Derek A. Fenwick (he/him/his) is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist who currently works for Hartford HealthCare (HHC) / Institute of Living (IOL).  He is the Clinical Coordinator of The Right Track/LGBTQ Specialty Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) within Young Adult Services.  The IOP focuses on the unique needs of the LGBTQ+ population who are at greater risk for psychosocial stressors, negative coping, and family rejection along with co-occurring mental health difficulties.  Dr. Fenwick started out as a psychology intern at the Institute of Living in 2018, and then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in The Right Track IOP from 2019-2020.

Dr. Fenwick received his doctorate in clinical psychology from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, FL in 2019.  He has experience providing outpatient individual and group therapy, along with psychiatric inpatient services for adults.  His clinical interests include LGBTQ+ adolescents, young adults, and adults, the role of identity development, and understanding personality.  Dr. Fenwick’s work focuses on the unique needs of the LGBTQ+ population with an aim to help clients struggling with significant emotional distress, minority stress, and identity formation. 

Dr. Fenwick is working on several initiatives within HHC to reduce health/mental health disparities for the LGBTQ+ community.  He has played a major role in creating the new Center for Gender Health for HHC, and serves as the Assistant Director for the Center.  Currently, he is also serving as co-chair for the Hartford HealthCare (HHC) LGBTQ+ College Resource Group (CRG).  Dr. Fenwick is also involved professionally with Connecticut Psychological Association (CPA) as the current President-Elect.  He previously held a position on the board as Secretary (Term 2022-2023).  Further, he was a participant in the CPA Early Career Psychologist Leadership Academy in 2020, and was the co-chair for the Leadership Academy in 2021.

In 2021, Dr. Fenwick was awarded by CPA with the ‘Distinguished Contribution as an Early Career Psychologist’ Award.   Dr. Fenwick also received the 2022 Hartford Hospital David Hull, MD Young Practitioner Award from the Hartford Hospital Medical Staff.  This award is given in recognition of leadership, excellence in clinical care and research, innovation, teaching, advocacy and activism on behalf of the art and science of medicine and the Hartford Hospital community. 

Jennifer Doran, Ph.D. has been actively involved in CPA for several years, serving previously as President, as well as on the Membership Committee and as the 2019 Chair of Communications. Dr. Doran is a former Chair of the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students and has been active in APA as part of this role as well as an early career psychologist leader. Most recently she served as the Co-Chair of the Division 18 (Psychologists in Public Service) Policy and Advocacy Committee and as a Member-at-Large on the Division 31 (SPTA Affairs) Board of Directors.

Dr. Doran received her doctoral degree from The New School for Social Research in New York City before moving to Connecticut for her internship at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, where she specialized in PTSD and general outpatient mental health. She completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at VA Connecticut’s National Center for PTSD and Yale School of Medicine, where she investigated both the merits and limitations of specialty PTSD treatments. Dr. Doran currently works as the Associate Director for Mental Health at the VA VISN 1 Clinical Resource Hub, based out of VA Connecticut, a telehealth hub that provides clinical services to veterans in underserved rural communities throughout the New England region. Dr. Doran is presently an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. She is actively involved in psychology education and training both locally and nationally.

Dr. Doran’s clinical areas of expertise are assessment, trauma/PTSD, veteran mental health, principle-based psychotherapy, and general outpatient mental health. Research interests include psychotherapy process and outcome, assessment, intervention effectiveness and evidence-based treatment, as well as psychology education and training issues. She is an active advocate for the profession and is passionate about improving mental health access, providing high-quality mental health treatment, clinical supervision and training the next generation of psychologists, elevating psychology as a science and using psychology to develop and inform policy, promoting and supporting social justice and diversity initiatives, and championing graduate student and early career issues.

Dr. Spellmann is a clinical psychologist with over 25 years of direct clinical practice experience. He received his PhD. from Yeshiva University in Clinical Psychology, and an M.A. and M.Ed. from Teachers College, Columbia University in Psychology. He completed three years of postgraduate training at the Ackerman Institute for Family Therapy. He has provided clinical training through teaching and supervision programs in hospital and private practice settings.

