Archives: Faculty

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.

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

Location: Brazil

Rachel Lowinger

Gail Woods

My dedication as your AEDP solo, couple therapist or supervisor is to bring light to your True Self—experientially, somatically, and imaginally. I aim to be True Other– feeling, seeing , reflecting , and accompanying you on your journey of undoing trauma, shame & aloneness, to find healing and vitality. I have been part of the AEDP community since 2010. I’ve personally felt AEPD’s core transformative energy and look forward to sharing this with you. As one of the original therapists in AEDP’s 16-session research project, I offer the option of therapy within a time-frame with its great potential to “mobilize transformance” (See Transformance Journal September 2023). I welcome referrals via AEDP –best to leave a phone/ email message that you come via AEDP community.

Location: New York, New York, USA

Lydia Mak

Hoai-Thu Truong, PhD

Hoai-Thu Truong a Certified AEDP Therapist and Supervisor, currently based in France. She has been licensed as a psychologist in California since 2004, and has been involved in AEDP since 2012.  In addition to AEDP her background includes psychodynamic, Jungian and psychoanalytic approaches to psychotherapy. Prior to becoming a clinical psychologist, Hoai-Thu had a 20-year career in biochemistry and biophysics (Biophysics PhD from Stanford University). With her American, French and Vietnamese cultural roots she is fascinated by issues of culture, and how culture shapes our view of ourselves and of the world and what we take for granted; she brings this experience into her clinical and supervision work. In her private practice in California she worked with (among others) Silicon Valley professionals, people with international backgrounds and university students, in areas including trauma, multicultural issues, and spirituality and religion.  She provides therapy in both English and French.

She currently lives in France and is semi-retired. She delights in providing training, consultation and AEDP supervision in English and in French to licensed clinicians.  She sees her role as a supervisor to not just teach AEDP therapy, its perspectives and interventions, as well as integration with other forms of treatment,  but also to facilitate the professional development of her supervisees. Her goal is that each supervisee-clinician find their particular therapy style, in their own voice.