AVIVA PSYCHOLOGY SERVICES

Dr. Urbano is a founding partner and the Clinical Director for Aviva Psychology Services. She is a dedicated clinician and caring soul who helps to build our team and bring our clinical vision to life. She supports our growing team with organizational development, clinical support, heart and humor.

Dr. Urbano is a licensed psychologist who specializes in helping adults of all identities to feel more secure in themselves, satisfied in their relationships, and resilient through uncertainty, change, and loss of all types (e.g. ambiguous loss like infertility, aging, a path not taken in life; concrete loss, like death, divorce/relationship endings, or job loss; and traumatic loss, like unexpected death, terminal medical diagnosis, stillborn birth, or medical termination of a wanted pregnancy). Dr. Urbano meets clients in the depths of their despair and deeply respects (and trusts) the strength, resilience and newfound freedom that emerge through grief.

Dr. Urbano believes we are both hurt and healed in the context of relationships, and she has an additional specialty area in relational health. She enjoys working with highly sensitive individuals (HSP’s) and those who feel anxious, misunderstood, insecure, and/or emotionally overwhelmed to increase comfort with themselves, their feelings and needs, and their relationships. She helps individuals, couples, and families to improve communication, develop healthier attachments, and better understand and change hurtful relational patterns. She explicitly welcomes gender and sexual diversity and those who identify as male who wish to do this work.

Finally, Dr. Urbano’s most recent area of focus and study is perinatal mental health. She is dedicated to working with both aspiring and current parents throughout the complex family planning and adjustment process, including grief and traumatic loss, coping with uncertainty and infertility, and adjustment to parenthood.

As an integrated psychodynamic and behavioral psychologist, Dr. Urbano uses a combination of structured therapy models (CBT, ACT, IFS, and Bader's Developmental Model of Couples Therapy) and psychodynamic processes to achieve desired change. Through a combination of both self-awareness and skill building, Dr. Urbano helps clients recognize their role in making desired changes, build strategies for healthier coping and relational functioning, and translate their needs and values into action to live more secure, satisfying and connected lives.

In addition to her training in behavioral and psychodynamic therapies, Dr. Urbano integrates systems thinking in all her therapy work. You will find that she:

• unwaveringly views you as a whole and capable person
• is warm and emotionally attuned
• welcomes all of you— including your anger and shame
• is active throughout the process
• provides and invites ongoing feedback
• views behavior as purposeful
• pays attention to your nervous system
• values your complex identity and views the familial, social, cultural, and systemic influences that shape you/us as central to our therapy work

She also utilizes Non-violent Communication (NVC) training to build competency identifying and expressing one’s needs with clarity and confidence, both in the context of the therapy process and in daily living. She has found NVC to be a highly effective, compassionate, and transferable communication framework.

Dr. Urbano offers a compassionate, emotionally attuned, and honest therapy relationship to support both acceptance and desired change to live a more vibrant and fulfilling life.

Dr. Karthaus is a founding partner and the Business Manager for Aviva Psychology Services. Dr. Karthaus is a visionary and a phenomenal systems thinker. She is gifted at translating ideas into action, and at implementing efficient systems to optimize organizational functioning.

In her clinical role as a licensed psychologist, she provides individual therapy and career counseling. She focuses on working with diverse populations and has an expertise in working with individuals who struggle with anxiety, career challenges, and adjustment to parenting.

In practice, Dr. Karthaus works from a mindfulness-based perspective, integrating evidence-based interventions from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). She is a registered yoga teacher, which informs her work in helping clients to cultivate intuitive strategies for managing the stress of daily life. Finally, as a counseling psychologist, Dr. Karthaus has a great deal of experience in helping clients find value and meaning in their careers. She offers both formal career-counseling sessions as well as integrates career counseling into individual psychotherapy sessions as it is relevant to clients’ needs.

As a behavioral therapist, Dr. Karthaus aims to help clients identify patterns of behavior and make active choices to move towards their values. She believes that much of the pain in life stems from avoidance. While avoidance of pain is a universal human experience, it often leads to moving away from values in an effort to feel less intensity. With this in mind, her approach to therapy involves (a) working with clients to understand the function of their behaviors (b) increase mindfulness skills and expand emotional awareness and (c) increase willingness to make the changes that would help them move towards a more valued life.

