The Healing Garden is fortunate to have a broadly skilled team of therapists who provide complementary care. Our therapists have demonstrated experience in their fields and use best practices for treatments supported by high-quality evidence.
All therapy sessions are by appointment. Many therapists will also see clients at their off-site offices. Please call Lana at 978-456-3532 for more information.
Acupuncture
Cynthia McMahon King, RPh, LAc
Cynthia is a Registered Pharmacist and Licensed Acupuncturist offering acupuncture treatment and herbal consultations. Acupuncture is very effective for nausea, vomiting, and other side effects associated with chemotherapy and radiation therapy. It is also helpful in maintaining a good energy level, relieving stress and depression, and promoting emotional and physical healing.
JoAnn Simon, RD, LAc, MS
Professionally trained in acupuncture, JoAnn has been in professional practice since 1983. She also maintains a private practice in Littleton and Wayland, where she offers her training in Chinese herbal medicine and nutrition.
Art
Candace Anderson
Candace most recently served as The Healing Garden’s Artist in Residence. In that role, she has developed and offered many innovative programs for expressive therapy using art and nature. Director of ARTS — Art and Research for Transcendence and Survival — and award-winning watercolor artist and teacher, Candace is currently on sabbatical, but expects to return to The Healing Garden in Spring 2012.
Karen Beaver, BFA
Karen is a creative artist and expressive arts therapist.
Elizabeth Bernstein, MBA
Elizabeth is a talented musician and an accomplished dancer.
Laurie Cohen, MA
Laurie is a mosaic artist who brings her skills as a psychologist to the process of healing through the arts. She has many years of experience as an Expressive Therapist at Children’s Hospital Boston, in addition to her own private studio work.
Lisa Walker
Lisa is a successful and creative ceramicist whose beautiful work adorns each room of our building. Lisa began creating the collection called “Appointments” while going through her own cancer journey, beginning in 2003. Her work and teachings are testimony on managing and changing fear over time.
Counseling
Susanna E. Bedell, MD
Dr. Bedell is a gifted educator and wellness counselor.
Fran Booth, LICSW
Fran is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker whose work integrates the fields of psychology and Eastern spirituality. She teaches meditation, self-hypnosis, and visualization to quiet the mind, develop self-observation, and facilitate the discovery of personal images that promote growth and healing. She offers short-term groups and individual psychotherapy, and brings to her work a profound belief in the healing power within us.
Blanche Dietz, LICSW, DCSW
Blanche is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who guides Healing Garden clients in regaining a sense of control in their lives; she provides individual psychotherapy and leads support groups. Her goal is improved client ability to cope with the treatment experience through practice of stress-reducing relaxation and meditation techniques. Blanche is also a trained couples therapist with many years' experience in working with clients who have relationship challenges.
Helene Gagliano, LICSW
Helene is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who specializes in medical crisis counseling for individuals and families, offering guidance and techniques to manage the overwhelming emotional and practical issues related to a cancer diagnosis. She has extensive experience with hospice and patient navigation needs, and, as a family medical social worker, has a special interest in caring for the caregiver. Helene offers counseling sessions via telephone when clients are unable to come to The Healing Garden.
Marilyn Brine Gilmour, LICSW, MSW
Marilyn Brine-Gilmour, MSW, LICSW, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with more than 40 years of experience in the field. In addition to her work as a psychotherapist, Marilyn has practiced Reiki since 1998. She has trained in EMDR, hypnotherapy, and several mind/body modalities. Marilyn has a special interest in the area of psychological trauma and experience in hospice as well as crisis intervention. She is a long time support group facilitator for women living with metastatic breast cancer.
Laurie McCracken, RN, OCN
Elaine Olmstead, RN, CS, MS
Elaine is a psychiatric nurse clinical specialist, with more than 30 years of experience, who also maintains a private practice with Streff Associates in Acton, Massachusetts. She has worked with people with a wide variety of mental health issues, including depression and anxiety, and has expertise in the emotional and psychosocial aspects of medical illness. Elaine uses relaxation techniques, hypnosis, guided visualization, and cognitive therapy, and promotes integration of mind, body, and spirit. She provides individual and family counseling, and leads a metastatic support group at The Healing Garden.
Joan Scialo Rubin, RN, BSN (HNC)
Joan is a board-certified Holistic Nurse and a practitioner of Reiki, Healing Touch, and Cranial Sacral therapy. These modalities work through light touch with a focus on relaxation, pain management, and promotion of self-healing. Joan has more than 20 years of experience working with children, adolescents, and families with behavioral health issues. She believes in the healing power of nature, and is passionate about teaching people how to integrate allopathic and complementary medicine. She is the facilitator of the Young Women’s Support Group and the In Treatment Support Group.
