Speakers

Jacqueline Caso, LMSW
Jacqueline Caso, LMSW
PACT Clinician
Jacqueline Caso (she/her) earned a master’s degree in social work from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, along with a certificate in Violence Against Women and Children. She earned her undergraduate degree through the City University of New York’s Baccalaureate for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies program in which she designed her own major in Sexuality & Gender and drew from coursework in psychology, sociology, anthropology and women’s studies. Prior to joining Ellenhorn, Jacqueline provided crisis intervention, counseling and advocacy services to LGBTQ+ and HIV-affected survivors of violence, as well as homeless queer and trans adolescents. She also worked in a private mental-health practice with clients who received transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for the treatment of major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and volunteered at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and NYU Langone Health as an emergency-department advocate for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.

Jacqueline employs an empathetic, trauma-informed and sex-positive approach to client engagement and intervention. She believes in working collaboratively with clients in order to explore healing and growth that will empower them to live freely and authentically. Jacqueline is especially dedicated to creating a safe and affirming space for members of the LGBTQIA, poly/CNM, kink and sex-worker communities.

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Jeffrey Katzman, MD
Jeffrey Katzman, MD
Director of Education, Silver Hill Hospital
Dr. Katzman’s lifelong work has been to help patients overcome the isolation that informs so many modern lives. He studied human relationships at Stanford University as an undergraduate, and went on to medical school at UC San Diego before completing psychiatry residency training at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute. Dr. Katzman’s study of contemporary psychodynamic theory has included certification in the Adult Attachment Interview, the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis Psychotherapy program, Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy and Mentalization Based Therapy.

Dr. Katzman has extensive experience in hospital administration. He served as the Chief of Psychiatry and Director of the Behavioral Health Care line at the New Mexico VA Healthcare System for many years. He is currently the Vice Chair for Education for the Department of Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico and served as the Vice Chair of Clinical Services for many years prior. He currently serves as the medical director of a First Responder Resiliency program through Project ECHO. He is transitioning to Connecticut to be close to growing children, and is now the Director of Education at Silver Hill Hospital.

Dr. Katzman also has a longstanding interest in communication. Much of this comes from his thirty-year background in improvisational theater. He has worked with psychiatry residents and medical students using improvisation to develop the capacity for collaboration and spontaneity so important to the therapeutic alliance. He has worked with interdisciplinary groups of providers in various hospital settings and with medical leadership teams to foster a sense of teamwork and joy in working together.

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Ross Ellenhorn, MSW, PhD
Ross Ellenhorn, MSW, PhD
Founder and CEO of Ellenhorn
Dr. Ellenhorn is a pioneer and leader in the development and promotion of community integration services, types of care that serve and empower individuals diagnosed with psychiatric and/or addiction issues while they remain in their own communities and outside institutional settings.

Trained as a sociologist, psychotherapist and social worker, he created the first fully operating intensive hospital diversion and wrap-around program in Massachusetts. Ellenhorn later created and led one of the first public Programs for Assertive Community Treatment teams in the state. In 2022, Ellenhorn co-founded CARDEA, a psychedelics based practice that assists those who seek recovery from deep and entrenched psychological anguish, from behaviors that are out of control, as well as those who want a more awakened life and expanded sense of existence.

Dr. Ellenhorn has authored three books on human behavior. Parasuicidality and Paradox: Breaking Through the Medical Model addresses psychiatric hospital recidivism and techniques for diverting hospital use. It was published by Springer Publishing in 2007. His most recent book, How We Change (and the Ten Reasons Why We Don’t), takes a deep dive into the dynamics that influence all human change. Published by Harper Collins, and in seven different languages, How We Change was released in May of 2020. Purple Crayons: The Art of Drawing a Life celebrates our inherent “sacred originality” and establishes a new framework for self-reliance. It was published in 2022. He has authored numerous articles, gives talks and seminars throughout the country, and provides consultation to mental health agencies, psychiatric hospitals and addiction programs.

Dr. Ellenhorn is the founder of the Shifting The Paradigm conferences, a bi‑annual series that addresses humanistic and empowering changes in behavioral healthcare. He is the executive producer of the film, Recovering Addiction: A Public Health Rescue Mission, a documentary on new, less‑oppressive means for understanding problematic substance use and other distressing habits.

Dr. Ellenhorn is the first person to receive a joint Ph.D. from Brandeis University’s prestigious Florence Heller School for Social Welfare Policy and Management and the Department of Sociology.

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Lauren Pellettieri, LCSW
Lauren Pellettieri, LCSW
Lead PACT Clinician / AMBIT Coordinator
Lauren Pellettieri is a licensed clinical social worker with close to a decade of varied experience supporting children, adolescents, and adults living with extreme states of mind and physical illness. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Fordham University and a master’s degree in Social Work from The Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College. Lauren has worked in a variety of settings including a hospital-based substance use clinic, public middle school, drop-in center and shelter for transitional age youth experiencing homelessness in San Francisco, and an outpatient mental health clinic. Most recently, she helped develop and implement a scattered-site housing program in the Bronx for people living with chronic illness, providing comprehensive support in people’s transition from homelessness to community living. Lauren employs a strength-based approach that focuses on accepting people for who they are, supporting them in how they want to live their lives, and evoking internal resources for personal development and change.

In complement to her clinical work, Lauren is the founding Executive Director of a dance non-profit, Liberated Movement®, which provides donation-based dance classes to the NYC community. As a life-long dancer and movement enthusiast with over 15 years of teaching experience, Lauren is passionate about helping people get into their bodies in healthy, accessible ways. She enjoys incorporating mindfulness, movement, and breath-work into therapeutic practice, to help people to build a holistic, empowered, and cohesive sense of self.

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