Dr. Remen is a seasoned psychologist who welcomes clients from diverse backgrounds. She has extensive experience treating highly sensitive adults whose emotional needs were often unmet in childhood. Dr. Remen is attuned to the inherent challenges and rewards of being a highly sensitive person. She is dedicated to helping her clients understand and self-validate their emotional experiences while also providing a path to healing the emotional pain caused by invalidation or trauma.

Dr. Remen holds the perspective that we all have great inner strength and wisdom, qualities that may be hard to access due to our life circumstances and histories. Her warm and accepting manner enables her clients to feel connected and safe as they navigate stressful events, painful emotions, and trauma. With curiosity and sensitivity, she assists her clients to access their innate inner resources to heal and experience ease and joy.

Dr. Remen specializes in Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy. IFS has a growing evidence base and is recognized internationally as a powerful treatment modality for resolving inner conflict and enhancing well-being. IFS proposes that we all have the capacity for profound healing, as well as different protective parts of our personalities that may manifest as symptoms such as anxiety, anger, and undesirable habits. By assisting her clients to connect compassionately with different aspects of their personality, Dr. Remen guides them to apply their innate healing capacity to resolve painful thoughts and emotions. Successful IFS therapy enables clients to live full, flexible, authentic lives.

Dr. Remen also has extensive training and experience with Dialectical BehavioralTherapy (DBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). These mindfulness-based behavioral therapies have been studied widely and offer powerful strategies for managing emotions, tolerating distress, resisting impulses, and improving relationships. She is skilled at integrating these stress-reducing strategies into IFS therapy.

Dr. Remen provides a warm, safe space for her clients to engage in healing. She believes that close collaboration is an essential ingredient for successful psychotherapy and views candid, ongoing feedback about how treatment is progressing as essential to their satisfaction and success.

Dr. Martin-Tousignant is a warm and compassionate psychologist with a focus in women’s mental health and specific expertise in perinatal mental health and parenting.  She additionally supports women experiencing FOO difficulties/trauma, relational difficulties, grief and loss, and life transitions to improve coping and resilience. She is committed to creating a safe place where clients feel seen and heard while providing support and empowerment on their parenthood journey and through other life transitions and family challenges.

Dr. Martin-Tousignant specializes in working with women and parents experiencing postpartum depression or anxiety, processing a traumatic birth or NICU experience, or struggling with the loss of a pregnancy or infant. She also helps with challenges associated with parenting young children, adjusting to other significant life changes, and dealing with family trauma.

Dr. Martin-Tousignant is an integrative psychologist with additional training in perinatal and infant mental health, including the completion of Seleni’s Maternal Mental Health Intensive on perinatal mood and anxiety disorders and grief and loss.  She uses emotion-focused, empowerment, and trauma-informed approaches in her work to help clients become more aware, make productive use of their emotions, understand the complexities of their relationships, and learn how past experiences influence current functioning. She also incorporates cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness interventions to improve coping.  Dr. Martin-Tousignant builds therapeutic relationships through her core values of compassion, authenticity, curiosity, and humor.

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Brittni is a dynamic admin team member who brings creativity, warmth and enthusiasm to our administrative operations. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2019 and quickly fostered an interest in mental and behavioral health after being a special education teacher in Springfield. She is interested in pursuing a graduate degree in mental health counseling or psychology and hopes to make a positive impact in the field as a future clinician.

Dr. Solar is a genuine and warm psychologist who partners with clients to explore patterns, clarify values, and make progress towards living an authentic and fulfilling life.  She welcomes adult clients of diverse experiences, backgrounds, and identities, and she approaches her work through a social contextual lens.

As a clinical health psychologist, Dr. Solar has a deep appreciation for the connection between emotional and physical health.  Her areas of focus include depression, anxiety, adjustment, identity development, work-life balance, and chronic stress. Dr. Solar has specialized training and expertise in helping clients to adapt to, cope with, and manage health issues and chronic illness.  She provides interventions for a range of health-related concerns including health anxiety, diabetes, sleep issues, health behavior changes, cardiovascular disease, smoking cessation, rare medical illnesses, and degenerative conditions.  

