Sandeep Gupta
MD-PSYCHIATRIST
With more than 25 years of experience in treating adult patients with mental illness and Board Certified in Psychiatry, Dr. Gupta offers consultation & treatment to adult patients with: Depression (including treatment resistant cases), Bipolar Disorder, Anxiety Disorders; as well as evaluation for neuromodulation techniques like Electroconvulsive therapy and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS).
Parth Viroja
MD-PSYCHIATRIST
Dr. Viroja is a Board Certified psychiatrist, who recently joined our team as a part-time physician. He is an attending psychiatrist at Christiana Care Hospital and is a faculty member of Christiana Care Psychiatry Residency Program.
Dr. Viroja has experience in treating adult patients with mental illnesses in various settings including outpatient, inpatient, consultation-liaison services, and day program.
He believes in formulating individualized, illness-specific treatment plan for each patient using older established treatments as well as novel treatments such as neuromodulation techniques and genetic testing for personalized medicine.
Dr. Viroja also provides consultation for Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS).
Gobind Kang-Chahal
MD-PSYCHIATRIST
Dr. Chahal has been a practicing psychiatrist in both outpatient and inpatient settings for over 25 years. She is Board Certified in Adult as well as Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, and treats patients who have depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorders, as well as other major mental illnesses. She received her medical education at Christian Medical College, India and did her residency and fellowship at Columbia University - St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Medical Center in New York, NY.
Dr. Chahal likes to spend time with her patients to thoroughly evaluate them and form a treatment plan. She monitors progress closely and uses traditional as well as current therapies in an effort to advance patients towards their treatment goals.
In the past Dr. Chahal has worked at the Bronx Children’s Psychiatric Center, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Caritas Carney Hospital in Boston, and the VA Medical Center. She is licensed to practice Psychiatry in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Michal Tomaszewicz
PMHNP/RN
Mike joined Serene Minds in July of 2016. He has more than 20 years of experience working with patients in behavioral health. This includes inpatient, outpatient and emergency settings. Practicing for this length of time in this variety of environments has given him a broad understanding of the patient experience and response to medications. He firmly believes in empowering patients to help themselves and that his function is to support these efforts. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Delaware and graduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University where he received his Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner degree.
Julia Jordan
APRN, PMHNP-C
Julia received a BSN in nursing as well as a graduate degree as a Family Nurse Practitioner from the University of Delaware. Additionally, she has a post-graduate degree as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner from the University of Cincinnati. Her work in the area of mental health for over 20 years in emergency crisis psychiatry and psychiatry consult service in a hospital setting, as well as providing mental health treatment in the community, gives her a broad knowledge base to treat both children and adults. She believes that medication and therapy can be beneficial in achieving and maintaining mental health.
Michelle Lauer
APRN, PMHNP-C
Ms. Lauer is a Board Certified Psychiatric Mental Health Practitioner with prescriptive authority. She received her master’s degree in Nursing Leadership with an emphasis in education from Wilmington University, and more recently, a post-master’s certificate as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner from the University of Delaware. Ms. Lauer, bilingual in Spanish, is proud to have been the first nurse to receive an Arsht-Cannon Scholarship, a fund to support and foster mental health professionals to expand access to the Latino Community.
Ms. Lauer brings a wealth of experience from the specialty of psychiatric nursing – having worked for over 15 years in the field. These roles include the inpatient setting, crisis intervention services, adjunct clinical professor to University of Delaware undergraduate nursing students, and nurse manager of several hospital psychiatric services. Throughout this time, she has come to believe that whole health really begins with mental health. And that the cornerstone of mental health is connection. To that end, Ms. Lauer’s objective is to develop therapeutic relationships with each client designed to truly foster a sense of engagement and empowerment. She believes that this can be done by assisting each person in the identification of his or her own goals for treatment while emphasizing the role of resilience throughout the process. In other words, she believes that we all deserve to thrive, not just survive!
Areas of focus include recovery from addiction, trauma, depression, anxiety and eating disorders.
FAWN PALMER
MSN, PMHNP-BC
Fawn Palmer is a board-certified Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. Ms. Palmer has over ten years' experience in various psychiatric settings including inpatient, outpatient, and consultation liaison psychiatry. She cares for people with depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders (GAD, panic disorder, OCD, PTSD, phobias), schizophrenia, and schizoaffective disorder. Ms. Palmer previously worked with the psychology/oncology team at Christiana Care’s Helen Graham Center, so she is well versed in caring for people diagnosed with cancer, currently receiving cancer treatment, and family members of those receiving cancer treatment.
Ms. Palmer is a culturally competent nurse practitioner who understands that all humans, no matter how they identify, are deserving and worthy of love, support, happiness, dignity, and respect. Her mission is to improve people’s quality of life, especially oppressed or marginalized groups, and create a safe space for growth and transformation.
