Meet our Team of Thriveworks Franklin Counselors

Matt Blakely, LICSW

Matt is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and with a Master's in Social Work from Boston College.  In his individual counseling with adult clients, he generally takes a solution-focused approach to working with people on their mental health challenges. Some of these challenges may include:

• difficulties with interpersonal communication and relationships,
• feeling depressed or anxious about life circumstances, or
• dealing with the ongoing impact of difficult or traumatic events.

He is trained and experienced treating the following issues and diagnoses:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Mood Disorders
• Bipolar Disorder
• Stress Management
• Panic disorder
• Phobias

Taking a solution-focused approach means that, while it is important and necessary to understand and learn from the past, much of the time in a counseling session is focused on the present and future. This involves visualizing what an improved future looks like, taking time to notice how small pieces of that future are already appearing from time to time, and discovering solutions to what the next step will be to move toward the better future.

Matt also believes in working with people to understand their religious/spiritual beliefs and practices and integrate these into how clients find meaning and purpose in the challenges of life. These beliefs and practices can play an important role at times in the growth and healing process.

Manjit Khalsa, Ed.D.

Manjit Khalsa is a licensed psychologist, licensed yoga trainer, and has trainings in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and NPL (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). 

Passions

Manjit’s diverse and extensive experience will bring a new edge to the counseling session. She is passionate about meeting clients where they are at and will work with you to find a solution to a problem. She believes in the power everyone has in them to overcome their obstacles and find new life. 

Manjit’s experience working the mind and body enables her to see problems as multi-faceted. Her job as a psychologist is to help you apply the best strategies to solve the problem yourself and grow stronger from it. 

Experience

Manjit began her career in mental health as a psychologist working with the innovative Neuro-Linguistic Programming and later became extremely proficient in EMDR therapy.  Over the course of time, she has seen  many different clients and using her experience and unique training, she helped them overcome their obstacles to build a better life. 

Manjit is also a licensed yoga teacher and co-created YCBT (Yoga-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy). Her understanding of the mind-body connection can help clients immensely in holistically addressing their situation. 

She is also a business leader herself and understands the ins and outs and stresses of running your own business and working to advance your career through your corporation. She has coached many entrepreneurs, business leaders and their partners, college students, and other professionals. 

You might find Manjit especially helpful if you are seeking counseling for:

• Life transitions 
• Relationship issues
• Career 
• Mindfulness 
• Anxiety and Depression 
• College students 
• Trauma
• Wholistic counseling 

 

Sarah Gregoire, LICSW

Sarah Gregoire is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker who holds a Master’s of Social Work earned from Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, NY. She also holds a Bachelor’s of Arts in Psychology, also earned from Roberts Wesleyan College.

Sarah has over eight years of experience in community-based settings working with mental health diagnoses, substance use issues, and trauma histories. Sarah received training in DBT Skills Training and Suicide Prevention. She has experience providing individual therapy, facilitating psychoeducational groups, and completing psychiatric evaluations in community and hospital-based settings with adults and children in crisis situations.

Sarah embraces a strengths-based approach to meet an individual where they are at to instill hope of the possibilities of their future. Sarah uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, and Solution-Focused therapy to assist others in their time of need. Sarah believes self-care is essential to balancing the demands of life and works with others to identify their values and resources which can build their self-care routine. Most recently, Sarah has recognized the role of art as a therapeutic modality to help heal and has a focus to integrate the arts into treatment depending on a person’s interests and talents.

In her free time, Sarah enjoys spending time with family, painting with acrylics, doing nature photography and exploring the New England Coastline.

Dr. Jane Eagles

Dr. Jane Eagles approaches therapy with the perspective that the client is a whole person - she addresses the body, mind, and spirit. For more than 20 years, Dr. Eagles has helped children, adolescents, adults, and families by identifying each client’s strengths and utilizing them to achieve their personal goals.

Dr. Eagles’ specialties include:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Grief and loss
• Life transitions
• Trauma
• Developing coping skills
• Adoption
• Custody issues
• School issues
• Mood change due to medical issues
• Relationship issues
• Marriage and premarital
• Parenting
• Women’s issues

Dr. Eagles holds degrees in biology, counseling psychology, and health psychology.  Her experience includes oncology research, mental health support at the American Cancer Society, and hospice care.