Dr. Solar’s approach integrates evidence-based therapies including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Narrative Therapy to best fit each client’s individual strengths, needs, and goals.  She aims to provide an open and affirming space to explore experiences with compassion and curiosity where clients feel empowered to create enduring change.   She values open and honest communication, flexibility, creativity, and humor.

Dr. Cherish DeOliveira is a bilingual (English & Portuguese) licensed clinical psychologist who provides individual teletherapy services for adult women. She specializes in women’s health  psychology to support trauma recovery, mood stability, coping with  anxiety, resolution of identity issues, complex medical diagnoses, and reproductive health (i.e.,  pregnancy, postpartum, fertility issues). 

Dr. DeOliveira uses multicultural psychological approaches to support trauma recovery, identity development, and exploration of role formation. She is also trained to work with issues of sexuality, gender, and marginalized identity, and she has developed a specialty area in supporting the LGBTQ+ and Latinx communities. Dr. DeOliveira integrates therapeutic modalities including CBT, CPT, IFS, and Narrative Therapy to provide each person in her care a flexible and  supportive treatment plan.  

In her free time, Dr. DeOliveira loves to travel, dance, read, and compete in cycling challenges. She lives in Arizona with her partner of 18+ years where they enjoy adventures and quality time  with their 2 rescue cats and 3 rescue pups. She also volunteers for a local dog rescue as a foster  dog mom.  

Gretta contributes to the daily functioning and growth of Aviva through their administrative work. They provide caring and responsive support to our clients and clinical team. Gretta earned a Bachelor's degree in sociology from Smith College and is dedicated to processes of healing and integration that will equip individuals with the necessary tools to meet the challenges of our time.

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Dr. Maynard (formerly Dr. Dietmann) is a warm and compassionate psychologist who specializes in treating individuals with a wide range of concerns, including anxiety, depression, trauma, and interpersonal problems.  She enjoys working with young adults around identity development, adjustment to life and role transitions, navigating relationships, and stress management.  Dr. Maynard also has extensive experience providing support and coaching to parents of school-aged children who are hoping to integrate more balance and self-care into their daily lives.  She is passionate about building genuine relationships with her clients and creating a safe, supportive environment to identify and reach their therapy goals.

Dr. Maynard utilizes an integrative therapy approach and recognizes that each client has unique strengths, past experiences that have shaped them, and desired areas for growth.  Dr. Dietmann incorporates techniques from relational, psychodynamic, attachment, and cognitive behavioral therapies to help clients build insight and self-awareness into their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and increase their ability to cope with uncomfortable emotions and stressors as they arise.  Dr. Dietmann supports clients as they explore the impact of past experiences on their current functioning and works collaboratively with clients to develop a repertoire of healthy coping skills.

Dr. Audette is a warm and genuine psychologist who is passionate about providing each client with a safe space to explore themselves and who they would like to become.  Dr. Audette aims to provide a healing and growth-promoting relationship that encourages greater clarity, self-worth, and zest. This includes being highly collaborative and open with clients about every aspect of their therapy.  She works with clients to explore patterns, clarify their values and goals, and develop insight into themselves and others. Dr. Audette's work is built upon trust in every person's innate worth, self-knowledge, and capacity to heal and grow.

Dr. Audette provides individual and group therapy to adult clients with diverse identities, backgrounds, and difficulties. These include anxiety, depression, relational issues, identity concerns, chronic conditions and disability-related concerns, and challenging life transitions. Dr. Audette attends to both individual and systemic factors that impact each client's experiences, and she utilizes a variety of evidence-based techniques to meet clients where they are and flexibly help them attain their personal goals.

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Dr. Akoury is a warm and present psychologist who helps clients balance acceptance and change in their life journeys. She builds a welcoming and collaborative space where clients can safely explore challenging emotions and work towards their goals. In her prior training, she has focused on working with adults in the midst of challenging life transitions. Whether her clients are adjusting to a new stage of life or building a new sense of identity, Dr. Akoury welcomes the opportunity to help.

