Meet Our Compassionate, Experienced Therapists
Our experienced therapists will make it easy for you or your loved one to take the first important step to recognizing and getting help for an eating disorder or self-harm behavior. Our comfortable centers in Columbia, Maryland and Woodley Park, D.C. are renowned for providing therapeutic approaches that work for every body.
Dr. Veronica Franklin – Clinical Director, Washington, D.C.
Dr. Franklin brings over 20 years’ experience in the mental health field as an educator, advocate, therapist, and clinical leader. Her behavioral health career has come full circle from health and wellness through 20 years as a mental health provider. Her initial experiences were as a Kinesiology professor at University of Minnesota and at Texas A & M University. While teaching in academia, she developed a passion for overall wellness and the search to improve behavioral health on college campuses. Over the next 20 years, Dr. Franklin incorporated body-mind wellness into her academic counseling courses, in her spiritual workshops and by utilizing nutritional education in her practice. She has served as a program director in Rockville Maryland, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and has also served as a Fulbright scholar in Vienna, Austria. When she is not helping in the GBLTQIA community, she can be found volunteering as a PATH member for Maryland Therapeutic Riding Center.
Lyssa Barth, LICSW – Outpatient Therapist, DC
Lyssa holds a Master of Social Work degree specializing in mental health with a focus in trauma and addiction from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her professional background includes direct clinical therapies, advocacy work, and grant proposal development. Lyssa is trained in therapeutic interventions such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Mindfulness Therapy, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. She has taken those skills literally around the world helping individuals in Uganda, Kenya, and South Korea and pulls from these experiences to create a unique culturally-sensitive person-focused approach. In her free time, Lyssa is an artist, traveler, and volunteer basketball coach.
Catie Ehrler, LGPC – PHP Therapist, Washington, D.C. Location
Catie holds a Masters of Arts from Marymount University in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She has experience working with many diverse populations including domestic and sexual assault survivors and the LGBTIA+ community. Catie practices from a Relational Cultural framework and is passionate about assisting her clients in establishing health relationships with food, family and themselves. When she is not supporting our clients here in PHP, she can often be found exploring street art, tending to her many plants, or partaking in DC’s vibrant music scene.
Fiona Griffin, LGPC – Therapist, D.C. Office
Fiona holds a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Marymount University and has experience working with a diverse array of clients using a humanistic, insight-oriented approach and trauma-informed lens. She enjoys helping clients tap into their unique strengths and inner resources on the path to healing and recovery. Fiona also has a background in yoga and mindfulness and in her free time enjoys playing music and taking long walks with her dog, Dolly.
Hillary Hollander, LMSW – Outpatient Therapist, Baltimore Location
A native Marylander, Hillary graduated from the Bryn Mawr School, earned her BA from Franklin and Marshall, and her Master of Social Work degree from Hunter College In New York City. In New York, she put her training into action, working in an outpatient facility with young adults experiencing a variety of mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Since returning to Maryland in 2012, Hillary was involved in a grant-based program helping women reenter the work force, and more recently providing mental health counseling to people with a wide range of issues including substance abuse and eating disorders. Hillary also serves on the State Council For Child Abuse and Neglect by appointment of the Governor. In her spare time, Hillary enjoys spending time with her children, family, and friends. She is also an avid runner who has completed several marathons.
Francis “Booch” Iacobucci, LMSW – Primary Therapist, Baltimore Location
Prior to joining the ranks of licensed social workers, Francis (who goes by his nickname Booch) worked in the United States Department of the Interior and the United States Department of Energy as a political appointee in the Office of the Secretary. Upon departing Washington, D.C. in 2016, Booch returned to his Philadelphia roots and enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice where he received a Masters in Social Work focusing on working with individuals diagnosed with a range of mental illnesses, including substance use disorders, eating disorders, mood disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder. He continues his clinical work and training as a therapist focusing on treating and advocating for individuals diagnosed with eating disorders, body image concerns, and associated mental health challenges. In his free time, Booch enjoys traveling, being with his family, and all things Philadelphia sports-related.
Kim Machado – LGPC, IOP Therapist, Baltimore Location
While Kim was born and raised in Maryland, she an internationally known as a classical musician. Before turning her sights to psychotherapy, she had performed in spaces such as Carnegie Hall, Ely Cathedral, The Kennedy Center, and Strathmore Hall. Now Kim is a psychotherapist at The Body Image Center who specializes in clients diagnosed with eating disorders, trauma and dissociative disorders. Her favorite quote from Alice in Wonderland specifically captures her therapeutic philosophy, “When you can’t look on the bright side, I will sit with you in the dark.” In her spare time she enjoys playing board games, travelling, and performing classical music.
Ana Radakovic, LGPC – Aftercare Group Therapist, Washington, DC
Ana is a graduate of George Washington University with a Master’s degree in Art Therapy & Counseling. She has worked in a variety of therapeutic settings with clients of diverse background and identities. Ana deeply believes in the healing power of creative expression, and orients herself therapeutically from a person-centered, trauma-informed perspective. She also uses evidence-based practices, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. Ana is also a 200-Hr Registered Yoga Teacher and incorporates expression through movement and other holistic practices to guide clients in their healing process. Guided by her values of integrity, honestly, and authenticity, Ana strives to create an atmosphere that is warm, non-judgmental, and founded on love and compassion. She believes that it is ultimately the human connection that heals.
Kaitlyn Ringwood, LGPC – Outpatient Therapist, Baltimore
Kate believes that with the proper tools, dedication, and determination, anyone can find peace and recovery from an eating disorder. She hopes to be that person to help you create the environment for healing. Kate uses a combination of techniques to help clients who are struggling with anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, compulsive exercise, and other self-destructive behaviors that often come along with eating disorders, depression, and anxiety.
Adriana Rossel, LGSW – IOP Therapist, Washington, DC
Adriana has a diverse set of experiences in mental health working with people diagnosed with emotional and behavioral disorders, eating disorders, and trauma such as intimate partner violence. After studying psychology and education at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, she continued her education at Columbia University where she graduated with her Masters of Science in Social Work. Adriana believes body and mind are connected and fills her free time with activities to foster this concept such as teaching yoga, baking bread, spending time with family and friends, and lots of reading.
Megan Rubino, LGSW – Adolescent IOP Therapist, Columbia, Maryland location
Megan graduated from Salisbury University with a BSW, and then from the University of Southern California with MSW. She has worked with adolescents and adults in a variety of settings including addictions, detention, and healthcare as a case manager and social worker. She developed a passion for overall holistic wellness, a core part of her approach with all clients. When not working, she enjoys spending quality time with family, friends, her boxer named Roxy, as well as cycling, drinking lavender lattes, and traveling as much as possible.
For more information, please give us a call at (877)-674-2843 or CLICK HERE to contact us.