Dr. Eagles utilizes:

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy,
• Family Systems Therapy,
• Narrative Therapy, and
• Grief Therapy.

She is skilled in:

• Individuals,
• Couples, and
• Family therapies.

In her spare time, Dr. Eagles enjoys writing poetry, essays, and that rare thing - the personal handwritten letter, along with taking photographs that often illustrate her written works.

Jack Harrington, LMHC

Jack has over 25 years of experience in the Mental Health field. He has provided clinical services to children, adults, families and couples in at various outpatient settings. Jack has also worked in school and vocational programs where he implemented treatment-based groups as well as individual therapy.

He has a master’s degree from Cambridge College and is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor. Jack has treated a wide range of syndromes and disorders including:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Greif/ Loss/ Bereavement
• Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder
• Obsessive-compulsive Disorder
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
• Adjustment Disorders
• Substance Abuse
• Co-Dependency
• Attachment disorders
• Bipolar disorders
• Addictions
• Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Conduct Disorders
• Sleep Disorders

He has implemented several treatment strategies including: specialties include:

• Stress Management
• Adolescent Therapy
• Anger management
• Brief Therapy
• Cognitive Behavior Therapy
• Critical Incident Stress Management
• Couples Therapy
• Family Therapy
• Life Management Counseling

Among Jack’s other interests, he also served as the softball coach at Attleboro High School.

Jim Gardner, Ph.D., LICSW

Jim is an LICSW with a Ph.D. from the Smith College in clinical social work. As a licensed social worker, he not only focuses on an individual’s mental health but also considers the role of the social environment that affects an individual. After receiving his MSW in 1982, he served at the D St. clinic in South Boston for 28 years. More recently, Jim has over 5 years of outpatient experience working with clients on both a short- and long-term basis. Over this time, Jim gained experience and became skilled at addressing many mental health issues including:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Long-term mental health issues
• Dealing with pressures from financial hardships
• Cultural diversity
• Trauma including sexual, physical, emotional abuse
• Alcoholism and other addiction
• Adjustment reactions to stress work/relationships conflicts
• Caring for the elderly

Jim has a passion for language and international cultures as evidenced by his extensive work with Russian Jewish immigrants. And as a person in recovery for over 10 years he is personal acquainted with the struggles related to maintenance of sobriety. He states that he is also grateful to God for the life lessons that he has learned caring for aging parents and a partner. These lessons have taught him many life lessons regarding the care of others.
Jim is trained in and utilizes a variety of therapeutic approaches including:

• Psychodynamic theory;
• Object relations;
• Neurological influences on mental health;
• Integration of spirituality and psychotherapy;
• Cognitive Behavior Therapy;
• Mindfulness and
• Internal Family Systems.

Jim is aware that to have the deep and meaningful discussion required for the therapeutic process, a relationship of trust is needed. He is dedicated to establishing this relationship with everyone that he works with.

Mikkah Bauer-Weisman, LICSW

Mikkah Bauer-Weisman is a licensed independent Clinical Social Worker with over seven years of clinical experience working with children and families as well as five years of crisis management experience with individuals of all ages. While earning her undergraduate degree in Psychology from Boston University, she focused her studies on children and families. Mikkah chose to specialize in trauma while earning a Master’s in Social Work at Simmons College because she realized that tragic events can adversely impact all of us at various stages of our lives.

After graduation she began her work as a crisis clinician in hospital emergency rooms before transitioning to her role as a therapist.

As a therapist Mikkah believes it is imperative to create a safe comforting space in order to work with everyone to discover which therapeutic approach best fits their needs.

She has a great deal of experience utilizing
• cognitive behavioral,
• psychodynamic,
• dialectical behavioral, and
• play therapies.

Approaches that Mikkah utilizes in her therapeutic work include:
• narrative therapy,
• open dialogue, and
• mindfulness.

Wendy Dahl, LMFT

Wendy Dahl has over 20 years of experience working with couples, individuals, and families either through adoption, outpatient clinic work, agency work, or as their pastor. As a trained counselor, Wendy encourages her clients to continue their journey of growth and development. Life has a way of bringing surprises and in turn relationships can become vulnerable and disheartened. Maybe it is a marriage that is experiencing challenges from an affair or disconnection. Maybe it is a challenging relationship with a parent or sibling or a work-centered situation. Maybe it is a relationship that needs to be nurtured. Or maybe it is time for a life change and professional guidance would be helpful. Whatever the relational circumstances, Wendy meets people where they are at and partners with her clients. She looks at the strengths they have that can become buried under the stressors at hand. Wendy is passionate about working with her clients holistically to explore their emotional, physical, and spiritual areas of their lives.

