THERAPIST
Brittany Sterling, Ph.D.
Brittany Sterling, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) is a clinical psychologist specializing in therapy with adults and teenagers and her approach is down-to-earth, skilled and kind; she puts her clients at ease with her competence, and by allowing room for humor and relatability in therapy. Her areas of expertise include neuropsychological and psychological assessment, psychodynamic therapy, and targeted interventions such as applied behavior analysis (ABA), cognitive behavioral techniques and cognitive restructuring for PTSD. Her compelling career of service has focused on working with LGBTQIA+ and deaf communities, members of the military, individuals with academic difficulties, trauma, ADHD and mood disorders such as anxiety and depression.
“Therapy is often regarded as painful and exclusively reserved for those in acute distress. But therapy is also a space to reflect on our lives, our goals and even our strengths. It’s an opportunity to be seen and heard, to feel valued and cared for and to form genuine connections for working through whatever might be holding us back. It reveals power where we thought we had none. It teaches us how to stop avoiding thoughts and feelings we may not even realize we hide from. Therapy is a way to flip the script and rewrite our future.”
Dr. Sterling holds a Ph.D. from Gallaudet University, a graduate school immersed in a language (American Sign Language), and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School through the Cambridge Health Alliance Program for Psychotherapy (PFP) and the Neuropsychological and Psychological Assessment Service (NAPA), where she provided outpatient psychodynamic psychotherapy for adults with a range of diagnoses, many with multiple stressors in addition to a trauma history.
A strong Doctor/Client relationship is foundational to Dr. Sterling’s work. She believes that it is through the development of a safe, accepting bond (one where authenticity, humor and curiosity can grow) that individual transformation becomes possible.
THERAPIST
Caterina Hill, LCSW
Caterina Hill (she/her/hers) is a mature clinician who specializes in working with adolescents, couples, and adults using an integrative approach to therapy that is rooted in neuroscience, attachment theory, and a trauma lens. She believes that therapy is not just about reducing symptoms; good therapy is a transformational process that helps you thrive in your personal and professional life and brings you closer towards living your best life.
She integrates powerful therapies such as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with a psychodynamic approach. She is particularly adept at helping clients looking to manage anxiety and heal from trauma.
“Our bodies have physical responses to stress and trauma, which may be protective at the time but can get in the way in the long term. Modern therapy helps us manage these stress responses and work towards healing so that we can live life to the fullest.”
Caterina is a mid-career changer and she brings this life experience to her clinical work. Prior to training as a therapist, Caterina was part-time faculty at Harvard Medical School’s Global Health and Social Medicine Department for ten years and worked for various organizations addressing the social determinants of health here in the US as well as in South Africa and the UK. She is dedicated to providing inclusive and affirming therapy.
Caterina received her Master of Social Work degree from Boston College with a certificate in trauma. She trained at Cambridge Health Alliance’s Adult Outpatient Psychiatry Department and MIT’s sexual and domestic violence advocacy program and completed a fellowship at Boston Behavioral Medicine. She also holds degrees from Cambridge University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the UK.
THERAPIST
Eliza Kaplan, LCSW
Eliza Kaplan, LCSW (she/her/hers) is a Clinical Social Worker who is passionate about her work with teens and young adults, and she has a great capacity to be present with clients as they face daily stressors and navigate complex relational scenarios within the realms of the ongoing impacts of the pandemic, global uncertainty, and social media. She strives to help young people come to better understand themselves and reflect upon their circumstances by actively listening to their concerns and helping them gain greater clarity about their path forward. She specifically helps clients de-mystify their painful emotions and experiences (clinical foci include anxiety, depression, ADHD, identity issues, trauma, grief and family / relationship issues).
Eliza brings a depth of curiosity to her work and views each client as a key resource and collaborator in their process of change. Her approach is primarily grounded in psychodynamic theory, a school of therapy that emphasizes insight and helps clients differentiate the past from the present, and she is also pursuing training in Internal Family systems, an evidence-based therapy that focuses on improving our capacity to become more self-led and regulate our emotions.
While receiving her Master of Social Work degree from Smith School for Social Work, Eliza trained at the Simmons Counseling Center, focusing on a feminist relational treatment approach, and her field placements included working with teenagers at Needham High School and college students and graduate students at Simmons University. After receiving her master’s degree, Eliza began a post-graduate fellowship in clinical social work at the Human Relations Service in Wellesley, a community mental health agency providing outpatient psychodynamic therapy to persons of all ages.
