aliya agins, map

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 Aliya has been practicing Applied Behavior Analysis for the last 10 years. Her education took place at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology in both Child & Adolescent Psychology and Applied Behavior Analysis. Her professional training started in the field at 360 Behavior Health in California for which she was an Associate Clinical Supervisor supporting families and their children with developmental disabilities in the home, community, and School settings. Most Recently her training and experience have been supporting teams in the education setting as an Instructional Assistant – Behavior Interventionist.

Areas of Focus: Parent Training, BIP (Behavior Intervention Plans) FBA (Functional Behavior Assessment), Social skills, communication, reading, and academics as well as adaptive learning skills, such as fine motor dexterity, hygiene, grooming, domestic capabilities, punctuality, and job competence. Age focus: early intervention into young adulthood.

Treatment Approach:  Positive Reinforcement, Negative Reinforcement, Prompting and Fading, DTT, PRT, Task Analysis, Generalization, Behavior Contracts, Video Modeling, Picture Exchange Communications Teaching, Errorless Teaching, Peer-Mediated Social Skills Training, etc.  

Alyssa received her master’s degree in mental health counseling from Canisius College and received her permit to practice. She completed her internship at a human service agency in Buffalo, NY, working with people with developmental disabilities and mental health conditions. She has worked with people with developmental disabilities for the last 9 years, ranging in age from young children to older adults. She has experience in crisis intervention and helping families meet the needs of people with higher needs after working in the psychiatric emergency room for several years. 

In the last few years, she has been working with individuals and their families to identify and develop strategies to improve family relationships. Recently she has been providing assessment, individual, and group therapy to individuals with substance use and mental health treatment in a residential program. 

Areas of focus: behavior, anger, coping skills, substance use, anxiety, depression, family relationships, and adjustment

Treatment approach: Motivational Interviewing, CBT, DBT, mindfulness, interpersonal, problem solving.

 Angie has over 13 years of experience working with people with developmental disabilities. She has been working as a behavior intervention specialist and a psychometrician for the last 7 of those years. She has experience in a clinic, day program, residential, and in-home setting. She has a Master's degree in Psychology from New York University and graduated summa cum laude. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Loyola College in Maryland. Angie is a New York City native and it's dedicated to helping support the community.

Areas of focus: Developmental Disabilities, Intellectual Disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorder, skill development, crisis intervention, grief and loss, parent training, staff training, ABA, and CBT approaches. 

Ashley has been a Behavior Services Clinician for the last 5 years. Prior to that, she had extensive training and experience with Case Management. Her education and professional training took place at SUNY Oswego and through Purdue University Global. Following her Masters’ Program, she received BCBA Supervision and training through The Center for Disability Services. She has worked for various non-profit agencies in the last 5 years, providing behavioral services to adults diagnosed with developmental disabilities, and during that time also provided in-home services for children diagnosed with developmental disabilities. Most recently, Ashley has been providing data-driven behavioral consultation for adult group homes in the community. 

Areas of Focus: developmental disabilities, behavior, traumatic brain injury, pro-active approaches for behavior intervention, coping skills, relationship building between providers/clients, skills building for increased independence. 

Treatment Approach: collaborative, problem solving, DBT, wellness and prevention, applied behavior analysis, reinforcement-based, discrete trial training, interpersonal. 

 Christina has been working in the field of developmental disabilities for over 20 years and has worked 14 years as a Behavior Specialist for adults dually diagnosed with intellectual disabilities and psychiatric diagnoses. She received her Master’s degree in Community Psychology through Sage Graduate College with additional studies in the area of counseling and cultural diversity.  

Christina is a certified yoga teacher and sound energy practitioner,  integrating these modalities into treatment programs.  She applies a holistic approach to treatment, looking at the whole being to address symptoms and also the underlying causes. 

Christina’s areas of interest and specialties include treatment of anxiety, depression, adjustment, and pain management.

Daniel R. Cookinham M.S. resides in a suburb of Rochester NY with his wife and children.   Daniel grew up in the Greater Rochester New York region within a large family. He has a great passion or helping people to improve their quality of life.   Daniel graduated in 2008 from SUNY Brockport with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, and in 2010 from Walden University with a Master of Science in Psychology. In 2017 Daniel graduated from Saint Joseph’s University with a Post-Masters Certificate in Behavior Analysis. 

Daniel has a total of 15 years of experience working with individuals with intellectual disabilities, developmental disabilities, TBI, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and various co-occurring psychiatric diagnoses.   Since 2008 he has worked as a Behavior Specialist, working with Lifetime Assistance Inc. and Epilepsy-Pralid Inc.   Daniel’s experience has included working 1:1 with individuals with ASD to implement behavior support plans and evaluate the effectiveness of these plans as well as working with other clinicians, and families to ensure a consistent approach to positive behavioral interventions.   Daniel also has experience providing functional behavioral assessments, risk management assessments for high-risk behaviors, adaptive behavioral assessments, psychological evaluations, suicide risk assessments, 1:1 counseling, grief counseling, creating training for people with developmental disabilities, and working with teams and family’s in implementing behavioral modification and therapeutic approaches to crisis situations. 