Dr. Spellmann has served as both full-time and adjunct faculty member at NYU and CUNY, and has taught courses in psychology, research methodology and statistics.

Dr. Spellmann also has extensive experience as a research psychologist in the area of social policy for children, teens and seniors. He held an appointment as a Senior Research Scientist at New York University for over 10 years. He was the Principal Investigator (PI) on a 10-year federally funded outcome study of Early Head Start, a new federal program that extends Head Start to children in the 0-3 age range; and was also the PI on a three-year social and cognitive development outcome study in Head Start agencies on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. He was the Research Director at NYU of the New York City arm of a multi-site CDC funded five-year outcome study of innovative school and community violence reduction programs. He has conducted a range of outcome evaluation studies on character development programs in New York City public schools, in partnership with the Leadership Program and with Creative Connections.

Dr. Spellmann also has an extensive background in health communications. He was director of Research and Insights at Unit 7, an Omnicom communications agency, for five years. His research and work on interventions to improve health behaviors cover a wide range of chronic medical conditions including ADHD, chronic pain, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, HIV, migraine, late stage cancer, orthopedics, PTSD, eating disorders, gastrointestinal pathology and sexual functioning.

Dr. Spellmann’s license as a psychologist in Connecticut is # 3152, and # 068120 in the State of New York. His NPI # is 1710244017.

www.markspellmannphd.com

Dr. Lucas Driskell is an early career clinical neuropsychologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, CT. He completed his doctoral education at Nova Southeastern University, his internship at Baylor College of Medicine, followed by his two-year postdoctoral fellowship in neuropsychology in the Department of Neurology at the University of Virginia. Clinically, Dr. Driskell has a specialty in evaluating patients with cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. Much of research thus far has pertained to education, training, and advocacy within the field of clinical neuropsychology.

Dr. Driskell has experience working on other professional organizations such as the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Society for Clinical Neuropsychology (SCN; Division 40), APA’s Rehabilitation Psychology (Division 22), and the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN). From 2017 to 2019 he proudly served as the Chair of SCN’s student organization, the Association of Neuropsychology Students & Trainees (ANST). In response to the COVID-19 pandemic he cofounded KnowNeuropsychology, an independent organization that promotes the international exchange of scientific knowledge and advancement of neuropsychology as a specialty via equitable access to education.

While most of his time on professional organizations has been dedicated to specialties within the field of clinical psychology, he is excited to broaden his scope and serve the local psychology community as a whole. He recognizes that the greater New Haven region is a large hub for psychologists and is excited for the opportunity to help facilitate collaboration and networking.

Elizabeth is proud to advocate for legislative issues for advances in psychology at the federal level. Moreover, she is extremely passionate and knowledgeable about the mission and goals of CPA. She has served on the CPA board in various capacities for over 10 years. Previously, she served as Secretary on the executive board, Early Career Representative previous from 2005 – 2007 and before that time, she served as the CPA student advocacy fellow, where she facilitated state and federal legislative issues relevant to Connecticut Psychologists and their clients. In addition, she served as the student CPA board member from 2006 – 2009, where she helped organize and spearhead multiple community events, seminars and workshops that focused on acknowledging efforts and raising funds for mental health needs and issues in CT and nationally.

Collectively, these experiences provided her a rare opportunity as a future psychologist. She has over 15 years of clinical experience in various mental health service agencies as a therapist, and she just recently began private practice and has offices in New Haven and Westport. Previously, she spent over 5 years at Yale Stress Center, where she conducted individual and group therapy focused on addictive behaviors, disordered eating, mindfulness, and stress reduction. Her specific clinical interests include evaluation and treatment of disordered eating, addictive behaviors, stress, trauma, and health psychology. She looks forward to using clinical expertise, passion for psychology, past CPA experience, and strong interpersonal skills toward supporting CPA governance, members, and contributing to the guild in the state of CT and nationally. 

