Counseling Center Staff

Our Staff

• Magi McKinnies, Director, has an M.A. from the Counseling Psychology program and a B.S. from the Adult Baccalaureate program at Lesley University. Using an eclectic, creative approach that includes existential, feminist, relational and body-oriented psychotherapies, she is interested in how culture and spirituality affect the ways we make meaning in our lives. She has experience with trauma survivors, women entering or re-entering school or work, parenting concerns, sexuality, relationship issues and holistic health approaches. She has trained extensively in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and sand tray. Her interests also include creativity as a vehicle for self-expression and our relationship to the natural world. Magi has worked at the Center since 1986.
   
• Cynthia Jirak, Associate Director, has an M.S.W. from Boston University School of Social Work and a B.S. in Special Education from the State University College of New York at Buffalo. She is very interested in how we create healing, fulfillment, and meaning within ourselves and in our relationships. Through the use of various modalities that address creativity and spirituality, she enjoys working with people as they deepen their sense of self. She has experience working with trauma-related difficulties, self-esteem issues, exploring the effects of family history, coping with loss and change, the use of dream exploration and cross-cultural counseling. She has trained in EMDR. and Internal Family Systems, an approach to therapy that fosters access to the self through working with the mind as an inner family. Cynthia joined the Counseling Center in 1987.
   
• Sharon Harrington-Hope, Coordinator of Alcohol and Drug Education/ University Counselor, has an M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and a B.S. in Human Services from Lesley University.  Sharon has a particular interest in alcohol and substance abuse counseling, and works to help clients struggling with addictions to understand the psychological "purpose" of the addictive behaviors.  As a therapist, she honors the unique constellation of strengths and concerns her clients bring, and works to conceptualize treatment in a holistic framework.  Her orientation is deeply relational and informed by existential philosophy and psychodynamic theory.  Through the intimacy of a therapeutic relationship, she believes clarity and direction will emerge.  Central to her approach is a belief that clients “know” what they need, but may benefit from a supportive, attuned other working to uncover innate wisdom and understandings.  In addition to working at Lesley University, she has a private practice in Watertown, provides home-based therapy for medically ill clients and is a consultant at the Middlesex School in Concord.
   
• Mark Redmond, LMHC. Mark’s areas of particular clinical interest include grief and loss, relationship concerns, men's emotional and relational experience and life transition.  Mark finds inspiration in existential, mindfulness-based and narrative approaches to working with clients, and appreciates the creativity inherent in making meaning and living compassionately with complexity. Mark has trained and supervised support group facilitators at a local bereavement support center, and also has prior clinical experience working with adults, adolescents and children in an outpatient mental health clinic and in a family homeless shelter. In addition to his position at Lesley, Mark has a private practice with locations in Cambridge and Quincy, and provides home-based therapy for seniors. Mark serves on the Program Committee of The Children's Room, an Arlington-based center for grieving children, teens, and families, and on the Steering Committee of the New England Center for Existential Therapy.  Mark has an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Lesley University and a B.A. in Religious Studies from Oberlin College.
  
  
• Barbara Schmitz, Intern, is in her final year of the Lesley University Master’s Degree Program in Counseling Psychology with a Professional Counseling specialization.  Her clinical approach focuses on building a positive, supportive, client-centered relationship as a foundation for understanding and change. Barbara’s experience includes tutoring and support with college students, life coaching with personal and business clients, and working at a community crisis intervention center. She is particularly interested in how people change and in the transformative use of play in therapy and in adult life. Barbara’s influences include ideas from positive psychology, neuropsychology, existentialism, and modern psychoanalysis. She holds a B.A. from Indiana University in economics and has spent the past fifteen years helping business and education clients learn to use technology.
   
• Pam McKenna, Intern, is in her final year of the Lesley University Master’s Degree Program in Counseling Psychology with a Professional Counseling specialization.  After graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Brandeis University, Pam spent nearly a decade working in the restaurant industry and government service. Finding her home in the counseling field, she has worked with individuals struggling with chronic pain and illness, as well as adults with various needs at a group therapy day treatment center.  Pam has focused her studies at Lesley around a holistic approach to counseling and has a particular interest in issues relating to chronic pain and illness, stress management and how people create meaning and fulfillment in their lives.  She draws from various theoretical approaches, but currently leans towards narrative, client-centered, and mindfulness-based therapies.  Ultimately, Pam believes that the therapeutic relationship is paramount and she is committed to meeting clients wherever they may be.
   
• Tara Redepenning, Intern, is pursuing her Master's Degree in Expressive Arts Therapy and Mental Health Counseling at Lesley University. She is in the Intermodal program and enjoys the opportunity to work with the creative arts and healing. Tara grew up doing theatre in Minneapolis, MN, before living for over a decade in Los Angeles, CA where she was an actor, theatre teacher, writer and director. She came to understand how therapeutic the arts can be while working in theatre with high school students. Tara takes a holistic approach to therapy, and while she enjoys using the arts in her work, she believes in the power of talk therapy and in the therapeutic relationship. It is very important to her to create a safe place for people to bring their thoughts and feelings. Tara interned last year in a setting where she worked with issues of trauma, eating disorders, depression and low self-esteem.
   
• Peter Korn, Intern, is in his final year of the Counseling Psychology Master's Program at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, where he plans to pursue his Clinical Psychology PsyD. He worked for over fifteen years in the financial industry before he embarked on a career change in 2010 in search of a more socially conscious vocation. Peter's counseling interests include issues related to self-esteem, anxiety, stress-management, and the impact of family on psychological health. Utilizing an eclectic mix of theoretical approaches, he empathically helps individuals to enhance personal strengths and improve their understanding and awareness of options. He is a strong believer in the effectiveness of cognitive theories and their usefulness in enhancing or restoring well-being in individuals' lives. Last year, he interned at Waverley Place in Belmont, a community-based outpatient facility affiliated with McLean Hospital that services clients with severe, chronic mental illness. Peter has a Bachelor's degree in English from Bates College.
   
• Peter Pruyn, Intern, is a second year Master's student in Counseling Psychology at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology. His clinical interests include trauma, substance abuse, anxiety, depression and relationship issues, as well as the multi-generational dynamics of all of these issues in families.  He has particular interests in the role of gender in identity development, mindfulness-based therapies and adult developmental psychology.  What does it mean to develop as a human being? What are the mechanisms that support development and the barriers that inhibit it?  He is also fascinated by how individuals make meaning of their most treasured experiences.  In a former life, Peter studied computer science, organizational behavior and qualitative research methods.  He is originally from New York City and considers his digital piano to be his favorite therapist.  Peter aspires to be a collaborative reflection-partner, an accepting companion and a caring challenger in support of his clients' journeys.
   
• Liz Cooper, Intern, is in her final year of graduate study pursuing a Master’s Degree in Clinical Social Work at Boston University. She received her B.A. in Psychology at Gettysburg College. Her interest in social work grew when she was working in Washington D.C. at a community mental health center prior to moving to Boston. She has experience working in inpatient and outpatient mental health settings with both adolescents and adults. She enjoys doing individual and group work and has spent the past year leading psycho-educational groups for adolescent girls in the Boston area. Her clinical interests include substance abuse, trauma and grief, relationships and the impact of society and culture on issues of identity and self-esteem. Her approach with clients integrates narrative therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy and a holistic mind-body perspective.