Daniel will be available to provide on-site/in-home services to individuals within Monroe County, Orleans County, and parts of Genesee County (Byron, Bergen, Batavia). 

Areas of focus: anxiety, depression, affective/emotional development, coping skills, positive behavioral change, increasing self-control, grief/loss, safety related to challenging behavior, and/or problematic illegal/sexual behavior

Age focus:  3 years to no maximum

Treatment approach: Individualized, Collaborative, Coaching, family systems, interpersonal, and problem-solving.

Jeffrey Gutkin has been actively involved in supports for individuals with developmental disabilities for over 30 years. His education took place at Emory University and earned his master's in counselor education at the University of Rochester’s Warner School of Education. 

Over the course of his employment, Jeffrey has worked as a behavior specialist with the primary responsibility of providing positive behavior supports to adults and children in school-based, group-home, and day-program settings. Jeffrey has worked at several different community agencies such as the Learning Disability Association (now Starbridge), Continuing Developmental Services, and the Kessler Center. Currently, Jeffrey provides positive behavior supports for adults with developmental disabilities being served by Epilepsy Pralid, Inc in several of their IRAs and one of their day-programs.

Areas of Interest: High-functioning Autism, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Genetic Disorders, developmental disabilities in general, neurological impairments, issues related to memory and cognition, school-based supports, supports in a group home and day-hab settings, and crisis support.

Treatment Approach: Positive Behavior Supports in all settings across the developmental lifespan.

Jolene has been a practicing school psychologist for the last 23 years. Her education and professional training took place at the State University of New York College at Oswego. Her first year of practice was a shared 1-year position at Trumansburg and South Seneca Elementary schools. She has been employed full-time by Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES ever since. Jolene is located at Newark Education Center in Newark, New York. Throughout her employment, Jolene has serviced students from ages 5-21 with varying disabilities such as Autism, Learning Disabilities, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Emotional Disabilities, etc. She provides individual, group, and crisis counseling, along with assessment to all students within her program. She also works collaboratively with parents/guardians, outside agencies, and physicians to meet the needs of every student.   

Areas of focus: building relationship and social skills, developing and utilizing coping skills, anxiety, building self-esteem, grief, managing emotions, and caregiver support. 

Treatment approach: problem-solving, wellness and prevention, person-centered, strength-based, and an overall collaborative and combined approach to meet the needs of each individual. 

So many things present obstacles to living your best life; finding a therapist to help you navigate those challenges shouldn’t be one of them.

Katie Baker is a New York State Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Masters in Mental Health Counseling. To broaden her educational background, Katie has taken advantage of annual SIST and ATSA conferences, multiple NYS OMH and US Federal Probation training, and additional assessment-specific training including STATIC-99, STABLE, ACUTE, and the PCL-R.

Katie has 7 years of experience working with adolescents and adults in both community-based outpatient and correctional settings. Interning for a year with the New York State Department of Corrections, Katie co-facilitated Sex Offender, Alcohol and Substance Abuse, Aggression Replacement Therapy, and Wellness Treatment groups, conducted Behavioral Analyses and completed assessments of individuals risk. For the past 6 years, her career home has been in a community-based outpatient setting where, working in partnership with referral sources such as U.S. Federal Probation and NYS Parole, she’s provided group and individual psychotherapy for clients who have problematic sexual behaviors, many with co-morbid diagnoses. Additionally, her past affiliation with People Inc. provided her with the opportunity to broaden her experience base to include counseling services with individuals with developmental and/or intellectual disabilities. 

Despite her wealth of experience working with mandated individuals who have committed sexual offenses, individuals who have perpetrated domestic violence, and those struggling with substance use/abuse, Katie’s focus is, at its heart, always the individual across from her; serving their specific mental health or behavioral needs with a collaborative and judgment-free approach.

Area(s) of focus: Problematic/illegal sexual behaviors, forensic mental health

Treatment approach: Trauma informed-CBT, Motivational Interviewing.

Kimberly has been providing services to persons with developmental disabilities and Autism for 12 years through ARC of Madison Cortland.

Kimberly has specialized in training care provider teams and improving understanding of challenging behavior, while also providing assessments and counseling for co-occurring psychiatric disorders.

Over the last 4 years Kimberly has focused on improving regulatory compliance and least restrictive application of interventions and provided Autism testing for OPWDD eligibility. 

Areas of focus: understanding functions of behavior, Acceptance Commitment Therapy format, Parent Education/ Training, working with adults and children especially their family systems/ caregiver supports.

Kimberly will travel within Onondaga and Oswego county to be evaluated on a case by case basis, otherwise providing telehealth services temporarily in response to the pandemic.

I am a NYS licensed Mental Health Counselor with a post-graduate Certificate of Advanced Studies in Mental Health Counseling. I was trained in family therapy and continue to work with clients ranging from young children through adults. After 30 years in practice, I remain passionate in my desire to assist individuals in identifying needs and reaching their desired goals. 