Ms. Palmer earned a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences at SUNY Old Westbury, Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Nursing at Delaware State University, and completed the Post-Master's Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner certification at the University of Delaware.
Ms. Palmer was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society and is a recipient of a Christiana Care Excellence in Nursing Award.
Ms. Palmer is licensed in Delaware and Maryland, so she is only able to provide telehealth appointments for people who reside in Delaware and Maryland.
Janet Brown
APRN, PMHCNS
Janet has been an advanced practice nurse in psychiatry since 1995. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Colorado, her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and her master’s degree in adult psychiatric nursing from the University of Texas at Austin. She received additional training in psychopharmacology and has prescriptive authority. She is also board-certified in adult psychiatry by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.
With over 20 years of experience in various psychiatric treatment settings, Janet is able to help adults dealing with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder. She believes the patient is a partner in deciding the best medication options for them. Janet emphasizes the importance of psychotherapy as part of the treatment plan to emotional wellness. She also specializes in treating women who are having psychiatric and emotional difficulties during pregnancy and in the postpartum period. She is available for consultation and ongoing treatment for women who are considering pregnancy and are taking psychotropic medication. Janet also works with women who are transitioning into menopause and are experiencing emotional challenges.
Erica O'Reilly
RN, MSN, PMHNP-BC
Erica is board certified as a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. She received her Bachelor’s of Science in psychology from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, and later earned her Master’s of Science in Nursing from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN in 2013.
Erica feels fortunate to have practiced in a variety of settings including outpatient and inpatient psychiatry, youth crisis psychiatry, and partial hospitalization psychiatry. More recently, Erica has delivered psychiatric care within a First Episode Psychosis team, and a women’s reproductive mental health team.
Erica enjoys treating adults experiencing mood and anxiety disorders, and ADHD. In particular, she is passionate about helping adults navigate career and relationship transitions and challenges related to new parenthood, including mood and anxiety symptoms during pregnancy and postpartum. Erica’s ultimate goal is to create a warm and trusting environment that relies heavily on a shared decision-making model of care, recognizing each client’s unique experience.
Cindy Elko
PsyD
Dr. Elko has completed her Doctor of Psychology Degree in Clinical Psychology and Post-Doctoral Certificate in Clinical Neuropsychology from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Philadelphia, PA. She has more than 15 years of experience in behavioral health and she has held positions as psychology associate, therapist, psychologist, and neuropsychology fellow over the span of her career in various institutions and her own private practice. We are very excited to see the first psychologist starting with Serene Minds. She will be working full time with Serene Minds.
Susan Epps
PhD, MPA
Certified EMDR Therapist
Dr. Epps is a licensed psychologist. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, she completed her doctoral internship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine where she specialized in pediatric psychology and medically complex developmental/behavioral challenges. Dr. Epps’s background includes academia: teaching; conducting research; and mentoring graduate students, medical students, interns, residents, and fellows. She sees clients of all ages: individuals, couples, and families. She is an Ambulatory Member of the Christiana Care Medical-Dental Staff.
While on the graduate faculty at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Dr. Epps earned a master’s degree, which focused on organization development, health care administration, and psychosocial epidemiology. She places great emphasis on respecting dignity and maintaining high ethical standards and professional competence.
Dr. Epps's unique specialty is infants and young children. Her approach to therapy is relationship-centered and trauma-informed, supporting and building clients’ own coping/thriving and problem-solving strategies. She has many years of clinical experience using various theoretical paradigms, including cognitive-behavioral, somatic work, and Parts psychology (internal systems). Her practice provides extensive psychoeducation (in understandable language and sketches) about the brain and the direct relevance to therapeutic processing and healing. She is a Certified Therapist in EMDR and a Certified Trauma Therapist, Instinctual Trauma Response (ITR-CTT).
Specific areas of treatment include: ADHD; Anxiety; Autism Spectrum and Developmental Disorders; Bipolar; Divorce and Family Transitions; Eating Disorders; EMDR; Major Depression; Medically Complex; Mentorship and Stress Management; Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Parent/Caregiver-Child Interaction; Pediatric Populations, Infant through Adolescent (developmental, behavioral, and emotional challenges; feeding disorders; school difficulties); Phobias; Post-Partum and Pregnancy Loss; Resilience Enhancement; Trauma; as well as general life challenges and struggles.
Carol Scanlon
LCSW
Carol is a seasoned clinician. She received a Master of Social Work degree from Temple University in 1982, and has been practicing in the health/mental and behavioral health field ever since. As a generalist, she has treated a wide range of psychiatric disorders and the gamut of life issues. Carol is an interactive therapist who uses holistic, integrative approaches tailored to need. She has special interest in the treatment of anxiety/panic, loss/grief, and medical/aging issues.
