“People Start to Heal the moment they are heard.” ~Cheryl Richardson
Executive Leadership Team
Susan "Suzy" Bienvenu, LPCC, RPT-S,
Founding Member, Chair, Board of Directors
Registered Circle of Security Parenting (COSP™) Facilitator
Suzy is a licensed professional clinical counselor and registered play
therapist supervisor. She has been a children’s therapist in Santa Fe for 25
years. She is in private practice and has worked at Gerard’s House as the
clinical director and at Esperanza Shelter as the children's
therapist. She is passionate about the mission of this agency and hopes to
bring more services to the young children in Santa Fe and the rest of the
state, through play therapy training for professionals, counseling services for
the children, and support for parents.
Lisa Dykes-Harrell, LPCC, RPT-S, Founding
Member, Board of Directors
Lisa has over 25 years counseling experience that ranges from
school counseling to private practice, to full time university instructor in
counseling. Lisa has been using Play Therapy extensively in her practices since
2001. She has presented numerous counseling and play therapy workshops for CE
credit and supervises future therapists and Play therapists. After retiring
from Eastern New Mexico University in 2015, Lisa moved to Santa Fe, NM where
she has worked with the Military Family Life Counselor Program (MFLC) and
currently the Child Counseling Center and Play Therapy Institute of New Mexico.
Meredith Baca, LPCC, RPT, Board of Directors
Meredith D. Baca has worked with children and adolescents since 2011. She was born in Santa Fe and raised in Northern New Mexico. It was during graduate school at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas, where she found her passion for Play Therapy. She is an Independently Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) and Registered Play Therapist (RPT). She has worked in inpatient, outpatient, residential treatment centers and in private practice throughout her career. She is passionate about Play Therapy and striving to provide a place of healing for all her clients.
Eliza Combs, LPCC, ATR, RPT, SAP®, Founding Member, Advisory Member
Registered Circle of Security Parenting (COSP™) Facilitator
Eliza is of Irish, Cornish, German and ancestral lineages still being learned. Eliza is an Independently Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) and nationally Registered Art Therapist (ATR) Registered Play Therapist (RPT) and Somatic Archeology Practitioner (SAP®). They are currently studying American Sign Language, body centered healing practices, Somatic Abolitionism and Sensorimotor Art Therapy.
Eliza graduated from Freedom Lodge, a year long historical trauma training and integrates body centered work with creative modalities in their work as an expressive arts therapist. Eliza is guided in their work by an anti-racist, social justice framework, the earth, the body, mystery, presence, intuition, play, curiosity and creativity. They have worked for over 22 years with children, adults and families in community based organizations. The last 10 years they have worked in New Mexico agencies in Chimayo, Abiquiu, Los Lunas, Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Eliza is passionate about expressive arts, play and body centered therapy for all people especially children.
Additional Board Leadership
Dee
Ann Briceño-Roybal, Board of Directors
Dee Ann is a Santa Fe
Native. She is a mother of four, one son and three daughters. She earned her
MBA in 2010 and her Masters in Counseling in 2013. The majority of her
career has been managing offices. She has worked for lawyers, the public
schools and the School for the Deaf, where she learned ASL, and the financial
industry, and now the Foundation where she can do what she truly loves, make a
difference in the lives of others in her community. She has always been very
involved with her children and their schools. She is a Girl Scout troop leader,
where she has instilled in her troop the importance of giving back to their
community. Her troop does a number of community outreach projects every year to
help the homeless, veterans in our community, and children in our community by
partnering with the Adelante program by organizing coat, food and toy
drives. She is also a basketball and cheer coach, a member of the Monte de
Sol parent association, and sits on the Board of Directors at the Child
Counseling Center of New Mexico.
Additional Advisory
Geri Glover, PhD, LPCC, RPT-S, Founding Member, Board of Directors
Geri Glover has worked with children and families for over 30 years in education, day treatment programs, private practice, mental health clinics, and is currently Professor and Chair of the Counseling Department at New Mexico Highlands University. She completed research in Filial Therapy with Native Americans residing on the Flathead Reservation in northern Montana in honor of her Salish ancestry. Her research has appeared in such publications as The School Counselor Journal and The International Journal of Play Therapy. Dr. Glover is a strong advocate of multicultural awareness and its importance in the therapeutic relationship. She has numerous publications, and is co-author of Play Therapy Interventions with Children’s Problems.