Dr. Akoury provides individual and group therapy for adults with a wide range of concerns, including anxiety, depression, trauma, and acculturation difficulties. She has experience working with indigenous, immigrant, and marginalized individuals to build empowerment from a cultural humility lens. Dr. Akoury is also extensively trained in evidence-based treatments to improve individuals’ relationship with their body, food, and self-image. She has authored numerous publications on the influence of culture and society on women’s relationships with their bodies, self-esteem, and food.

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Dr. Akoury is an integrative psychologist who is trained in both culturally-immersed therapy, which acknowledges the influence of race, culture, and identity on clients’ lived experiences, and in evidence-based therapies, including Dialectical-Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT). With a sense of collaboration and discovery, she helps clients untangle their thoughts and feelings in order to move forward with increased freedom, stability, and clarity. Dr. Akoury believes that change comes from increased awareness and works with clients to build mindfulness, explore their values, set healthy boundaries, and catch and replace unhelpful thinking patterns. 

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As part of the administrative team at Aviva, Luz brings an enthusiastic nature and drive to aid in daily administrative functions. Following a career as a Medical Assistant, she obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Healthcare Administration from Southern New Hampshire University. She is passionate about promoting positivity and kindness, and her position at Aviva allows her to share this with our community.

Dr. Wu is a warm, hopeful psychologist who is dedicated to improving adults’ well-being by understanding their experiences, identifying their values and needs, and improving their security in relationships. He enjoys a collaborative therapy process with adults of diverse, intersecting identities and backgrounds, and he prioritizes working within clients’ frames of reference to reach their goals.

Dr. Wu provides individual and group therapy, treating a range of issues such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, academic and career challenges, adjustment challenges, dating and relationships, men’s concerns, Asian American mental health, and identity development. He specializes in working with the young adult population and with those experiencing difficult life transitions. His therapeutic approach builds on clients’ existing strengths, explores current concerns while considering the impact of past experiences, and increases skills for self-awareness, coping, communication, and values-driven behavioral changes.

Dr. Wu’s approach to psychotherapy is integrative, tailored to clients, and strengths-focused. It is informed primarily by relational, emotion-focused, CBT, and ACT approaches, and incorporates mindfulness and DBT skills. This process encourages holistic awareness and acceptance of the many aspects of ourselves, empowering individuals to better understand self and others, and to more confidently define next steps. He provides a supportive therapeutic space characterized by patience, compassion, flexibility, and curiosity. He values authentic communication and invites feedback in the therapeutic relationship.

Dr. Alois is a warm and compassionate psychologist who specializes in working with adults and college/graduate students struggling with depression, anxiety, complex trauma, life transitions, relationship concerns, and grief and loss. She works collaboratively with clients to identify unhelpful patterns, work through past issues, and develop more meaningful connections with others. Dr. Alois is skilled at developing genuine relationships with her clients and providing a safe and supportive environment where clients feel valued, seen, and heard.

Dr. Alois believes that everyone has the capacity to heal from the past and live a more fulfilling, meaningful life. Her approach to therapy draws from psychodynamic and attachment theories, and incorporates aspects of cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness techniques. She meets clients where they are and tailors treatment based on each individual’s needs and goals for therapy. Dr. Alois helps clients to manage current symptoms while exploring past experiences and underlying issues that contribute to a person’s current functioning, sense of self, and how they interact with the world around them.

Dr. Garcia is a compassionate and genuine psychotherapist who works collaboratively with clients to achieve their goals and to provide a safe space for vulnerability and creativity. She enjoys working with adults and college/graduate students with a variety of concerns including depression, generalized and social anxiety, life transitions, low self-esteem, and relationship concerns. She is curious and conscious of people’s unique backgrounds, identities, and experiences, and she individualizes care to most effectively meet their needs. Fluent in both Spanish and English, she embraces her bilingualism as a means of fostering connection and understanding.