My work in health care, both as a contractor in school systems and at various facilities revealed that I am skilled at working with individuals coping with a variety of intellectual/developmental disabilities. I have found these experiences to be very rewarding. I’ve also had the privilege to work with a wide variety of issues and currently carry a caseload of individuals coping with Autism, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, learning disabilities, epilepsy, and visual impairments.   Understanding the special needs of individuals with disabilities allows me to be a strong advocate for them. I am experienced at supporting people facing the challenges associated with hospital admissions, academic environments, workplace, or transitioning out of facilities. I also educate professionals (attorneys, school staff, physicians, and others) to understand the emotional, behavioral, and cognitive consequences of physical disabilities and developmental conditions.  

Each person and family I work with arrives with concerns as unique as each individual and there is no one “ready-made” therapy that works for everyone. The common thread among all, however, is the belief that there are obstacles that stand in the way of a more fulfilled life. The specific therapeutic approach used depends upon issues to be resolved and the needs of each individual or family. My focus is always to acknowledge existing strengths, resources, personal choice, and past solutions. Together we begin to transform ineffective thoughts, behaviors, and emotions to create the desired change. I utilize creative interventions to accommodate various learning styles and individual differences. Impact therapy for example, has been instrumental in working with various learning styles and individuals with disabilities as it utilizes movement, props, writing, drawing, fantasy, visuals, music, and sand play.  

Other specialized areas of experience and training are treating individuals who are coping with alcohol or substance abuse, individuals with dual diagnoses, emotional and behavioral regulation concerns, anxiety, depression, OCD, cognitive dysfunction, anger management, family conflict, parenting challenges, job-related issues, serious and persistent mental illness and phobias.  

Some of the therapeutic approaches I utilize are CBT, TF-CBT, Behavior Therapy, Narrative Therapy, Functional Behavioral Analysis, Motivational Enhancement Therapy, Family Systems, Cognitive and Somatic Relaxation Training, Solution-Focused Treatment, and Impact Therapy.  

Areas of focus: Behavioral change 

Emotional and behavioral regulation Change for patterns no longer servicing an individual well Reconstructing irrational thought patterns Reducing worry and rumination Adjusting to transitions Parent/child challenges Family conflict Social skills training Assertiveness training Increasing social support  Reduction in anxiety, depression, and OCD symptoms  Instilling hope and skills for families coping with intellectual disabilities 

Meeting Locations: Services are primarily provided in an office setting in Brighton, NY and under certain circumstances, services can be provided in the home or community.

Michael G. Kephart, MS, CAGS has 21 years of experience in a wide variety of settings working with individuals who demonstrate challenging behaviors.  He has significant experience with conducting Functional Behavioral Assessments, Developing Behavioral Support Plans, Providing Staff Development, Psychological Testing, Counseling/Treatment, and many other responsibilities.  

Michael has worked at Ontario ARC for the past 21 Years.  As well, he is a Mental Health Consultant for CCDP Our Children’s Place (Head Start/Preschool), (previous) Consultant with Seneca Cayuga ARC in the Autism Intensive Services Program, (previous) ABSS with FLUCP Happiness House and continues to work independently as a consultant for staff development and behavioral intervention programs.  

Also, Michael has spent the last 10 years creating and facilitating a Social Communication Skills Group for 15 young people with Autism.  

He completed a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology, Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in Psychological Services, and the Applied Behavioral Analysis Graduate Certificate Program through the University of Cincinnati.   In addition to the above educational accomplishments, Michael has completed 64 hours of Leadership Training in Autism Spectrum Disorder.  

Rachael has been a community mental health counselor for over three and a half years. Her education and training were done at the University of Rochester, Warner School of Education’s Community Mental Health Counseling program. During graduate school, Rachael completed her internship with the Monroe County Correctional Facility while working full-time at Strong Memorial Hospital assisting individuals in need of one-on-one care. 

Currently, Rachael works in a local mental health agency, where she specializes in working with adults who have sexually offended and adolescents who have engaged in problematic sexual behaviors; some of which have developmental disabilities. Rachael’s weekly duties consist of: mental health evaluations, individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy, utilizing crisis interventions and supervising other staff members as she is a program supervisor. 

Areas of focus: sexual issues of concern, stress, adjustment, anxiety, depression, anger, trauma, and self-regulation.

Treatment approach: Person-centered, CBT, DBT, Motivational Interviewing, emotion-focused, and solution-focused therapies. 

Sean Lennon is a New York State Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) with dual Master’s Degrees in Clinical Psychology and Forensic Psychology. 

Sean has 20 years of experience working with children, adolescents, adults, and families in community-based, outpatient, residential, and private-practice settings. Sean worked for 6 years for New York State OPWDD providing psychology and counseling services to individuals with developmental and/or intellectual disabilities who resided in state-operated group home settings. More recently he has worked with children and adults who have suffered traumatic life experiences, providing Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), which he has received specialized training in. Sean also provides specialized services to individuals who have engaged in problematic or illegal sexual behaviors. 

Areas of focus:  Problematic/illegal sexual behaviors, forensic mental health, trauma.

Treatment approach:   CBT, TF-CBT