Kathleen Benecke MA LPCC IMH-E IV
Registered Circle of Security Parenting (COSP™) Facilitator
After a 21 year
career as a Pediatric, Hospice and HIV nurse, Kathleen received her Master of
Arts in Counseling from the University of New Mexico in 1997 and is Nationally Board
Certified Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor. She initially worked as a
Hospice counselor in Santa Fe and Rio Arriba counties. In 1999 she was
instrumental in establishing the Community Infant Program which was the first
Infant Parent Mental Health program in Santa Fe. In 2007 she was intensively
trained in DBT and has been interested in incorporating that work into Infant
Mental Health. She has been endorsed by the New Mexico Association of Infant
Mental Health (NMAIMH) since 2008. She is also intensively trained in the
Circle of Security Parenting Model and is a Registered Circle of Security
Parent Educator. In June 2015, she
completed an eighteen month training in CPP-Child Parent Psychotherapy. Kathleen
has been in Private Practice since October 2012 and has been a member of the
Northern New Mexico Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) Team since December
2012.
Trainers
Diana Lightmoon, LPCC, LMT, trainer
Diana is a licensed psychotherapist and massage
therapist in private practice. She teaches workshops on touch for therapists
through the Child Counseling Center and Play Therapy Institute of NM. Using
Joanna Macy’s model The Work That Reconnects, she leads workshops on climate
change for adults and children empowering them to act on behalf of their love
for the world.
Wendy
Ludlow, LCSW, RPT-S, trainer
Wendy was called to New
Mexico from NYC and moved to Santa Fe in 2017.
Wendy has been a Play Therapist from the beginning of her career and was
a Training Provider for APT in NYC for 20 years. Rooted in the teachings of play therapy,
Mindfulness and Presence, Wendy is also a song writer, musician, artist, and
Muse for “Outside of the box”. She has
integrated her Role as a Spiritual guide from the study of Traditional and
Shamanic teachings with her experiences on the beat as A Social worker in the
Bronx, NY for the past 22 years.
Motivation and how to use it for pro-social evolution is her message and
she will passionately ignite new thought!
See Wendy: OmPlay.org
Michael Ollom, LISW, RPT-S, trainer
Michael is a Registered Play Therapy Supervisor and graduate of the National
Association for Play Therapy Leadership Academy, past board member of the New
Mexico Association for Play Therapy, and a Practicum Supervisor for New Mexico
State University and for New Mexico Highlands University. Michael volunteers on
the S.A.F.E. House domestic violence shelter as a board member, volunteers as a
trained mediator in magistrate courts in Valencia County, and is currently
developing a Parenting Coordination practice at Live!
Courtney Lewis, MA, LPCC, RPT-S, IMH-E II, trainer
Registered Circle of Security Parenting (COSP™) Facilitator
Courtney is the owner and director of Small Steps Child Counseling. She provides administrative and clinical direction, as well as, reflective supervision at Small Steps. She treats clients through dyadic play therapy, CPP, infant mental health home visiting, Circle of Security Parenting Classes and Theraplay family treatment. Courtney has earned credentials through the Association for Play Therapy as a Registered Play Therapist and is Endorsed as an Infant Mental Health Specialist. Courtney developed the Stepping Out Program to support the development of well trained child therapists in New Mexico. The program was created to give therapists an opportunity to launch out on their own with the support of Small Steps administrative services and staff. Courtney is currently in process of developing an Infant Mental Health Fellowship through Small Steps.
Jeanne Du Rivage, MA, OTR/L, SEP
Registered Circle of Security Parenting (COSP™) Facilitator
Jeanne is a licensed occupational therapist with over 30 years of experience working with children and families. She is also a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, an approach developed by Dr. Peter Levine, to address the impact of trauma. She specializes in working with sensory processing and social emotional challenges as well as developmental trauma. She is passionate about working with children and families and believes that empathy and love are powerful tools for healing. Jeanne is a Registered Circle of Security Parent Educator and values the opportunity to share the Circle of Security program with parents and caregivers.
