Board of Directors
Paul Garcia-Ryan, LCSW
BOARD PRESIDENT
Paul is a New York City based psychotherapist in private practice with a clinical focus on trauma, dissociation, and identity development. His expertise in gender dysphoria has afforded him the opportunity to regularly support therapists working in this area and to educate professionals in competent practice with gender non-conforming people, identity formation, and psychosocial approaches to managing gender dysphoria. He holds a Master of Social Work from Hunter College’s Silberman School of Social Work and completed graduate training in LGBT behavioral health at Callen-Lorde Community Health Center.
Lisa Marchiano, LCSW
BOARD TREASURER
Lisa is a writer and Jungian analyst in private practice in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She has worked with parents of gender dysphoric youth, gender dysphoric and transgender young adults, and detransitioners. Her writings on gender have appeared in Quillette and Psychological Perspectives, among other publications.
Kathryn Hilton, LPC
BOARD SECRETARY
Kat is a licensed professional counselor who takes a balanced approach to psychotherapy, integrating mind and body perspectives to treat the whole person. She uses dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) to help clients explore a variety of mental health challenges, including anxiety, mood disorders, and borderline personality disorder. She has experience working with LGBTQ youth and adults. In addition to therapy, she teaches yoga and mindfulness workshops. She lives in Philadelphia, PA with her wife and two dogs.
Amber Ault, PhD
BOARD MEMBER
Amber, a writer and interdisciplinary social scientist, studied the history of homophobia and sexism in psychiatric diagnoses during a National Institute of Mental Health postdoctoral fellowship. Her clinical work focuses on supporting survivors of narcissistic abuse and her writing has been published in various academic journals including Social Work and The Sociological Quarterly. She is part of a growing number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans adults highlighting concerns about the medicalization of gender non-conforming children and adolescents.
Stefan de Villiers, MSW
BOARD MEMBER
Stefan is a mental health practitioner and holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of Calgary, Canada. A trans man himself who transitioned nearly 20 years ago, Stefan has a particular interest in gender and sexuality issues. He is especially driven to support clients who feel they were harmed by gender medicalization. He has post-graduate training in traumatic stress, family violence, grief education and hypnosis. Since 2018, Stefan has worked in community mental health, as well as running a small private practice alongside his artist wife. Together, they offer coaching, counselling, and group workshops on harnessing creativity as a tool for positive change.
Kristen Farrell-Turner, PhD
BOARD MEMBER
Kristen is a licensed psychologist who completed her clinical psychology training at University of Miami in 2011. Throughout and since graduate school, much of her clinical and research experience has fallen in the broad scope of health psychology, always focused on the relationship between mental and physical health. Her work settings have included hospitals, outpatient clinics, interdisciplinary wellness centers, community mental health centers, and academia. She provides therapy to gender dysphoric adolescents and adults in her private practice.
Peter Jenkins
BOARD MEMBER
Peter is a counsellor, supervisor, trainer and researcher in the UK. He has been a member of both the BACP Professional Conduct Committee and the UKCP Ethics Committee. With 40 years’ experience in the field of student counselling, he has also run post-graduate counsellor training at several UK universities. He has published a number of books on legal aspects of therapy, including Professional Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy: Ethics and the Law (Sage, 2017).
Dwight Panozzo, PhD, LCSW
BOARD MEMBER
Dwight is a psychotherapist in private practice. He has worked with members of the LGBT community since 1987. In addition to his private practice, he is an adjunct assistant professor at New York University’s Silver School of Social Work where he has taught research for more than a decade. Well versed in multiple approaches and holding a certificate in modern psychoanalysis, Dwight utilizes an eclectic approach in his work with patients. His writings focus on both gay male parented family functioning and the problem of unfalsifiability in clinical interventions and social movements.