Archives: Faculty

Yoshimi Shimizu, LMHC

Yoshimi is a licensed psychotherapist with a private practice in New York City, offering services in New York, Florida, and Japan. Originally from Japan, she faced challenges adjusting to a new culture, including feelings of invisibility and discrimination. These experiences deepened her understanding of cultural and emotional struggles, shaping her compassionate, culturally sensitive approach to therapy.

Through AEDP psychotherapy—first as a client and then as a practitioner—Yoshimi experienced transformative healing. The AEDP community provided corrective emotional experiences that helped her feel seen, included, and empowered. This journey inspired her passion for supporting others in processing emotions and discovering their authentic voice through undoing aloneness and fostering connection.

Now a certified AEDP therapist and Supervisor-in-Training, Yoshimi has assisted in various AEDP courses, including Immersion, ES1, and Advanced modules, and served as a lead assistant for the 2023 Tsukuba course in Japan. She also led a free AEDP workshop for psychotherapists in Japan and presented a case at the Japanese Psychological Association conference. Yoshimi integrates AEDP and Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy, offering a safe, experiential space where clients and supervisees can slow down, connect inward, and foster healing and growth.

Courtney Poignand, LMHC

Courtney is the Founder of the Center For Self Care (CFSC), an experiential, somatic psychotherapy, clinical supervision and wellness consultation practice.

Courtney is Certified as an AEDP Therapist and is tracking to be a Certified AEDP Supervision soon.  

She welcomes inquiry for those interested in AEDP individual or small group supervision.  Courtney is passionate about creating community through sharing and caring and undoing the aloneness of being a therapist and an adult student.

Courtney is grateful to be recipient of supervision from Molly Eldredge, and faculty members Kate Halliday, Kari Gleiser, and Karen Pando Mars.  

Courtney began private practice in 1997 as a health coach, yoga and  mindfulness instructor and birth doula.   Courtney believes in the innate healing potential within each person, and celebrates the process of “midwifing” transformational processes.  Courtney is also certified in the PSIP model of psychedelic psychotherapy and offers ketamine and  cannabis assisted treatment, when appropriate, for major depression, anxiety and for resolving unwanted patterns resulting from trauma.

Courtney’s holistic scope of practice draws upon her unique sensitivity to intersections of mind, body, belief and behavior; and her passion to shine light on strengths and capacities within personal, relational, cultural and organizational ecosystems.  

Courtney has advanced training in somatic and energy psychotherapies, EFT, Tapping, EMDR, IFS, and is informed by a lifelong study of human physiology and development, nutrition, and organizational psychology.  

Stephen McDonnell, LCSW

Stephen completed AEDP Immersion in 2011 and is a certified AEDP therapist. He has had the privilege of being supervised by Diana Fosha, Natasha Prenn, Karen Pando-Mars, and Jenn Edlin. Since 2017 Stephen has been a member of the AEDP research team as a therapist, participating in weekly supervision with Diana Fosha and Richard Harrison as part of that initiative. In 2020, he began teaching an elective in AEDP to MSW social work students at NYU.

Stephen initially trained as a certified EFT therapist and supervisor before discovering AEDP. With 30 years of experience as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, he is currently licensed in New York State and holds a degree from Yeshiva University in NYC. his background includes serving as a Trauma Specialist and Clinical Supervisor for the Nassau County Department of Drug and Alcohol, where he trained social workers and addiction counselors in trauma-informed care. Additionally, Stephen designed and led an HIV prevention program for gay, queer, and minority communities at Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington, DC, supervising peer counselors with funding from the CDC.

Nancy Sagon

Mimi Steele

Mimi is an AEDP Certified Therapist and Supervisor-in-Training. She has a private practice in Charlottesville, Virginia. She has been an EA for Immersion, Essential Skills and Diana’s Advanced Skills ‘9+1’ course. Mimi is also certified in Transformative Couples Therapy® which is an experiential model of couples therapy with its roots in AEDP. 

Mimi loves sharing her experience in different ways: talking with clinicians curious about AEDP trainings, assisting in her local Charlottesville in-person supervision groups, and planning workshops and community-building events for her local AEDP community. Being part of other clinicians’ learning as a supervisor is a joyful next step in her AEDP journey. 

Mimi’s strengths include balancing inter/intra-personal relational work, using somatic awareness to deepen integration of healing and her own embodied sense of State shifts to deepen these experiences.

Jaqueline Maria Cassar

Jaqueline was first introduced to AEDP during her psychology studies at PUC-Rio. Her connection with the model deepened through a two-year training program with Regina Pontes and Maria Cândida, pioneers in introducing AEDP to Brazil. In 2012, she traveled to Boston to attend the AEDP Immersion Course, where she met Dr. Kari Gleiser, who would later become her supervisor. Kari’s loving and attuned
presence had a profound impact on Jaqueline’s development as a therapist, inspiring her to embody the healing essence of AEDP in both clinical and supervisory settings. She went on to complete the Essential Skills and Advanced Skills trainings in New York, and has been assisting in AEDP trainings for many years, supporting the growth of new therapists with presence, clarity, and deep respect for the process.

Jaqueline is also trained in Somatic Experiencing, where she continues to assist in trainings, and is a certified Mindfulness Instructor through Mindfulness Training International, integrating breathwork and contemplative practices into her work.
In addition, she holds formal training in both Reichian Analysis and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), bringing a rich integrative perspective to her clinical and supervisory relationships. Her approach to supervision is experiential, warm, and supportive — honoring the wisdom of the body, the power of presence, and the deep healing that emerges from relational safety and emotional truth.

Jaquemcassar@gmail.com

James McCracken, MSW, LCSW

“My motto is “Life is better in the shelter of each other… We are designed for it,” and I practice this in as many roles as I can, including as a supervisor: It is my intention to provide a safe and secure experience for therapists to learn and practice.  Located in Durham, North Carolina, I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, in practice for over 20 years (in both public and private practice settings), and am now the co-founder and Clinical Director of a group practice (“North Carolina Therapy Professionals, PLLC”) where I have been passionate about helping therapists be their best selves with and for their patients and each other. 

In addition to being an AEDP Supervisor-in-Training, I am a Certified Emotionally Focused Therapy Supervisor (all modalities), and love helping clinicians learn how to harness the healing potentials within and for our clients, relationships, and ourselves while still being themselves.  AEDP gives us a profound way to know and understand psychotherapy, and it is always a privilege and honor to help therapists learn and practice this powerful model.”

Melissa Bannerot, LCSW

Melissa is an AEDP Certified Therapist and Supervisor in Training. 

She has been working in private practice in Colorado Springs since 2011.  She was introduced to AEDP in 2018 at a lunch and learn in Denver and was completely taken in by the presence of the AEDP clinicians so much so that she immediately signed up for Immersion. 

Melissa has been an Experiential Assistant in numerous Essential Skills trainings as well as Immersion. 

Melissa is passionate about helping her clients become more emotionally connected with themselves and others in their lives. She loves how AEDP supervision allows for the same flourishing within the therapist – as the AEDP patient – because of how they are witnessed by their supervisor and fellow colleagues after showing tape and hearing how they are experienced as therapist.  Melissa is passionate about how much our “use of self” in therapy and supervision create not only a secure attachment, but also a channel for growth and transformation.

Rachel Lowinger

Gail Woods

Therapist Directory

 

Membership

 

Join the AEDP®
Institute Email List