Dr. Garcia utilizes an integrative approach that draws from cognitive-behavioral, acceptance and commitment, and mindfulness interventions.  She strongly believes in cultural consciousness as a powerful tool for dismantling barriers and fostering cultural unity. Dr. Garcia is committed to fostering respect, understanding, and open communication in all her interactions. Cultivating self-compassion is integral to both her personal growth and professional practice, and she strives to support individuals in finding their own creative paths to fulfillment and well-being. Additionally, Dr. Garcia is an avid gamer and, when relevant, welcomes clients’ gaming identities and interests into the therapeutic process.

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Mr. Murgo is a warm and empathetic psychotherapist who is passionate about helping his clients flourish in the face of life’s challenges. He is skilled in helping clients work through stress, anxiety, life adjustment issues, relationship challenges, and self-esteem concerns. Mr. Murgo is especially passionate about helping clients navigate concerns related to sexual orientation, identity exploration, sex and sexual functioning, men’s issues, and coping with stigma and discrimination. He has conducted research on minority stress, coping, masculinity, and mental health, which informs his clinical practice.

Mr. Murgo seeks to help his clients flourish. He guides his clients to explore themselves, address their problems, and improve their wellbeing through a relational, insight-oriented, and strengths-based approach. This integrative approach draws upon emotion-focused therapy, psychodynamic therapies, cognitive-behavioral therapies, and multicultural therapies to facilitate growth and change.

Mr. Murgo works collaboratively with his clients to explore how their emotions may relate to their thought patterns, attachment needs, important past experiences, presenting problems, and mental health. He helps his clients identify areas of growth, explore themselves, and improve coping skills to enhance wellbeing. Mr. Murgo also helps clients work through emotions that arise in session to practice overcoming challenges outside of session. He is passionate about integrating a multicultural lens into his practice to understand how forms of stigma (e.g., racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism) may impact the mental health of his clients. Fostering a strong therapeutic relationship in a warm, supportive, non-judgmental environment is a cornerstone of his treatment.

Dr. Franusiak is a warm and genuine psychologist who specializes in working with young adults experiencing a wide range of presenting concerns, including depression, anxiety, relationship concerns, and life transitions. She is dedicated to building a connection with each client based on trust and acceptance so that clients feel seen and heard. Dr. Franusiak works collaboratively with clients to gain insight and awareness into current patterns and helps clients make meaningful change.

Dr. Franusiak utilizes an integrative approach, drawing from cognitive-behavioral, acceptance and commitment, and psychodynamic based interventions. She recognizes each client’s individuality and tailors her approach to meet clients where they are to help bring them where they hope to be. Dr. Franusiak helps clients manage current stressors while exploring how past experiences have shaped thoughts, behaviors, and sense of self. She works collaboratively with clients to build on strengths and develop more coping skills.

Dr. Tahirkheli identifies as an Asian American, Pakistani second-generation immigrant Muslim woman and a social justice-oriented clinician. She is a warm, compassionate psychologist who values presenting her authentic, genuine self to clients, hoping to foster her clients’ capacity to do the same. She is committed to cultural sensitivity in her work, as well as ensuring attention to issues of identity, power, privilege, and culture in her clinical practice.

Dr. Tahirkheli provides teletherapy with adults to address a variety of concerns including anxiety, depression, adjustment issues, identity development, Asian American mental health, relationship concerns, racism-related stress, and acculturative concerns for individuals of immigrant backgrounds. Her areas of focus include working with individuals from marginalized communities, young and emerging adults, women, and first-time therapy clients.  

Dr. Tahirkheli focuses on creating a space of acceptance, warmth, and empathy to build a trusting and genuine relationship with clients to embark on (or continue) their healing journeys. She believes that clients are the experts on their own lives and aims to build an egalitarian and collaborative relationship to support clients’ goals and hopes.

Dr. Tahirkheli’s approach to therapy is person-centered, relational, and multicultural. She works with clients to build an authentic, trusting relationship to help them feel understood and seen in therapy and to encourage authentic connection in other relationships in their lives. She integrates cultural and contextual considerations in the process, bringing to light the impact of culture and systems of oppression that impact mental health. Dr. Tahirkheli aims to collaboratively identify both values and goals with her clients to co-construct an individualized therapeutic path forward and she integrates other theoretical approaches as needed, such as cognitive-behavioral or mind-body based interventions.

