Meet Our Team
Alan E. Fruzzetti, Ph.D.
Dr. Alan Fruzzetti is an internationally recognized DBT researcher, teacher, and supervisor. He is a Research Fellow at the National Suicide Research Foundation/ University College Cork, Lead for supervision & implementation for the National DBT Team in Ireland, on the faculty at Harvard Medical School (now part-time), and professor emeritus at the University of Nevada-Reno. Alan is Past-President of the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder (NEA-BPD) and on the Board of Directors for the DBT Board of Certification, World Association for DBT, and a co-founder of the Center for Trauma and Stress Education and, of course, the Center for DBT and Families. He has authored more than 125 research and clinical papers and book chapters, two books, is the editor of the Guilford DBT Practice series, and has lectured and trained professionals and the public in more than twenty-five countries on Dialectical Behavior Therapy and DBT with parents, couples and families. He has founded and directed both outpatient and residential DBT programs, for adults, adolescents, and their families. Alan is the co-creator of the NEA-BPD no-cost Family Connections programs for parents, partners, and other loved ones of people with borderline personality disorder, severe emotion dysregulation, suicide attempts and related problems. He has testified before Congressional committees about problems related to suicide and has received many honors for research, teaching, and community service. He received his AB from Brown University and MS and PhD from the University of Washington in Seattle.
Armida Rubio Fruzzetti, Ph.D.
Dr. Armida Rubio Fruzzetti is a Research Fellow at the National Suicide Research Foundation/ University College Cork, Lead for supervision & implementation for the National DBT Training Team, Ireland. In addition she is a supervisor at the3East DBT Adolescent Outpatient Clinic at McLean Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School. Armida has trained professionals throughout the United States, Europe, and the Middle East in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and in DBT with parents, couples and families. She has provided extensive clinical supervision in DBT in the U.S. and abroad and has worked in a variety of clinical settings utilizing DBT for adults and adolescents, pre-teens, and couples and families. In addition to her clinical work, she has conducted research on parent-child interactions and the development of emotion dysregulation. Armida is bilingual in English/Spanish and has worked within the Hispanic community with a focus on access to mental health care and higher education. Currently she is working on adapting DBT for use with teens that have Type 1 diabetes who struggle with suicidality and medical non-compliance and helping to adapt the NEA-BPD Family Connections program for parents of pre-teens.
Maggie Gorraiz, Ph.D.
Dr. Maggie Gorraiz is a DBT-Linehan Board Certified clinician, Program Director of the McLean Hospital School Consultation Service and an instructor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Gorraiz previously served as a staff psychologist in McLean’s 3East DBT Continuum providing comprehensive outpatient DBT to children, adolescents, young adults and their families. She has extensive experience in providing assessment and treatment of children and adolescents struggling with problems related to emotion dysregulation, including suicidal and self-harming behaviors. She participates in the supervision and training of clinicians in personality disorders and DBT. Her clinical and research interests focus on adolescent emotion dysregulation, DBT program development in school systems, and parent skills coaching.
Luciana Payne, Ph.D.
Dr. Lucy Payne is a licensed clinical psychologist working in the 3East DBT programs at McLean Hospital and an Instructor at Harvard Medical School. Lucy specializes in working with parents, couples and families using Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Dr. Payne is one of the co-creators of Family Connections- Managing Suicidality and Trauma Recovery, a free program for parents of suicidal and self-injuring youth run by the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder (NEA-BPD). Lucy has provided considerable training and supervision in Family Connections and in Dialectical Behavior Therapy for parents, couples and families both in the U.S. and abroad. She is on the Board of Directors for both NEA-BPD and the Center for Trauma and Stress Education.
Magdalena Skuza-Singh, M.A.
Magdalena Skuza-Singh is a psychologist and sociologist, and a certified cognitive-behavioral therapist specializing in Dialectical Behavior Therapy. She is a leading expert clinician and trainer in Poland for DBT with adolescents, adults, and families. Magda also is an expert in parenting skills programs and trauma therapy (EMDR and DBT-PTSD). She is the co-founder and former president of the Polish Association for DBT, and an international affiliate of NEABPD, implementing the Family Connections program and training leaders in the FC program. She is the Co-Director of mental health center HarmonJa in Gdansk, which provides comprehensive DBT services. Her research interests are in developmental clinical psychology, especially early diagnosis and interventions for personality disorders and trauma related problems, and is affiliated with the Psychiatry Department at Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow and the Psychiatric University Clinics in Basel, Switzerland. She is dedicated to improving the accessibility and quality of mental health services in Poland for adolescents with suicidality, self-harm and trauma, and their families. Magda is bilingual in Polish/English and experienced working with culturally diverse communities.
Aditi Vijay, Ed.M., Ph.D.
Dr. Aditi Vijay is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in Dialectical Behavior Therapy and interventions with emerging adults. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Georgetown School of Medicine. Aditi has provided extensive training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy and consultation to DBT teams throughout the U.S. Her clinical and research interests focus on improving quality of life for adolescents and emerging adults with a focus on those who self-harm or experience chronic suicidal ideation and improving access to care for underserved populations. She also has considerable experience treating trauma-related problems and providing training and supervision in the effective treatment of trauma-related problems. Her current research focuses on clinical supervision and process and outcome research in Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Dr. Vijay is on the Board of Directors of the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder.
Briana Carbone, LiCSW
Briana Carbone is a licensed independent clinical social worker and is a clinician in the 3East DBT Adolescent Outpatient Clinic at McLean Hospital. Briana currently provides comprehensive outpatient DBT to children, adolescents, young adults and their families. She has experience in treating trauma-related problems and is trained in the DBT Prolonged Exposure Protocol (DBT-PE) for the treatment of PTSD. Her clinical interests focus on child and adolescent emotion dysregulation, working with parents to learn skills to manage their own emotions so they may support their children, working with individuals who have experienced traumatic events and expanding DBT to diverse clinical populations.
Sarah Immerman, Psy.D.
Dr. Sarah Immerman is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and evidence-based interventions with parents and families. Dr. Immerman previously served as a staff psychologist in McLean’s 3East DBT Residential Program, providing comprehensive DBT to adolescents and young adults and their families. She attended Barnard College of Columbia University as an undergraduate then earned her Master of Science and doctoral degree at Long Island University (LIU) Post in New York. She completed her internship at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore and her postdoctoral fellowship at the 3East Residential Program at McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Her clinical interests include supporting individuals on the autism spectrum using DBT and helping parents, couples, and families manage problems related to emotion dysregulation.