Jessica Lawson, Ph.D. is an early career clinical psychologist currently serving as the early career representative for the Connecticut Psychological Association. She is an active member of CPA and is co-leading CPA’s 2022 Early Career Leadership Academy.

Jessica received her doctoral degree from Yeshiva University and completed her clinical research postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine. She has expertise in behavioral medicine and health psychology particularly for the treatment of obesity, eating and weight concerns. She currently works as a staff psychologist for the VA Connecticut Healthcare System Clinical Resource Hub, providing short and long-term psychotherapy and primary care mental health integration service via telemental health to veterans across rural New England. She also holds an Assistant Professor academic appointment in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine.

She is involved in psychology education and training and her research interests include outcomes and change in psychosocial variables following treatment for obesity and disordered eating as well as the study of telemental health and implementation science. In her role as early career representative, she is keen to advocate for the professional needs of early career psychologists across CT and cultivate the early career psychologist voice within CPA.

Britt Romagna is a second-year doctoral student at Fordham University, where she studies Counseling Psychology. Presently, she is completing practicum training in the neuropsychology department at Nuvance Health, conducting neuropsychological evaluations for numerous clinical presentations including psychiatric illness, mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinsonian and Parkinson’s Plus syndromes, and vascular dementia, among others. She is excited to continue training in neuropsychology next year at Yale New Haven Health’s Neuropsychology externship program. Prior to enrolling at Fordham, she gained clinical experience as a licensed professional counselor associate at Mind Body Well Therapy, a Connecticut-based private practice specializing in depression, anxiety, and stress. She also facilitated a weekly support group and served as a case manager at the Umbrella Center for Domestic Violence Services, advocating for individuals who experienced domestic violence. She currently volunteers for the Radiant Cardinal Project, a CT-based nonprofit committed to connecting, supporting, and empowering those who have been affected by drug addiction and other mental illnesses. 

Janan Wyatt is an Associate Research Scientist at Yale University, School of Medicine in the Program for Recovery and Community Health. As the previous recipient of the American Psychological Association (APA) Minority Fellowship Program award to fund clinical and research training, Dr. Wyatt is committed to the health and behavioral needs of minoritized groups. Dr. Wyatt completed her doctoral training in Clinical Psychology at the University of Rhode Island, with a specialty concentration in multicultural psychology. Prior to her doctoral training, Janan matriculated at Syracuse University majoring in Psychology and double-minored in Education and African American Studies.

Clinically, Dr. Wyatt has a growing expertise in serving those confronting issues such as substance use, interpersonal trauma, pervasive community violence, and reentry after incarceration. Dr. Wyatt’s program of research targets increasing treatment utilization, improving outcomes, and expanding access to equitable services for traditionally underserved groups. By engaging in community-based participatory research, Dr. Wyatt aims to promote recovery and advance the implementation of culturally congruent care for, especially among African American communities. Above all, Dr. Wyatt is most passionate about applying psychology as a tool for social justice to improve outcomes for marginalized populations and center equitable practices in behavioral health treatment.

Serving as the Connecticut Psychological Association Diversity Representative would afford the opportunity to better engage with the CT psychology community in all efforts related to equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging. As the CPA Diversity Representative, my primary goals would focus on: centering organizational equity, cultivating courageous conversations, and providing leadership to increase community engagement with diverse groups across the state of CT.

Carissa Phipps, Ph.D. is the CEO & Founder of Small Victories Wellness Services, PLLC, and a Licensed Psychologist. She was born and raised near Kansas City, MO, and attended graduate school at the University of Kansas (Rock Chalk Jayhawk!) where she earned a doctorate in counseling psychology. Her dissertation research explored feelings of marginalization in first-generation college students.

Dr. Phipps has been providing psychotherapy since 2009. She has multiple years of specialized training with young adults in college counseling centers. She has also worked in community mental health centers, a VA hospital, and a substance abuse recovery facility. Advocating for social justice, including racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and intersectional feminism, is an integral part of her professional and personal identity.

