fulfilled a 1200 hour clinical internship at Mount Sinai Beth Israel in New York City. Claudia is a board-certified music therapist and has experience working primarily with children and adolescents. She has worked mainly in medical and mental health settings, offering music therapy to her patients through various interventions. Currently, she is working full-time at a children's hospital where she works with pediatric patients with acute and chronic medical needs, and mental health conditions.

Claudia facilitates her music therapy sessions from a person-centered perspective and approaches her clients with a humanistic lens. She believes in the importance of meeting the client where they are and encouraging self-expression. Claudia is a strong believer that music is a powerful vehicle that can offer clients the opportunity to express, process, and bond in ways that are unique to musical experience.

In her spare time, Claudia loves to read historical fiction novels. She loves to engage in other creative modalities like reading and poetry. Claudia also loves to go on long walks outdoors whenever she can. She loves being in nature and believes it is so important to move our bodies! Most importantly, Claudia prioritizes making her own music outside of the therapeutic space and she utilizes it for her own self-expression.

Francesca Russo Associate Therapist

Francesca received her Masters of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with Art Therapy Specialization and currently holds her ATR-P. She has experience working in a variety of settings with diverse populations, including adolescents with a variety of mental health struggles, short-term adult inpatient psychiatric unit and adults with substance/alcohol use disorder at an inpatient rehabilitation facility. She currently works full-time at a children’s hospital working with pediatric, adolescent and young adult patients with acute and chronic medical diagnoses and/ or mental health conditions and their families.

Francesca applies patience, has a person-centered approach to art therapy and encourages free self-expression through a variety of art modalities while working with each client and family unit on an individual bases to ensure that client and family needs are met. She believes that art therapy provides the client an opportunity to work on emotional resilience and build self-esteem and self-awareness, and learn coping skills.

Francesca is also a registered yoga teacher. She is trained in trauma informed yoga as well as twelve-step recovery yoga. She believes that like art therapy, yoga enhances the mental and emotional well-being of an individual. In her free time, Francesca enjoys creating art, playing with her dog, being outdoors, cooking new recipes, yoga and meditation, and journaling.

Carol Chu Lai Associate Therapist-NY

Carol is a Licensed Creative Arts Therapist (LCAT) and Registered & Board Certified Art Therapist (ATR-BC). She received her M.A. in Art Therapy from New York University in 2006. She has experience working with children, adolescents, adults and families in schools, hospitals and outpatient mental health settings both individually and in groups.

Carol has a compassionate and holistic approach to therapy, integrating both traditional psychotherapy and art therapy to create a supportive space for self awareness, growth and change. Carol trusts the process of meeting you where you are, validating emotions and together, digging deep to uncover the root causes and triggers. The process is the goal; not the destination.

Since becoming a mother 14 years ago, Carol has also grown in her desire to counsel and support moms on this joyous and oftentimes, challenging journey. She has found her voice stronger than she ever believed possible when advocating for her children and it is with tremendous empathy that Carol will join with you in this process of empowerment and self discovery.

In her free time, Carol loves being out in nature with her family and friends, cheering her kids on during soccer/swim/karate matches, jogging around the loop in Central Park, creating art and cheering for her alma mater, the Michigan Wolverines (Go Blue!)