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Oya Alatur
LCSW
We all want to feel fulfilled, strong and confident. I believe one of the most important things in achieving this is strengthening your core self. In doing this, you are less susceptible to the emotional and physical effects that are created by everyday life stressors and major events such as trauma. Mindfulness and positive cognitive thinking are just a few of the tools I use in order to successfully help you handle the challenges that have been presented to you. Most importantly, you need to trust and feel comfortable with the therapist who is going to support you in your journey. Many of my clients have given me positive feedback about the non-judgmental perspective and positive outlook they feel from the sessions which in turn helps them become more motivated to reach their life goals. My therapeutic style aims at helping you extinguish negative thinking and guiding you to find ways to incorporate a more balanced and helpful vision on your life. I believe in using a strengths perspective that will help you build the confidence and skills needed to build up your core self and see more long lasting results. Trauma, depression, anxiety, grief and loss, adolescent issues, bullying and abuse are some of the issues I specialize in. I often like to incorporate art, music and pet assisted therapy for individuals who are interested. I also believe in the importance of discussing healthy lifestyle choices that will embrace possibilities and help you see life as a place of opportunities instead of obstacles.
Beth Donovan
LPCMH
I have a passion for connecting with clients on a deep, therapeutic level which helps create a sense of safety and optimism and allows clients to engage in difficult, healing work. I educate, support and collaborate with my clients about various healing modalities and adaptive life skills which helps them to access their own, internal strengths and capacities. As a result, symptoms of anxiety, trauma and depression decrease and an increased sense of well-being emerges. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is an evidence-based therapy which helps people to fully re-process traumatic and distressing memories so they can be experienced in an adaptive way. This form of therapy can help with single incident trauma, repeated traumas, or attachment-related traumas resulting from dysfunctional developmental experiences. Sometimes when people experience traumatic events that are too overwhelming, they are left with an unprocessed emotional experience that causes continued distress. EMDR helps distressing memories to be fully re-processed so they can be experienced in an adaptive way. This technique makes it possible to gain self-knowledge and perspective. It enables people to choose their actions rather than feeling powerless over their reactions. My ideal client is one who is ready to work hard to embrace current life difficulties and to transform traumatic events including early life relational injuries into growth opportunities, increased insight, wisdom, creativity and joy.
Jasmin M. Freeman
LCSW, CCATP, CTMH
Certified Clinical Anxiety Treatment Professional
Certified Telemental Health Provider
Empowerment, support, and encouragement are at the core of the therapeutic services that I provide. I am a therapist because I want nothing more than to be that listening ear for someone and to empower the person to be the very best that they can be in all things that they do. I know that everyone wants to feel respected, feel understood, and to feel safe. Therefore, the therapeutic setting that I create offers all of those things, which in turn fosters an opportunity for growth and wellness. I have provided therapeutic support to adolescents and adults in outpatient, residential, medical, and correctional settings for the past 13 years. With regards to education, I received both my undergraduate and graduate education in Clinical Social Work from Widener University and I am currently licensed to practice in the states of DE, MD, and PA. I treat disorders such as generalized anxiety/social anxiety disorders, PTSD, depression, bipolar disorders, adjustment disorder, schizophrenia, gender identity disorder, and some personality disorders, as well as substance abuse. I use treatment methods such as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), CBT, solution-focused therapy, motivation interviewing, and various other treatments that are tailored to meet the needs of the person. What’s more, I use a collaborative approach to treatment in which I allow the person to educate me about their needs so that they can feel supported in their journey to wholeness and emotional wellness.
Larry S. Yurow
MSW, LCSW
Larry Yurow is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, currently engaged in the practice of Psychotherapy and Behavioral Healthcare in the State of Delaware. Larry has been in practice for the past 24 years holding both Bachelors and Master’s degrees in Clinical Social Work from the University of Maryland.
Larry is currently working with adults, children and adolescents in individual and family therapy. Areas of specialty include Trauma/PTSD with certification as a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, using EMDR, Schema Therapy, Cognitive Processing Therapy and Traumatic Art Narrative Therapy. Larry is also highly skilled at working with Anxiety Disorders, LGBTQ+ issues, Treatment of Personality Disorders, Substance Use Disorders and Suicidal Behavior.
Larry has presented nationwide at various conferences on the topics of Crisis Intervention, Bipolar Disorder, Psychopharmacology, and Grief. A former Firefighter/EMT, Larry has recently retired from the Fire Service after many years of dedicated service.