Wendy holds a Master’s degree from Cambridge College in Counseling Psychology with a concentration in marriage and family counseling. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist in the state of MA.

When Wendy is not working, she enjoys time at Cape Cod with her husband. Walking on the beach with their dog Molly or reading a good book on her “church of the deck” are a few of her favorite things to do.

Jessica Ventura, DNP

Jessica is a nurse practitioner with a Doctorate of Nursing Practice from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. She has written and published articles on chronic pain and depression as well as the use of the Self-Management Model for chronic knee pain.
She has experience servicing patients at a variety of health care centers with expertise in:

• Chronic pain conditions
• The evaluation of patients for appropriate interventions and procedures
• The prescription of medication for psychiatric symptoms and pain
• Treating chronic headaches/migraines
• Monitoring the effects of prescribed medications

Jessica is also bi-lingual and is skilled in the use of alternative forms of treatment working with multiple interdisciplinary teams. She is also skilled at conducting group therapy that address mood disorders and pain management.

Read The Lighten Your Life Program: An Educational Support Group Intervention That Used a Mobile App for Managing Depressive Symptoms and Chronic Pain, by Jessica Ventura.

Boris Lorberg, M.D.

Following graduation from MGH Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship in 2009, Dr. Lorberg has been on the faculty of University of Massachusetts Medical School as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics with a clinical appointment at Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital. At WRCH, he has cared for treatment refractory adolescents, first as Medical Director of Adolescent Intensive Residential Treatment Program, and then Associate Medical Director at the Umass Adolescent Continuing Care Inpatient Units. Dr. Lorberg currently provides psychopharmacology consultations for the Thriveworks Franklin office.

Greg Handel, Ph.D.

Counseling Style

“[A]t some point in our lives, we all need support from others … .”

Greg takes a grounded approach to counseling that is client centered. He believes each person is unique and wants to walk beside them as they set and obtain life goals. Everyone can achieve a sense of confidence and increased self-efficacy, and Greg is excited to walk down that path with you!

Greg is also an ordained minister who believes in treating the whole person, acknowledging that any individual is more than the sum of their parts. However, he respects each individual’s beliefs and sees having a complete understanding of an individual’s point of view as a necessary part of counseling.

He also believes that we all, at some point in our lives, experience periods of emotional suffering and brokenness. Therefore, at some point in our lives, we all need support from others. Greg often pulls from his own life experiences to identify with each individual and guide them through the healing process.

Experience

Greg has more than 35 years of experience providing positive life supports for individuals, couples and families. He has worked in several different environments including inpatient and outpatient mental health centers, rehabilitation facilities, congregate residential settings and in private practice.

Specialties

Greg has vast experience working with men and women in the following areas:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Grief
• Family and Parenting stress
• Couples’ issues
• Life adjustments
• Functioning with disabilities

Todd Letitia, LMHC

Todd Letitia is a graduate of Assumption College with a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology. He is a licensed mental health counselor. He has over 20 years of clinical experience, and has worked in a variety of treatment settings that include inpatient residential treatment, criminal justice settings, emergency mental health services, and outpatient treatment services. He has held supervisory positions such as directing the daily operations of an outpatient substance abuse program and prior to working at Thriveswork he was a clinical supervisor for a residential substance abuse treatment facility. Todd tends to utilize a client centered, skill building approach that emphasizes recognizing and enhancing people’s strengths. The goal is to assist people in identifying, harnessing, and developing their inner sense of resiliency and self efficacy. To obtain this objective, Todd often employs such treatment approaches as cognitive behavioral therapy, solution focused therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, and meaning centered therapy approaches. Over the years, Todd has treated a wide range of presenting issues, but in particular he has worked with individuals experiencing depression, anxiety, impulse control issues, trauma, substance use issues, and issues related to managing various life challenges that may emerge during the course of a person’s lifetime. He has worked with children, adolescents, and adults. Todd is married with two children.

“The last of human freedoms- the ability to chose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances.”

-Viktor E. Frankl