New England Chapter Election - Candidate Information

Lisa Coyne

Bio: Lisa W. Coyne, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the department of Psychiatry and Harvard Medical School and the CEO of the New England Center for OCD and Anxiety. She is a licensed clinical psychologist who has worked to improve the psychological well-being of children, teens and adults for nearly 25 years. She is a Fellow, a Peer-Reviewed Trainer, and the past President of the Association for Contextual Behavior Science (ACBS). She also serves on the Clinical and Scientific Advisory Board of the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF), and has published numerous books, peer-reviewed articles, and chapters on anxiety, OCD, and parenting.

Lisa values being of service, acting with kindness, teaching well, and working to increase equity in access to care for all. As a founding member of ACBS, as well as its New England Chapter, contributing to a nurturing a thriving, supportive, inclusive, network that is active, encourages community, and helps clinicians and researchers grow and deepen their skills is her vision for the Chapter. She believes that as CBS grows globally, it is essential to strengthen its local communities, and to connect them back to the larger community that serves as ACT's intellectual home.

When Lisa is not training ACT, co-leading women's retreats, seeing clients, and mentoring young clinicians, she works on rewilding projects and walking in the wetland woods. She also spends way too much time with her herd of horses, who serve as equine therapists, at her home, Mudflower Farm, just outside of Boston. They are much better at teaching folks how to be present than she is, but she's still learning.

Brooke White

Bio: Dr. Brooke White received her PhD from the California School of Professional Psychology and is a clinical psychologist who is board certified by the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine, with a specialization in trauma and health psychology. She completed her APA internship at the VA in Northampton, MA, in an ACT-based placement using contextual behavioral science in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

Her early career included research on primary prevention and attachment theory, examining post-adoption outcomes based on her volunteer work in Romanian orphanages over several years. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship in geriatrics, using ACT for serious health decline and end-of-life care.

Since 2011, she has owned both group and solo private practices, where she serves teens and adults, including those at the end of life, integrating physical and mental health care. Honoring her 25 years of marathon running and combining her interests in clinical and health psychology, she also maintains a small sports psychology practice. She is one of the founding members of the ACBS Trauma SIG and currently serves on its board.

Sarah Levine

Bio: Sarah Levine, MA, MSEd, BCBA, is a public school special educator currently working in Braintree Public Schools in Braintree, Massachusetts. In her 16 year career in public education, she has worked as a classroom aide, special education classroom teacher, behavior technician, and has spent the last 8 years working as a school-based BCBA.

She received her MA in psychology from New York University and her Masters in Special Education from St. John's University in Queens, NY. Across her career she has also worked in New York City Public Schools, Newton Public Schools, and as a consultant for Boston, Lynn, and Gardner Public schools through the May Institute.

She is intimately familiar with the structural issues affecting public schools and their students, and is deeply committed to applying contextual behavioral science to help bring about much-needed educational and social reform. She maintains a growing online platform dedicated to bringing awareness of psychological flexibility and contextual science to laypeople, and she brings her knowledge and background to activism work in her current local community of Dorchester, Massachusetts.

She is a founding member of Dorchester Acting Together, a community-led organization committed to fighting authoritarianism and enhancing community safety and local supports. In this work she uses her knowledge of behavior analysis, ACT, and the psychological flexibility framework to support social change.

Sarah has been a member of ACBS since 2019, and she has nominated herself for member-at-large in the hopes of increasing her participation in the organization.
 

Jeff Szymanski

Bio: Jeff Szymanski, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and founder of “Getting to the Next Level Consulting”, which specializes in clinical and organizational consultation, training, and mentorship for mental health professionals at all levels. With 30 years of experience in mental health, Dr. Szymanski is a senior clinician, consultant, trainer, and administrator. He previously served as the Executive Director of the International OCD Foundation for 15 years following his role as the Director of Psychological Services at the OCD Institute at McLean Hospital. Additionally, he is a co- founder and immediate past president of the ACBS New England Chapter. Currently, Dr. Szymanski is a Clinical Instructor in Psychology (part-time) at Harvard Medical School, where he supervises pre-doctoral psychology interns through McLean Hospital’s internship program. He is the author of “The Perfectionist’s Handbook”, and he has appeared in over 150 media stories, presented at a multitude of conferences, as well as delivering several domestic and international trainings.

Chip Wilder

Bio: I am currently retired from practice as Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker. I would like to continue to support the local efforts of the New England ACBS Chapter. During my career, I provided leadership in program development as the Clinical Director of the Massachusetts Mental Health Service Program for Youth, (the first integrated behavorial health program in Mass) and the Director of Family Program, ( a Wraparound program for families whose parents and children had mental health conditions), Employment Options. I also provided behavioral health care in a primary care setting and was an adjunction professor at Salem State School of Social Work 2019 - 2023. In 2012, I began my involvement with ACBS and ACT practice, attending the original ACBS Mass Chapter meetings at McLeans, International conferences, with particular interest in applying ACT practice to children and families. Currently, I serve on the Boards of the Parent Professional Advocacy League, the Central Mass. Recovery Learning Community, the Mass. Children's Behavioral Health Advisory Committee, the Mass. State Mental Health Planning Council and the Mass. Behavioral Health Partnership's Patient and Family Advisory Committee.