Our Therapist Team

The Healing Garden is fortunate to have a broadly skilled team of therapists who provide complementary care. Our therapists have demonstrated experience in their fields and use best practices for treatments supported by high-quality evidence.

All therapy sessions are by appointment. Many therapists will also see clients at their off-site offices. Please call Lana at 978-456-3532 for more information.

Acupuncture

JoAnn Simon, RD, LAC, MS

Professionally trained in acupuncture, JoAnn has been in professional practice since 1983. She also maintains a private practice in Littleton and Wayland, where she offers her training in Chinese herbal medicine and nutrition.

Art

Karen Beaver, BFA

Karen is a creative artist and expressive arts therapist. She earned her BFA degree from the Rhode Island School of Design and has studied expressive therapy at Lesley University. She has also been a Healing Garden client.

Laurie Cohen, MA

Laurie is a mosaic artist who brings her skills as a psychologist to the process of healing through the arts. She has many years of experience as an Expressive Therapist at Children’s Hospital Boston, in addition to her own private studio work.

Sheri Kennedy, BFA, Ed.M

Sheri Kennedy holds a BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Connecticut and a Ed.M. in Arts in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and is the President and Founder of Art-Think, an organization that offers workshops in corporate and healthcare settings to help people reboot their creativity on a regular basis (http:www.art-think.com). Workshops draw upon visual art-making, the fine arts, expressive arts therapy, mind-body techniques, yoga, and business innovation tools to teach people how to be more productive, to contribute more innovative ideas to their workplace, and to improve their well-being at the same time.

Counseling

Susie Allen, MDIV

Rev. Susie Allen is a spiritual director, organizational and leadership consultant, and founding member of the Kairos Spiritual Life Center in Worcester, MA. She received her Master of Divinity from Andover Newton Theological School, and focused her studies in the areas of Faith, Health and Spirituality. She has been offering spiritual direction for 6 years, and was trained for her leadership through Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation. www.SusieNAllen.com

Susanna E. Bedell, MD

Dr. Bedell is a gifted educator and wellness counselor.

Fran Booth, LICSW

Fran Booth LICSW teaches meditation to quiet the mind and discover personal strategies for growth and healing. In her Andover office she offers tools for decreasing anxiety, preparation for medical procedures, pain management, and counseling for coping with a cancer diagnosis.

Blanche Dietz, LICSW, DCSW

Blanche is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who guides Healing Garden clients in regaining a sense of control in their lives; she provides individual psychotherapy and leads support groups. Her goal is improved client ability to cope with the treatment experience through practice of stress-reducing relaxation and meditation techniques. Blanche is also a trained couples therapist with many years' experience in working with clients who have relationship challenges.

Helene Gagliano, LICSW

Helene is a seasoned Psychotherapist and Medical Counselor who offers her patients hope and compassion during their cancer journey. Helene has a special interest in post-treatment counseling specifically related to the emotional healing needed once treatment has ended or taken another form. She offers encouragement and empowerment as you and your loved ones navigate treatment choices and has significant experience with metastatic cancers. After serving for years on an Interdisciplinary Medical Team at Emerson Hospital, Helene has a breadth of knowledge related to the course of cancer treatment and how the medical system operates. Helene believes in a holistic and palliative care approach to medical treatment and has presented her therapeutic knowledge on a local and national level. Helene is an LICSW with over twenty years experience and has an NASW Specialty Certification in Health Care.  

Marilyn Brine Gilmour, LICSW, MSW

Marilyn Brine-Gilmour, MSW, LICSW, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with more than 40 years of experience in the field. In addition to her work as a psychotherapist, Marilyn has practiced Reiki since 1998. She has trained in EMDR, hypnotherapy, and several mind/body modalities. Marilyn has a special interest in the area of psychological trauma and experience in hospice as well as crisis intervention. She is a long time support group facilitator for women living with metastatic breast cancer.

Elaine Olmstead, RN, CS, MS

Elaine is a psychiatric nurse clinical specialist, with more than 30 years of experience, who also maintains a private practice with Streff Associates in Acton, Massachusetts. She has worked with people with a wide variety of mental health issues, including depression and anxiety, and has expertise in the emotional and psychosocial aspects of medical illness. Elaine uses relaxation techniques, hypnosis, guided visualization, and cognitive therapy, and promotes integration of mind, body, and spirit. She provides individual and family counseling, and leads a metastatic support group at The Healing Garden.