Jane Shustin, LICSW, MSW
Jane embraces an alternative, progressive approach integrating psychotherapy with clinical hypnosis, biofeedback, stress management, and relaxation training. Practicing privately at a holistic health center in Groton, she has been helping people make wanted changes in their lives for more than 25 years. In individual and group contexts, her methods help calm the nervous system, reduce anxiety and worry, and restore balance to the mind and body. Jane is certified as an Approved Consultant in Clinical Hypnosis by the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis.
Dana Snyder-Grant, LICSW
Dana is a freelance writer and clinical social worker who specializes in chronic illness and disability. She offers individual and group psychotherapy at The Eliot Center in Concord, Massachusetts, where she helps individuals cope with medical illness and its challenges. Dana uses writing and relaxation techniques for healing in her work; she also facilitates groups and workshops for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Dana writes and speaks on her specialty, and is author of Women with Chronic Illness: Overcoming Disconnection (1999), and of Just Like Life, Only More So and Other Stories of Illness (2006).
Exercise
Diane Ouellette Barnaby, RN, CL MTA
Diane is a trained Stott Pilates and dance instructor, breast cancer survivor, and certified LeBed instructor. The LeBed Method is an effective therapeutic program of exercise and movement to music designed specifically to increase range of motion and reduce or deter lymphedema for women who have experienced breast cancer. Diane brings to her work her many years of dance education, her nursing experience, and her wisdom as a survivor.
Katherine W. Lee, LMT, RPP
Katherine is a Licensed Massage Therapist, Registered Polarity Practitioner, and certified yoga instructor. She offers healing bodywork sessions using polarity energy balancing and therapeutic massage to deepen relaxation and expand inner awareness and harmony. Her weekly yoga classes recognize the need for individualized attention, and provide space for each student to open up her body and breath in a loving, safe, and mindful way.
Carol Mielo Swerzenski
Carol is a professor of psychology, a consultant in Complementary Care, and a daily practitioner of Qi Gong for more than 20 years.
Pam Turci, LMT
Pam is a certified Muscular Therapist, in practice since 2005, who practices Swedish relaxation massage, as well as Core Integration Movement Massage (CIMM) and Positional Release Therapy (PRT). The latter two are very gentle techniques for relaxing tight, contracted tissues in the body. CIMM has been developed from the work of Moshe Feldenkrais; it enables clients to learn new movement patterns that will alleviate habitual contraction of muscles that are currently being strained in daily activities; it can also improve posture and flexibility. Pam, who lives in Harvard, has also been trained in Tracy Walton’s method of Caring for Clients with Cancer.
Nancy Webber, BA, RYT
Nancy is a certified teacher for the popular StrongWomen Program (an exercise and nutrition wellness program developed at Tufts University), as well as a member of the ASFA (American Senior Fitness Association) and an RYT200. Nancy teaches for the Council on Aging in Harvard, and is a professional fitness instructor and former Healing Garden client.
Healing sound therapy
Janine Sousa
Janine Sousa has been working in the healing arts for sixteen years. She is a Usui Reiki Master and has studied Sound Therapy with Michael Kopel, Mitch Nur and Ashana. She is Nationally Certified in Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork.
Horticultural therapy
Jennifer Angell
Jennifer earned a Horticultural Therapy Certificate in 2008 at the Horticultural Therapy Institute in Denver, CO. Her professional internships were at the Perkins School for the Blind and at a VA Medical Center. She is an active member of the Northeast Horticultural Therapy Network and the American Horticultural Therapy Association. A Master Gardener who loves to garden for her own well-being, Jennifer is also a labyrinth facilitator and enjoys sharing the benefit of this ancient form of walking meditation. She earned a BFA in Graphic Design from the Rhode Island School of Design, and she held the position of Marketing Manager at Weston Nurseries from 2003 t0 2011.
Integrative bodywork
Catherine Collins, RN, MS, CHES, QTTP, CR
Catherine is a Registered Nurse, Health Educator, and practitioner of Therapeutic Touch and Reflexology. Therapeutic touch is an intentionally directed process of energy exchange during which the practitioner uses the hands as a focus to facilitate the healing process. The technique promotes relaxation, alters perceptions of pain, and mobilizes an individual’s own healing energies to restore health, balance, and order. Catherine also provides Integrative Imagery in her work.
Francoise Coyne, RE
Fran is a registered esthetician who offers refreshing and revitalizing facial massages using high-quality, natural products. Fran offers her facials free of charge on the first Monday of every month.
