Helping Families Find Direction, Encouragement and Hope.
Discovery utilizes highly skilled healthcare professionals who are carefully screened for appropriate education, training, experience, practical skills, certification, and licensure. Each member of our team demonstrates a deep commitment to the healing and well being of adolescents and their families.
Dr. Brown has been the Chief Psychologist and co-founder of multiple inpatient programs for substance abuse and emotional disorders. He has been involved in the treatment of eating disorders for over 20 years and has specialized in the residential treatment of adolescent disorders for the past eleven years.
Jerry Carminio is a co-founder of Center for Discovery and in a career change has dedicated himself to the creation of treatment centers which offer teens the opportunity to make profound life changes. Jerry is the organization contact to discuss fees and financial arrangements.
Professionally involved with eating disorder treatment since 1994, Buck joined the Center for Discovery in 2006. Having trained and worked in Residential Care, Partial Hospital and Intensive Out-Patient settings for adults and adolescents he has a broad range of clinical knowledge supporting expert therapeutic skills. As the Founder of the Eating Disorder Recovery Services (EDRS) in 2000, Buck developed private comprehensive outpatient treatment programs for eating disorders, self injurious behavior and gastric surgery assessment and counseling programs. Administratively he held positions as the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals California Division (IAEDP - California) founding President, founding Program Director of the Remuda Ranch Adolescent Center, and Program Administrator for the San Bernardino County Mental Health Court dual diagnosis day treatment programs. Lecturing on a national basis Buck provides a variety of trainings to multidisciplinary professionals. Professionally, he is credentialed as a California Marriage and Family Therapist, an Arizona Licensed Professional Counselor and a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist. Buck was formally educated at California Baptist University completing a Master of Science in Counseling Psychology degree in 1992.
Barbie Lucas, M.D., is a pediatrician with special interests in eating disorders and clinical genetics. She completed her undergraduate training at Brigham Young University, her medical school training at the University of Arkansas, and her residency at the University of California at Irvine, Long Beach Memorial and Children's Hospital Orange County (CHOC). Follwing a chief residency at CHOC, Dr. Lucas completed a fellowship in clinical genetics at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Lucas has been a member of Center for Discovery's treatment team since 2001.
Brian Holt M.D., M.P.H., began working with Discovery in 2004. He is a child and adolescent Psychiatrist with special interests in eating disorders. He did his undergraduate training at Maimi University of Ohio and has a graduate degree in public health from the University of Michigan. His medical school training was at St. Louis University and his residency was at University of California at Los Angeles including specialized training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Harbor UCLA Medical Center.
Jacqueline Henschke, M.D. is the psychiatrist at our Menlo Park facility. She is a Fellow in the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry program at Stanford Hospital. She received her medical degree from Tulane University and was a Pediatric resident at Miami Children's Hospital and an adult psychiatric resident at George Washington University. She is a member of the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. Henschke was awarded the Astra Zeneca Minority Fellowship Award by the American Psychiatric Association in 2006 and is fluent in Spanish.
Rachel Liger is a registered dietician and has served as the Director of Nutrition Services at Center for Discovery for over the past eight years. At the Center, Rachel is credited with the development of the nutrition program that now extends to Discoverys four residential facilities. Rachel utilizes innovative approaches and paradoxical methods for nutrition education and re-feeding of malnourished individuals. Additionally, she lectures extensively in the community and serves as an adjunct professor at California State University Long Beach. Rachel has developed a dietary mentoring program that has served to educate students and RD interns about the sensitive nature of the dietary management of eating disorders. She received her masters from California State University Long Beach and while there designed and implemented an original clinical trial study on the effectiveness of the dietician for weight loss management when medications are used.
Ron earned his Culinary Degree in 2002 from the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary program at the California School of Culinary Arts in Pasadena, California. Since graduating Ron gained experience as the lead cook at the Doubletree Hotel in Pasadena, California. Ron then moved on to accept a Sous Chef position at the Radisson Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles, California. Ron also had experience as the Executive Chef at St. Monicas School in Santa Monica, California, preparing meals for the entire staff and student body. Ron brings with him the life experience of raising six children, three of his own and three step children. Five of the children are between the ages of twenty and twenty five, the youngest daughter is six years old.
Julie Agajanian, Program Director
Taryn Kaminski, Primary Therapist
Lisa Arroyos, Dietician
Jackie Noffke, Program Director
Cay Crosby, Primary Therapist
Rachel Liger, Director of Nutritional Services
Dr Adrianne Altman, Program Director
Melisande Holohan, Primary Therapist
Katherine Dittmann, Dietician
Amy Brown, Program Director
Lisa Arndt, Primary Therapist
Erika Hirsch, Primary Therapist
Perla Vilhjalmsdottir, Primary Therapist
Andrea Ontiveros, Primary Therapist
Heather Valentino, Primary Therapist
Paula Magnuson, Primary Therapist
Julia Cassidy, Dietician