Robyn D Rausch, LPC, RPT, trainer
Robyn has 5 years of experience in play therapy. She has been working with kids with mental health difficulties most of her life and has a great passion for helping families build resilience and regulation. She currently works with Renewing Hope Counseling in Houston, Texas and advocates through her business, Calming Communities. She practices Adlerian Play Therapy through Relational Cultural Lens and includes a lot of neuroscience as the foundation for skill building. For more information about Robyn, check out her page www.calmingcommunities.com
Elizabeth Kjellstrand Hartwig, PhD, LMFT-S, LPC-S, RPT-SElizabeth is an Associate Professor in the Professional Counseling Program at Texas State University where she teaches play therapy, animal-assisted counseling, and marriage and family therapy courses. She specializes in strength-based and trauma-informed approaches for working with children and families. Dr. Hartwig is the author of the book Solution-Focused Play Therapy: A Strengths-Based Clinical Approach to Play Therapy and co-author of the book Canine-Assisted Interventions: A Comprehensive Guide to Credentialing Therapy Dog Teams. She is a Past President of the Texas Association for Play Therapy and currently serves on the Association for Play Therapy Board of Directors. She is also the founder and director of the Texas State University Animal-Assisted Counseling Academy. Dr. Hartwig has a private practice in New Braunfels, TX called Pawsitive Family Counseling, LLC, where she works with her canine partner, Holly.
Therapists Working at Our Agency
Kelly O. Finnerty, M.A., LMFT
Kelly O. Finnerty is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with Master's degrees in both and Marriage and Family Therapy and Interdisciplinary Creative Arts. With over a decade of experience working as a therapist, she has helped children who are experiencing anxiety, depression and trauma while offering support to their parents and families. Her training includes trauma-informed expressive arts, play therapy and body-based therapy approaches. She has frequently provided training in these approaches for mental health professionals. Through her extensive experience working with children of diverse cultures in school and community settings, as well as through her personal experience as a mother, she has seen the how the creative power of child-centered play helps children heal and grow. She is excited to contribute to the mission and potential of the Child Counseling Center and Play Therapy Institute of New Mexico.
Meredith Baca, LPCC, RPT, Board of Directors
Meredith D. Baca has worked with children and adolescents since 2011. She was born in Santa Fe and raised in Northern New Mexico. It was during graduate school at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas, where she found her passion for Play Therapy. She is an Independently Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) and Registered Play Therapist (RPT). She has worked in inpatient, outpatient, residential treatment centers and in private practice throughout her career. She is passionate about Play Therapy and striving to provide a place of healing for all her clients.
Susan "Suzy" Bienvenu, LPCC, RPT-S,
Founding Member, Chair, Board of Directors
Registered Circle of Security Parenting (COSP™) Facilitator
Suzy is a licensed professional clinical counselor and registered play therapist supervisor. She has been a children’s therapist in Santa Fe for 25 years. She is in private practice and has worked at Gerard’s House as the clinical director and at Esperanza Shelter as the children's therapist. She is passionate about the mission of this agency and hopes to bring more services to the young children in Santa Fe and the rest of the state, through play therapy training for professionals, counseling services for the children, and support for parents.
Geri Glover has worked with children and families for over 30 years in education, day treatment programs, private practice, mental health clinics, and is currently Professor and Chair of the Counseling Department at New Mexico Highlands University. She completed research in Filial Therapy with Native Americans residing on the Flathead Reservation in northern Montana in honor of her Salish ancestry. Her research has appeared in such publications as The School Counselor Journal and The International Journal of Play Therapy. Dr. Glover is a strong advocate of multicultural awareness and its importance in the therapeutic relationship. She has numerous publications, and is co-author of Play Therapy Interventions with Children’s Problems.
Courtney is the owner and director of Small Steps Child Counseling. She provides administrative and clinical direction, as well as, reflective supervision at Small Steps. She treats clients through dyadic play therapy, CPP, infant mental health home visiting, Circle of Security Parenting Classes and Theraplay family treatment. Courtney has earned credentials through the Association for Play Therapy as a Registered Play Therapist and is Endorsed as an Infant Mental Health Specialist. Courtney developed the Stepping Out Program to support the development of well trained child therapists in New Mexico. The program was created to give therapists an opportunity to launch out on their own with the support of Small Steps administrative services and staff. Courtney is currently in process of developing an Infant Mental Health Fellowship through Small Steps. 
Elizabeth Kjellstrand Hartwig, PhD, LMFT-S, LPC-S, RPT-S