Rhoda Phillips
LCSW, CAADC
I believe that everyone has a gift, it just takes some people longer to unwrap it. I have eleven years of experience in The Behavioral Health Field which includes Inpatient, Residential , and Community Mental Health settings. Some of the tools that I use are Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Motivational Interviewing. My specialties include, Depression, Anxiety, Grief, and Chronic Medial Issues. I also specialize in working with Individuals Diagnosed with End Stage Renal Disease. I'am a Certified Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor, who work with Individuals with Co-Occuring Disorders. I obtained a BA In Psychology from Wesley College in 2000 and an MSW degree from Widener University in 2014.
Kate McHugh
LPCMH, E-RYT500, C-IATY
Kate McHugh has an enduring passion for yoga and fitness and a 30 (+) year career helping people to address and improve their mental health and well-being. Kate has been a fitness and health instructor since 1980, offering therapeutic classes and programs throughout the age cycle. Kate’s clinical experience includes providing programs in jails, schools, treatment centers, halfway houses, residential programs, intensive outpatient clinics, outpatient centers, and most recently, at McLean Hospital.
Kate’s now a Delaware LPCMH (licensed professional counselor of mental health), an advanced 500-hour registered teacher for Yoga Alliance, and a certified Yoga Therapist through I-AYT (International Association of Yoga Therapists). Kate provides advanced trainings and continuing education workshops for both Yoga Alliance and I-AYT, especially her signature program, Yoga for Healthy Aging. Kate’s therapeutic groups incorporate mindfulness and other healthy techniques to improve well-being. Kate uses somatic approaches, EMDR, TF-CBT, Motivational Interviewing, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and other healing modalities. She’s honored to provide complementary therapeutic groups and clinical services at Serene Minds.
Edward Feuer
M.A., LPCMH
My specialties include depression, anxiety, adult and adolescent issues. I have been working as a Behavioral Health Consultant for Christiana Care Health Services working collaboratively within primary care offices addressing medical issues such as diabetes, smoking cessation, heart disease, and weight management, insomnia, in addition to symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, and addiction.
I have an interest in providing family therapy for adolescents who may be struggling in school and/or transitioning to life after high school graduation.
I am a licensed Professional Counselor in Delaware and a Licensed Psychologist in Pennsylvania.
I am am a member of the Pennsylvania Psychological Association, associate member of the American Psychological Association, and associate member of the American Group Psychotherapy Association.
Pippa Howard
LCSW
As a clinical social worker, I am passionate about supporting people and helping them discover what is blocking their wellness, balance and growth. I implement the various intervention strategies learned in a nonjudgmental, culturally competent, strengths-based process to assist my clients in reaching therapy goals. I work to develop a partner relationship with my clients to learn about them and understand them fully. I think it is important to look at a persons’ history, economic, educational, religious and professional status to understand their world. It is this understanding and partnership with you helps design a plan of care that address therapy goals.
I have over 15yrs of clinical experience, educated at Immaculata University in Malvern, PA and my master’s degree in Clinical Social work from Widener University. I am currently licensed in DE, PA and NJ. I use Cognitive behavioral approaches and Motivational interviewing tools. I have had the opportunity to work in various settings; educational, community, private practice and healthcare. I have worked in various roles and use the sum of those experiences with your knowledge of you to find your wellness path.
I work with individuals ages 18 and over. I treat Depressive Disorders (Major depression, Bipolar disorder, SAD etc.), Anxiety disorders (GAD, OCD, PTSD ,social etc.), some Personality disorders and grief / loss. I am certified Diabetes educator and believe that nutrition, physical movement and mindfulness and important foundations to wellness that are woven into my treatment plans. I meet people where they are on their journey and help illuminate the path towards where they are trying to go. Give me an opportunity to help you find your path....
Louise Stevenson
LPCMH
EMDR Certified Therapist
I believe each person has the capacity to heal, change and grow, and has the right to be free of trauma and emotional suffering. My ideal client is a person who believes he/she is ready to change his/her life and open to exploring his/her capacity to change from within. I give each person a supportive place to discover his/her inner strengths and resources to build from the strongest foundation possible and help create the happiest and healthiest life.
My specialties include mood and anxiety disorders grief/bereavement, holistic healing, attachment issues, spirituality, trauma. I educate, support and collaborate with my clients about various healing modalities. For those who prefer psychotherapy that reflects their spiritual beliefs, I have training in Pastoral counseling.
I am also a EMDR Certified Therapist. "EMDR psychotherapy harnesses all we know about human attachment and neurobiology to heal trauma and to reprocess disturbing life experiences," (Deany Laliotis). My mission is to provide the best care and create the conditions for permanent change to occur.
Rodney Drafts
LCSW
Rodney Drafts has over 25 years of experience providing supportive counseling to adults struggling with depression, anxiety and alcohol/drug dependency. Rodney explores the root causes of an individual's depression and assist clients with achieving their desired goals. Rodney considers himself a coach who is committed to your recovery and to providing you a quality of care.