Carissa is a trained generalist, meaning she can independently treat many presenting concerns. However, her primary clinical interests include mood disorders (i.e., depression, anxiety), young adults navigating major life transitions or healing from childhood trauma, first-generation college students, perfectionism, increasing self-worth, relationship concerns (i.e., divorce/break-ups, repairing communication, vulnerability in dating life), and women of size struggling with body shame and weight oppression.

Derrick Gordon, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry (Psychology Section) at Yale University School of Medicine.

Dr. Gordon has experience in policy, evaluation, intervention, prevention development, and consultation. His work focuses on increasing services and programs that positively impact the health and wellbeing of family and community life. In support of this work, he has led policy and practice driven initiatves focused in areas of engagement of low-income, non-custodial fathers; juvenile justice; child welfare; men transitioning from prison back to the community; the identification and service of adolescent fathers committed to child protection services; men mandated to batterer intervention groups in the community; increasing the achievement (e.g., educational, relational, and civic involvement) of residents from urban and sub-urban settings that face multiple risks that undermine being successful citizens; and bringing mental health services to non-traditional contexts to underserved individuals. Overall Dr. Gordon in his research seeks to increase the health and well being of individuals and communities on the “fringes.

Krysten Bold, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist with expertise in substance use treatment and research. Krysten received her doctoral degree from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey and moved to Connecticut to complete her predoctoral internship training and a NIDA T32 postdoctoral fellowship at Yale School of Medicine. Krysten currently works as an Assistant Professor at Yale School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry.

In this role, Krysten leads several clinical research studies focused on tobacco intervention and policy, provides outpatient tobacco treatment at Yale Medicine, and is involved in clinical training and supervision. Specific research interests include examining youth tobacco use to inform treatment development, investigating ways to utilize technology to advance treatment delivery, expanding access to smoking cessation services through treatment implementation in specialized medical and community settings, and studying the effects of potential tobacco regulatory policies to support state and federal regulations to protect public health. Her research has been widely cited, including in the US Surgeon General’s Report on e-cigarette use among youth and young adults. She also serves on the Treatment Network Advisory Committee for the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco.

Rocio Chang-Angulo is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and a faculty affiliate at the UConn Health Disparities Institute and the University of Connecticut Latin Studies.

Rocio has clinical and educational roles at UConn Health, including providing care to medical/dental/graduate students, patients, and families, supervising and teaching students, residents, and fellows. Her roles are focused on enhancing diversity and equity practices. As a result, she is the co-chair of the Latino Medical Student Association, a founder of the Antiracist Trauma-Informed System Transformation (ARTIST), and a School of Medicine Diversity Council member. She has experience providing clinical care to children, adolescents, and families dealing with emotional dysregulation. Being fully bilingual and bicultural, Rocio has spent most of her career implementing culturally appropriate services to diverse communities, developing unique skills essential for building relationships across cultures, and establishing a vast network of individuals in the medical health community.

Dr. Wright is a licensed clinical psychologist. She received her doctoral degree in clinical psychology with a concentration in forensic psychology from the William James College. She returned to Connecticut to complete her predoctoral internship and postdoctoral fellowship with the University of Connecticut-Correctional Managed Health Care, providing mental health services to justice-involved persons in the Connecticut Department of Correction.

Dr. Wright has 15 years’ experience as a clinician and supervisor of correctional and inpatient forensic mental health services, including in Connecticut’s women’s prison, York Correctional Institution, and Whiting Forensic Hospital. She has extensive experience with crisis mental healthcare, inpatient psychiatric treatment, behavioral management plans, legal/forensic report-writing, testimony, and risk management.

Dr. Wright’s interests include the assessment and treatment of justice-involved persons. She is passionate about creating pathways to mitigate risk while promoting community reintegration. She is also a member of the CPA Forensic Division; and while much of her time has been dedicated to the field of forensic psychology, she is excited to expand her scope and serve the local psychology community as a whole.

