Our Team

Kathryn Keane 
Kathryn is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker who earned her MSW with a certificate in Trauma and a focus on Global Social work from Boston College in 2016. Prior to her MSW program Kathryn spent over three years in Latin American and the Caribbean working in various roles with children, adolescents, and families. She also conducted her advanced internship during graduate school in Nogales, Mexico serving the migrant population at the border. Kathryn has a deep passion for social justice, equity, and mental health and has focused her career on working with individuals impacted by trauma and adverse life experiences. She has experience working at community, clinic, and residential levels of care, and has incorporated Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment (SMART) into her practice for over 7 years. Kathryn’s therapeutic work is also informed by her training in Internal Family Systems therapy as well as Sensory Motor Psychotherapy. Most recently she began her own private practice in Auburndale, Massachusetts where she works with clients of all ages with a large focus on LGBTQIA+ individuals.

Mari Bræin 
Mari Kjølseth Bræin is a clinical child psychologist specialized in trauma treatment. She has been one of the key persons leading professional development and competence enhancement in the trauma field of Norway. Currently she works as a clinical director at the Center for Trauma and Stress in Norway, where she also offers SMART therapy. She has developed and adapted several therapeutic tools used in trauma treatment in Norway. Eager to find methods that work for children struggling to express themselves verbally, she contacted the SMART team to learn about the methods. She organized training in Norway with SMARTmoves Partners, and together with colleagues she translated and adapted the SMART method to the Norwegian context. She is now responsible for the SMART training in Norway.

Chia-Chi (Alicia) Hu, PhD, Psychologist

Trainer and consultant SMARTmoves; certified TRE facilitator; certified Sensorimotor (SP) psychotherapist; co-founder of Asia trauma-informed care awareness coalition. Private practitioner in the Pacific Northwest.

Kasey Pendexter, LMFT, LMHC

Kasey currently owns a private practice in Worcester, MA with a focus on serving those who have experienced developmental trauma. She also serves as the SMART Track Director of a 5-year SAMHSA grant through Gallaudet University's Deaf and Hard of Hearing Child Resilience Center. She previously supervised residential clinicians at two residential treatment programs for 10 years. She began her work with SMART in 2012 as a residential clinician at the Justice Resource Institute. Passionate about SMART, she carried it forward, successfully implementing a program within two separate agencies, before piloting the SMART framework within the deaf community. Kasey has given several presentations internationally related to her work in the SMART room and looks forward to continuing this work within the greater community.

Amie Summers
She has specialty training in helping families who have experienced medical trauma, and collaborates with hospital personnel to minimize children’s psychological distress when receiving medical care. Practicing since 2013, Amie currently has her own practice with SMART rooms in Minneapolis, MN. She is available for workshops in the community.

Michelle Perrin, LICSW
Michelle has a deep passion for In-home therapy, where she has worked for the past 5 years. After completing her MSW and Trauma Certificate with Boston University in 2015, she began work with trauma impacted adults, youth, and families within a multitude of settings including inpatient hospital units, outpatient therapy clinics, and community-based services. During her time as an IHT, Michelle began utilizing SMART within her work with families. She has co-facilitated SMART trainings alongside Dr. Elizabeth Warner and continues to provide consultation to clinicians, Therapeutic Mentors and staff at Justice Resource Institute.

Benjamin Pandev-Girard 
Benjamin is an occupational therapist (M.OT) graduated from the University of Sherbrooke. He maintains a private practice in the region of Montreal working with individuals with significant difficulties in inclusion who have experienced trauma and dissociative experiences. Since 2020, he is a collaborator of Ruth Lanius and her lab in London Ontario which helps him bridge the impacts of trauma on the senses from a neuroscience perspective to clinical practice. He is sought after for group trainings and individual mentorship by healthcare workers to implement neuroscience trauma-informed care in their clinical practices whether in youth protection settings, addiction and substance use disorders or mental health facilities. He is a mentor, lecturer and since 2024, a coordinator for students from the University of Sherbrooke to implement innovative projects in community. In 2022, Benjamin was recognized by the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapy for excellence in clinical teaching and supervision. Benjamin’s interest for SMART started in 2020 when he met Elizabeth Warner and sat on the online training with Dr Lanius’ team. From this point forward, he has collaborated with Dr Warner in various projects including the development of a sensory assessment for the upcoming randomized clinical trial on SMART.

Jessica Brenneman
Jessica has worked in the mental health field since 2007, always with a focus on children and families. She graduated from the University of Maryland in 2010 with a degree in Couple and Family Therapy. Jessica has worked in partial hospital programs, clinics, homes, and in private practice both in person and virtually. She has been fully licensed since 2012 and holds licenses in Delaware, Maryland and North Carolina. Jessica has a certificate from the University of Maryland in Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health and a certificate from Georgetown University in Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation. She is a board approved supervisor for master’s level therapists in Maryland. Jessica has been using SMART since 2018. She worked with a rural public school system in Maryland to install SMART rooms in Title 1 schools. Jessica has also led an effort to help school staff understand the principles of SMART to assist children in regulating during the school day. Jessica has extensive experience working with children who have intense behaviors, anxiety disorders, family concerns, and trauma.

Ava Lorenzo
Ava is a psychologist based in NYC. She completed her doctoral training at Rutgers University Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology in 2017, and her post-doctoral fellowship at the Trauma Center at JRI in 2019.

Her work is primarily guided by SMART and ARC, while also integrating elements of sensorimotor psychotherapy and playful EMDR.

Currently, she is a part-time consultant and trainer in SMART, while also managing the clinical supervision and coordination of a foster care program for a non-profit in NYC.

Barbara Rietscha
Barbara is an experienced business and finance executive with over 25 years in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. She excels in financial reporting and transparency, project management and workflow efficiency. She was a small business owner – a flower farm in Massachusetts, and she now uses that experience to support other small business owners. Barbara has a BA from Holy Cross, an MBA from Northeastern University, and she is a Quickbooks Certified Pro-Advisor.