Dr. Magin is a warm and open psychologist who enjoys helping clients gain meaning and purpose by living their lives in line with their values. She collaboratively works with clients to determine how the coping skills they developed to address life stressors have helped them to survive and adapt, yet sometimes do not serve them well in the present. It can be difficult to examine what is not working in our lives and to experience feelings we have tried to avoid. Dr. Magin helps clients make space for uncomfortable emotions by providing a warm and safe environment. 

Dr. Magin works with adult patients with a variety of issues, including anxiety and mood disorders, life transitions, interpersonal problems, trauma, and grief. Dr. Magin has a particular emphasis in reproductive mental health to help patients with mood and anxiety disorders during pregnancy and the postpartum period. She also helps with challenges in the transition to parenthood and with processing grief related to infertility, pregnancy loss, and infant loss.

Dr. Magin works from an integrative approach incorporating Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and mindfulness. Dr. Magin takes a holistic approach to therapy with an awareness of the mind-body connection.  She collaborates with clients to transform their narratives by focusing on how adversity has shaped them as well as how it can lead to personal growth. Within a safe therapeutic space, clients are empowered to reflect on how their stories impact their health and identity. She helps clients examine the multitude of factors in their lives that contribute to the decision to come to therapy and to the development of their identity. Dr. Magin’s values of authenticity, curiosity, and hope guide her collaborative work with clients to achieve desired change. 

Dr. Burton is a warm and empathetic psychologist who enjoys working collaboratively with clients to identify their goals and values and to work toward meaningful change. At times, we can feel stuck in unhelpful patterns of thinking and behaving, or feel held back by our doubts and fears. Dr. Burton provides a welcoming space to examine these experiences and build upon clients’ strengths and skills to help them live the lives they want. She is dedicated to understanding clients’ unique backgrounds, identities, and experiences and she individualizes care to most effectively meet their needs.

Dr. Burton provides individual and group therapy for adults with a wide range of concerns, including anxiety, depression, relationship issues, identity development, academic and career challenges, and adjustment to life transitions. She specializes in working with young adults to navigate common transitions and settings during this stage of life, such as college and graduate school, early career experiences, relationship development, relocation, and decision making/future planning.

Dr. Burton’s approach integrates Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). She also incorporates Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and relational interventions. Dr. Burton is dedicated to providing culturally responsive care and welcomes clients of diverse backgrounds and identities. She provides a supportive and collaborative space to explore current concerns, as well as the impact of past experiences. Dr. Burton supports her clients’ growth by expanding their understanding of themselves and others and by building self-compassion. She builds therapeutic relationships on a foundation of trust and open communication and she values flexibility, curiosity, compassion, and humor.

Dr. Altavilla works with clients to create an open, nonjudgmental space to be one’s genuine self, explore the circumstances that contribute to feeling stuck, and work together toward desired change. Allowing oneself to be vulnerable can be uncomfortable, even terrifying. This can lead us to avoid or suppress these feelings or it can lead toward insight and growth.  Dr. Altavilla strives to support the latter.

Dr. Altavilla approaches her work through a biopsychosocial lens, considering the diverse experiences, backgrounds, and identities that impact each person with whom she works. Her experience in health psychology has led to a greater focus on how physical and mental health are connected and she utilizes interventions that influence this relationship. Her areas of focus include depression, anxiety, adjustment, identity development, grief and loss, and trauma. Dr. Altavilla also has interest and expertise in women’s health, including navigating pregnancy, traumatic birth or loss, postpartum anxiety/depression, and infertility.

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Dr. Altavilla’s approach to treatment adapts to the strengths and goals of her clients and integrates cognitive behavioral therapies as well as psychodynamic and relational interventions. She collaborates with clients to develop treatment goals based on their needs, understand how their experiences affect their self-perception, behavior, and relationships, and make changes in alignment with their aspirations. She values compassion, curiosity, flexibility, and humor to develop genuine connections with clients to progress toward established goals.

In her spare time, Dr. Altavilla enjoys visiting with family and friends as much as possible, spoiling her cat, cooking, reading, and movement of any kind.