Joan Scialo Rubin, RN, BSN, HWNC-BC

Joan is a board certified Health and Wellness Nurse Coach and a practitioner of Reiki, Healing Touch, and Cranial Sacral Therapy. Theses modalities work through light touch with a focus on relaxation, pain management, and promotion of self healing. Joan has more than 25 years experience helping families with behavioral health challenges. She is passionate about assisting people through education and wellness practices to become more aware of their health care needs, and empowering them to achieve optimal health.

Jane Shustin, LICSW, MSW

Jane embraces an alternative, progressive approach integrating psychotherapy with clinical hypnosis, biofeedback, stress management, and relaxation training. Practicing privately at a holistic health center in Groton, she has been helping people make wanted changes in their lives for more than 25 years. In individual and group contexts, her methods help calm the nervous system, reduce anxiety and worry, and restore balance to the mind and body. Jane is certified as an Approved Consultant in Clinical Hypnosis by the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis.

Dana Snyder-Grant, LICSW

Dana is a freelance writer and clinical social worker who specializes in chronic illness and disability. She offers individual and group psychotherapy at The Eliot Center in Concord, Massachusetts, where she helps individuals cope with medical illness and its challenges. Dana uses writing and relaxation techniques for healing in her work; she also facilitates groups and workshops for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Dana writes and speaks on her specialty, and is author of Women with Chronic Illness: Overcoming Disconnection (1999), and of Just Like Life, Only More So and Other Stories of Illness (2006).

Exercise

Katherine W. Lee, LMT, RPP

Katherine is a Licensed Massage Therapist, Registered Polarity Practitioner, and certified yoga instructor. She offers healing bodywork sessions using polarity energy balancing and therapeutic massage to deepen relaxation and expand inner awareness and harmony. Her weekly yoga classes recognize the need for individualized attention, and provide space for each student to open up her body and breath in a loving, safe, and mindful way.

Carol Mielo Swerzenski

Carol is a professor of psychology, a consultant in Complementary Care, and a daily practitioner of Qi Gong for more than 20 years.

Pam Turci, CMT, CLM

Pam is a certified Muscular Therapist, in practice since 2005, who practices Swedish relaxation massage, as well as Core Integration Movement Massage (CIMM) and Positional Release Therapy (PRT). The latter two are very gentle techniques for relaxing tight, contracted tissues in the body. CIMM has been developed from the work of Moshe Feldenkrais; it enables clients to learn new movement patterns that will alleviate habitual contraction of muscles that are currently being strained in daily activities; it can also improve posture and flexibility. Pam, who lives in Harvard, has also been trained in Tracy Walton’s method of Caring for Clients with Cancer.

Nancy Webber, BA, RYT

Nancy is a certified teacher for the popular Strong Women Program (an exercise and nutrition wellness program developed at Tufts University), as well as a member of the ASFA (American Senior Fitness Association) and an RYT200. Nancy teaches for the Council on Aging in Harvard, and is a professional fitness instructor and former Healing Garden client.

Healing sound therapy

Janine Sousa

Janine Sousa has been working in the healing arts for sixteen years. She is a Usui Reiki Master and has studied Sound Therapy with Michael Kopel, Mitch Nur and Ashana. She is Nationally Certified in Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork.

Horticultural therapy

Integrative bodywork

Catherine Collins, RN, MS, CHES, QTTP, CR

Catherine is a Registered Nurse, Health Educator, and practitioner of Therapeutic Touch and Reflexology. Therapeutic touch is an intentionally directed process of energy exchange during which the practitioner uses the hands as a focus to facilitate the healing process. The technique promotes relaxation, alters perceptions of pain, and mobilizes an individual’s own healing energies to restore health, balance, and order. Catherine also provides Integrative Imagery in her work.

Katherine W. Lee, LMT, RPP

Katherine is a Licensed Massage Therapist, Registered Polarity Practitioner, and certified yoga instructor. She offers healing bodywork sessions using polarity energy balancing and therapeutic massage to deepen relaxation and expand inner awareness and harmony. Her weekly yoga classes recognize the need for individualized attention, and provide space for each student to open up her body and breath in a loving, safe, and mindful way.

Maria Loring, LMT, NCTMB, CLL

Maria is a member of the Society for Oncology Massage, and is dedicated to serving people with cancer. Her wide range of personal experiences informs her massage practice; she has cared for a daughter with cancer, and has pursued a rich path of self-discovery and wellness that includes psychotherapy, macrobiotics, yoga, Pilates, homeopathic medicine, acupuncture, and co-counseling. She has enjoyed being an avid and active athlete, engaging in tennis, cross-country cycling, and figure skating.