Katherine W. Lee, LMT, RPP
Katherine is a Licensed Massage Therapist, Registered Polarity Practitioner, and certified yoga instructor. She offers healing bodywork sessions using polarity energy balancing and therapeutic massage to deepen relaxation and expand inner awareness and harmony. Her weekly yoga classes recognize the need for individualized attention, and provide space for each student to open up her body and breath in a loving, safe, and mindful way.
Maria Loring, LMT, NCTMB
Maria is a member of the Society for Oncology Massage, and is dedicated to serving women with breast cancer. Her wide range of personal experiences informs her massage practice; she has cared for a daughter with cancer, and has pursued a rich path of self-discovery and wellness that includes psychotherapy, macrobiotics, yoga, Pilates, homeopathic medicine, acupuncture, and co-counseling. She has enjoyed being an avid and active athlete, engaging in tennis, cross-country cycling, and figure skating.
Marilyn Strong, RN
Marilyn Strong is a Certified Master Reiki Practitioner who has been practicing for over 30 years and has been a practitioner at the Healing Garden since its inception. Reiki's gentle, relaxing technique channels energy to facilitate mental/physical healing. It is a non-invasive, non-manipulative process that may revitalize and restore inner harmony, as well as enhance the creative self. Marilyn also works as a therapeutic clown, visiting children and families confronting illness. Marilyn is available at flexible times by appointment.
Jacqueline Sullivan
Pam Turci, LMT
Pam is a certified Muscular Therapist, in practice since 2005, who practices Swedish relaxation massage, as well as Core Integration Movement Massage (CIMM) and Positional Release Therapy (PRT). The latter two are very gentle techniques for relaxing tight, contracted tissues in the body. CIMM has been developed from the work of Moshe Feldenkrais; it enables clients to learn new movement patterns that will alleviate habitual contraction of muscles that are currently being strained in daily activities; it can also improve posture and flexibility. Pam, who lives in Harvard, has also been trained in Tracy Walton’s method of Caring for Clients with Cancer.
Dona Villandry, RE
Dona has 25 years' experience providing facial massage therapy, which is designed to relax your body and calm your mind. Using organic products, this extensive massage of your face, neck, and shoulders deeply nourishes your skin, eliminates toxins, and stimulates collagen production. Feel the love as warm towels scented with aromatic oils are gently wrapped around your head and neck, and a hand and arm massage is added to this truly amazing experience. According to studies at the Touch Research Institute in Miami, touch in the form of massage during aesthetic treatments helps to reduce pain, mood disturbance (anxiety, anger, depression, confusion), and fatigue in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
Page Wasson, Dipl. ABT (NCCAOM)
Page is a certified Shiatsu therapist who has had a private practice in Lincoln since 1997. She “listens” with her fingers and responds with sensitivity to the varied needs of each individual. Her gentle touch along the body's energy meridians facilitates deep relaxation and restores a sense of ease and well-being to body, mind, and spirit. In addition to her education and experience in Oriental Medicine, Page brings to her practice in-depth backgrounds in yoga, anatomy, dance, meditation, and competitive swimming.
Lisa Whittemore MacDonnell, LMT
Lisa is a certified Muscular Therapist, in private practice in Concord since 1988. She now practices an integrated style of gentle body and energy work that helps to restore wellness and peace of mind. Lisa’s style of therapeutic touch has evolved through her years of extensive training in muscular therapy, Reiki, reflexology, craniosacral therapy, Trager bodywork, spiritual psychology, and other forms of energy work. Lisa is also trained and certified to present Peggy Huddleston’s Prepare for Surgery, Heal Faster workshop. Her primary objective is to help her clients relax more deeply into their bodies, open their hearts, and feel more present and alive.
Music therapy
Kathleen Howland, PhD, MT-BC
Kathleen is a board-certified music therapist who provides stress reduction and relaxation programs using music and imagery. These techniques create a meaningful focus and distraction for clients undergoing cancer treatments and/or surgeries. During an individual session a woman receives a customized recording that she can use any time to re-experience this deep state of relaxation independently. Kathleen also provides music for Healing Garden events and is available to make music for the sheer joy of it!
Nutrition
Stephanie D. Meyers, MS/RD, LDN, CNSD
Stephanie is a senior clinical nutritionist in cancer care at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Her expertise is in helping people use nutrition as a major tool in their recovery process; she does so by integrating practical scientific knowledge with strategies of mindfulness-based approaches to eating. Stephanie is available for beginning- and advanced-level nutrition workshops and for personalized phone consultations.
Voice movement therapy
Deborah Crane, VMT
Deborah is a Registered Voice Movement Therapist, and experienced counselor, workshop facilitator, and performer.