“When working with clients,” Eliza says, “I pay close attention to social relations of power, including those surrounding race, class, gender, and sexuality, and understand how these forces also shape a person’s life experience.”
THERAPIST
Adeline Dettor, LICSW
Adeline Dettor is adept in helping couples, twenty-somethings, and working professionals become “unstuck” from painful emotions and ineffective ways of relating to themselves and others. Her expertise with grief, anxiety, depression, and trauma are accompanied by an approach to therapy that creates space for curiosity and for seemingly small and inconsequential observations to grow into life-altering insights.
She uses analytical, emotional, and somatic therapies to foster personal transformation within a welcoming atmosphere for dialogue with clients. Adeline models self-compassion, saying, “Therapy is a boundaried space wherein healing occurs by decreasing shame, increasing cognitive flexibility and emotional agility, and improving relationships.”
Individuals and couples will be guided through a process of understanding and improving relationships (independently and in couples therapy) and focusing on intrapsychic processes and psychological symptoms (anxiety, experiences of stress, obsessive or compulsive behavior, etc).
Adeline is skilled in mental health assessment and deftly connects knowledge of the interchange of what is happening within an individual and what is happening in their relationships as well as their larger social context. Her capacity to think systemically and readily move from one level of information to the next aids the efficacy of her work.
Addy received her Master of Social Work with a Mental Health Concentration and certification in Trauma from Boston College, afterwards completing a two-year advanced clinical fellowship in psychodynamic therapy through the Psychotherapy Institute of the Back Bay. She also completed a two-year couples therapy certification program through the Psychodynamic Couples and Family Institute of New England, and a year-long certification in understanding and treating complex trauma from The Trauma Institute. She has held positions at Fenway Health, The Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence, and the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma, and has served as a junior editor and co-facilitated research and teaching in the fields of psychology and critical philosophy.
CLINICAL DIRECTOR / THERAPIST
Carrie Potter, Ph.D.
Dr. Potter is a clinical psychologist who specializes in the treatment of anxiety and related disorders (including OCD and PTSD) and in the use of Cognitive Behavioral and Psychodynamic therapeutic approaches. She has a nonjudgmental and collaborative style and brings depth and insight to her role as a therapist, as well as the ability to be directive when needed. She has extensive experience practicing exposure-based therapy and often uses this approach with clients who are looking to overcome anxiety/OCD in a systematic and timely manner.
“We all wish to be less avoidant of things, but anxiety holds us back when we don’t have the tools for understanding and working with it,” says Dr. Potter. “I want to help clients find the rich and fulfilling kind of life they want. So together we imagine what that life looks like and then we map out a plan and bring it to fruition.”
Dr. Potter has made significant contributions to the understanding of the nature and origins of anxiety and related disorders and recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School. She has published over 25 papers relevant to her work as a therapist and to the mechanisms of change in psychotherapy, and has obtained a grant from the National Institutes of Health to research adult anxiety.
“I love getting to spend my day talking to other people and helping them make meaningful changes that positively impact their relationships, because at the end of the day I find that feeling closer to and more connected with others is the best thing that my clients get out of our work together.”
Since receiving her doctorate from Temple University in Philadelphia, Dr. Potter has logged extensive clinical hours in numerous settings (college counseling centers, outpatient clinics, and a VA hospital) working with patients living with serious psychological disorders (including mood, trauma-related, personality, substance use, and psychotic disorders), while borrowing from a number of treatment modalities (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, or DBT, and Psychodynamic Psychotherapy). She recently transitioned from Massachusetts General Hospital to take on the role of Clinical Director at 1A Wellness.
THERAPIST
Sarah J Mitchell, LICSW
Sarah Mitchell is a clinical social worker who specializes in therapy with women and teens. She has considerable experience in family systems approaches and is gifted in helping adolescents to demystify and better cope with strong emotions. She has an enjoyable approach to therapy and is committed to providing clients the skills and encouragement needed to successfully navigate life’s storms.
“Therapy can be hard work, but it can also be fun work. And if our goal is to get to a place in life where our relationships, our self-care and our outlook are all improved, that adds up to a significantly more enjoyable life. In my experience, the therapeutic environment is a reflection of that vision for a fulfilling, enjoyable life.”
Sarah is passionate about helping clients discover their hidden strengths and her style is warm, engaging and expressive. She is particularly adept at helping clients gain clarity and creates a nurturing environment in which it is possible to maintain levity even when discussing the most painful of topics or situations.