Joan Scialo Rubin, RN, BSN, HWNC-BC

Joan is a board certified Health and Wellness Nurse Coach and a practitioner of Reiki, Healing Touch, and Cranial Sacral Therapy. Theses modalities work through light touch with a focus on relaxation, pain management, and promotion of self healing. Joan has more than 25 years experience helping families with behavioral health challenges. She is passionate about assisting people through education and wellness practices to become more aware of their health care needs, and empowering them to achieve optimal health.

Kate Smyers, RN,BSN, Certified Jin Shin Jyutsu Practitioner

Kate Smyers is a certified Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner and a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing with over thirty years of experience in health care. She has seen the power of combining Eastern and Western medicine to treat the whole person, partcularly through the ancient Japanese healing art of Jin Shin Jyutsu, sometimes called acupuncture without needles. Her healing technique reduces the effects of stress, facilitates clients' own healing capacity, and promotes optimal health. 

Marilyn Strong, RN

Marilyn Strong is a Certified Master Reiki Practitioner who has been practicing for over 30 years and has been a practitioner at the Healing Garden since its inception. Reiki's gentle, relaxing technique channels energy to facilitate mental/physical healing. It is a non-invasive, non-manipulative process that may revitalize and restore inner harmony, as well as enhance the creative self. Marilyn also works as a therapeutic clown, visiting children and families confronting illness.

Jacqueline Sullivan Wyco, LMT, RMT

Jacqueline Sullivan Wyco LMT, RMT is a licensed massage therapist with a degree from the John Winslow Institute of Massage Therapy and is also a Reiki Master/ Teacher. Jacqueline is trained in oncology massage and Manual Lymphatic Drainage therapy. She offers presentations on the benefits of massage and Reiki to cancer patients, oncology medical students and support groups. Jacqueline has operated her business on educating and empowering her clients to make the best decisions for improving and maintaining their own health.

In addition to her career as a bodywork therapist, Jacqueline is also a professional chef with more than 25 years of experience. She is a strong believer in the role food plays in nourishing, nurturing and replenishing the soul.

Pam Turci, CMT, CLM

Pam is a certified Muscular Therapist, in practice since 2005, who practices Swedish relaxation massage, as well as Core Integration Movement Massage (CIMM) and Positional Release Therapy (PRT). The latter two are very gentle techniques for relaxing tight, contracted tissues in the body. CIMM has been developed from the work of Moshe Feldenkrais; it enables clients to learn new movement patterns that will alleviate habitual contraction of muscles that are currently being strained in daily activities; it can also improve posture and flexibility. Pam, who lives in Harvard, has also been trained in Tracy Walton’s method of Caring for Clients with Cancer.

Dona Villandry, RE

Dona has 25 years' experience providing facial massage therapy, which is designed to relax your body and calm your mind. Using organic products, this extensive massage of your face, neck, and shoulders deeply nourishes your skin, eliminates toxins, and stimulates collagen production. Feel the love as warm towels scented with aromatic oils are gently wrapped around your head and neck, and a hand and arm massage is added to this truly amazing experience. According to studies at the Touch Research Institute in Miami, touch in the form of massage during aesthetic treatments helps to reduce pain, mood disturbance (anxiety, anger, depression, confusion), and fatigue in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Page Wasson, Dipl. ABT (NCCAOM), CLL

Page is a certified Shiatsu therapist who has had a private practice in Lincoln since 1997. She “listens” with her fingers and responds with sensitivity to the varied needs of each individual. Her gentle touch along the body's energy meridians facilitates deep relaxation and restores a sense of ease and well-being to body, mind, and spirit. In addition to her education and experience in Oriental Medicine, Page brings to her practice in-depth backgrounds in yoga, anatomy, dance, meditation, and competitive swimming.

Music therapy

Kathleen Howland, PhD, MT-BC

Kathleen is a board-certified music therapist who provides stress reduction and relaxation programs using music and imagery. These techniques create a meaningful focus and distraction for clients undergoing cancer treatments and/or surgeries. During an individual session a woman receives a customized recording that she can use any time to re-experience this deep state of relaxation independently. Kathleen also provides music for Healing Garden events and is available to make music for the sheer joy of it!

Nutrition

Ena Sandler, MS, RD, LDN

Ena Sandler has practiced as a Dietitian/Nutritionist for over twenty years with an emphasis in the field of oncology. For the past fifteen years, she has served as the Out Patient Oncology Dietitian at the Mass General Cancer Center at Emerson Hospital-Bethke. Offering useful nutrition strategies for coping with treatment side effects and eating for optimal health are key areas of focus in her work assisting those seeking support. She attempts to help individuals face their nutrition challenges and goals with a sense of empowerment and grace.