Kristin Serowik, Ph.D. is an early career psychologist who has expertise in substance use and co-occurring conditions, including PTSD and chronic pain. She delivers evidence-based psychotherapy to veterans in the VISN 1 Clinical Resource Hub at VA Connecticut Healthcare System and is an Assistant Professor at Yale University School of Medicine. 

Dr. Serowik is actively involved in training with psychology trainees at VA Connecticut and medical students at Yale School of Medicine. She is a graduate of CPA’s Early Career Leadership Academy in 2021 and was a co-chair for the 2022 cohort. Dr. Serowik’s program of research focuses on treatment engagement and retention. She is particularly interested in studying the implementation of evidence-based treatments for substance use disorder and co-occurring disorders, as well as the use of telehealth services to enhance treatment engagement for substance use disorder. 

Dariush Fathi is an early career psychologist and behavioral health director at Community Health Center Inc. (CHC), a federally qualified health center in Danbury, Connecticut. Dr. Fathi provides psychological services and manages a team of postdoctoral residents, social workers, student trainees, and psychiatry providers in an interdisciplinary primary care setting. He leads CHC’s group therapy and telehealth training initiatives. At CHC, he also works on the front lines addressing the opioid crisis and with his medical team developed an outpatient medication-assisted treatment program for patients with opioid addiction.

Dr. Fathi has served as the Connecticut Psychological Association’s early career representative from 2018 to 2021. During his tenure, he assisted with the launch of the CPA Webinar series, CPA’s website overhaul, and launched CPA’s Early Career Leadership Academy. Dr. Fathi was an American Psychological Association’s Early Career Leadership Development Fellowship program graduate in the 2020 inaugural class. In addition to these roles, Dr. Fathi works part-time in a group private practice in Darien and lives locally in Norwalk, CT. In 2022 he transitioned roles at CPA to the Region 4 representative, advocating for the needs and interests of Fairfield County psychologists.

Melissa Jourdain is a clinical psychologist who specializes in Serious Mental Illness (SMI) and is dedicated to the advancement of psychiatric care in inpatient and acute settings. She feels passionate about program development and Psychologists as leaders and advocates. She believes that the more connected we are in this field the more powerful we become. She wants to be a part of facilitating this network and creating connectedness and belonging within an often isolating field.

Meghan Butler, Psy.D. currently serves as the Executive Director of CPA, as well as Co-Chair of the Membership Committee. She has been actively involved in CPA since 2013, serving as member of the Healthcare Reform Task Force, Child and Family Committee, and as Early Career Representative from 2016-2017 and Secretary from 2018-2021. Dr. Butler charged efforts to modernize CPA as an organization, including website development, enhancing member benefits, and implementing multi-media marketing.

Dr. Butler received her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She completed her predoctoral internship at Jewish Child and Family Services and postdoctoral fellowship at Mt. Sinai Hospital – Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health. Dr. Butler remained in Chicago working in community mental health as part of the National Health Service Corp prior to relocating home to Connecticut. Working with diverse, underserved, and multi-stressed communities shaped her understanding of psychology and interest in trauma and attachment work. In past administrative roles, Dr. Butler partnered with medical providers and elementary schools to enhance mental health services; and connected graduate students to local community agencies for service learning projects.

Presently, Dr. Butler owns an independent practice in Glastonbury. Her areas of clinical expertise are assessment and treatment of trauma and attachment, and complex mood, behavioral, and learning disorders amongst infant and early childhood, school-aged children, adolescents and families. Within her clinical practice, she incorporates brain-based understanding of child development, evidenced based practices, and play and expressive art interventions.

Involvement in these professional experiences fortified Dr. Butler’s value of collaboration with community figures, belief in the importance of interventions at the systemic level, and desire to promote social justice and mental health awareness. It is with these experiences, skills, and values that Dr. Butler remains committed to the goals and mission of CPA.