Sarah adds, “The thoughts in our heads – both positive and negative – influence us, outside of our own awareness. We are in a conversation with ourselves all day long, and when we become more aware of how we talk to ourselves, it gives us the chance to become gentler with ourselves and more compassionate toward others. By changing the internal dialogue, we are empowered to make healthier choices and to live with greater clarity and fulfillment.”
Her approach is similar to thinkers like Brené Brown and Carl Rogers, who understand the power of vulnerability and the need for unconditional positive regard. These core principles have governed her work with clients for over two decades; she has worked with children, teens, and adults in school, wilderness, and private practice settings, and has taught the next generation of therapists as a Masters-level social work professor.
FOUNDER / THERAPIST
Kristina Harter, Ph.D.
Kristina Harter is a psychologist with over 20,000 clinical hours and a longstanding expertise in treating anxiety and shame. Her career has been dedicated to bringing depth to therapeutic work and helping clients learn the skills needed to take immediate, actionable steps toward making life changes. This mix is the cornerstone of 1A Wellness’ approach.
She graduated phi beta kappa with highest honors in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) and received her doctorate in clinical psychology from UNC-CH under Dr. Frank Floyd (in the lineage of Dr. John Gottman). There, she specialized in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) research, focusing on the immediate process of communication as a means of improving relationships.
After completing a post-doctoral fellowship in psychodynamic psychotherapy through the Program for Psychotherapy (Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Hospital), she spent two years running the couples portion of “The Harvard Study of Adult Development” through Harvard Medical School/Brigham & Women’s Hospital, before transitioning to private practice to work with adolescents, adults and couples, during which time she pursued additional training in Internal Family Systems (IFS).
In 2019, Dr. Harter launched 1A Wellness to serve more people and to create a collaborative community of like-minded clinicians who can excel in the essential and sustaining work of therapy. She is a principle-based leader and the visionary for 1A Wellness and believes that “good therapy can change the world.”
Kristina is a social scientist whose scholarly work focuses on how small shifts can lead to transformational change, and is also a writer who has documented her own relational experiences for over a decade. She serves as a supervisor, consultant, and IFS coach and conducts short-term therapy and intensives for 1A Wellness.
Originally from South, she is now solidly a New Englander; before the pandemic hit, she was often newly surprised when she returned to her native home and total strangers would say hello on the street.
THERAPIST
Laura Winters Unsworth, LMFT
Laura Unsworth is a skilled child, adult, and couples therapist, an expert in attachment and body-focused treatment modalities, and someone who can help you develop the skills and self-compassion needed to embrace a life narrative focused on strength and resilience.
She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) with advanced training in evidenced-based therapies that include Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). She also has growing experience with one of our key modalities at 1A Wellness, Internal Family Systems (IFS).
She is the rare clinician whose great capacity for perceiving others and working with relationships allows her to assist those who have faced extremely challenging situations in their life, and to help them move toward transformation and change. Her relational training allows her to expertly guide clients towards greater connection in their key relationships. Her ability to work successfully with people of different ages stems from her knowledge of attachment and family system theory as well as her essential understanding of how trauma and stress impact us physically.
“I love helping adolescent females and adult women to befriend their bodies, and to shift narratives embedded in trauma and shame to narratives of resilience and self-compassion. Trauma and anxiety often strip us of essential trust in ourselves; I work closely with clients to create greater self-trust and security in body, mind and spirit.”
She specializes in the treatment of anxiety and trauma, and enjoys helping adolescent girls, prenatal and perinatal parents, blended/divorced families, and clients navigating identity issues and life transitions. She also provides spiritually integrative therapy, and received her Masters degree from Seattle University where she was recognized for her therapeutic service to the community as well as for her original work examining the integration of spirituality into psychotherapy and the best practices for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Although she grew up in Massachusetts, Ms. Unsworth has been on the West Coast for the past several years and we are fortunate at 1A Wellness that she decided to return home.
GET IN TOUCH
Thank you for reaching out to us!
We appreciate your interest in seeking therapy with one of our clinicians. We are currently accepting new clients, so please fill out and submit the following form and we will respond before the end of the next business day.
Note on Health Insurance
1A Wellness is a self-pay out-of-network practice. As such, we do not accept health insurance. But if your healthcare plan includes an out-of-network option, partial reimbursement may be available. See our FAQ section for more information.
Note on Health Insurance
1A Wellness is a self-pay out-of-network practice. As such, we do not accept health insurance. But if your healthcare plan includes an out-of-network option, partial reimbursement may be available. See our FAQ section for more information.
