Issue 2: Winter 2012 Authors

Articles: Healing Water: Guided Imagery and Music Therapy; Music Therapy

Amy Clements-Cortés, Ph.D., MusM, MTA, Mt-BC, FAMI is an academic advisor and instructor of music therapy at the University of Windsor, as well as a contracted academic staff member and clinical supervisor at Wilfrid Laurier University. She is also a senior music therapist at Baycrest Centre, Toronto, Canada. Dr. Clements-Cortés began her career as a music therapist, performer, and vocal teacher and obtained her masters and doctoral degrees from the University of Toronto. Her music studio, Notes By Amy, was founded in 1995. Dr. Clements-Cortés has worked extensively in geriatrics, adult mental health, complex continuing care, palliative care, and survivors of the Holocaust. Her work has been presented around the world and published in peer-reviewed journals. She has produced several music recordings, including a recent release, “Soothing Relaxation Journeys,” and “Episodes of Relationship Completion.” (Visit www.notesbyamy.com for more details.) Dr. Clements-Cortés is currently the president of The Canadian Association for Music Therapy, as well as the Clinical Commissioner for the World Federation of Music Therapy, and chairperson and member of the board of directors for the Room 217 Foundation.

Article: An Alliance for the Mental Health of Holocaust Survivors

Debra Greenberg MSW, Ph.D is the senior psychiatric social worker within Montefiore’s Division of Geriatric Medicine, and an instructor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She has extensive experience in training and program development, as well as direct care of Holocaust survivors and their families. Her dissertation focused on older Jewish émigrés from the former Soviet Union, giving her insight into how culture, community, and social policy impact the provision of mental health services.

Article: An Alliance for the Mental Health of Holocaust Survivors

Gary Kennedy MD is a professor and the Director of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry and the Geriatric Psychiatry Training Program at Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine. His publication on the Professional Exchange Program to Israel, sponsored by JDC-ESHEL in Israel and the Caring Commission of the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York, is referenced in his paper.

Author of An Alliance for the Mental Health of Holocaust Survivors

Article: Holocaust Survivors of Sexual Abuse

Carla Lessing LCSW is a Holocaust survivor who was hidden in Holland for thirty months. She graduated from the Columbia University School of Social Work and acquired a Certificate in Advanced Clinical Social Work from New York University. Mrs. Lessing worked at the Rockland County Community Mental Health Center in Pomona, New York for twenty years in its day treatment programs and clinics. She served as a clinical supervisor and as an individual and group therapist. In addition, she was a field instructor for graduate students in social work. For the last fifteen years she has been a private practitioner treating a diverse population, including Holocaust survivors and the second generation. Mrs. Lessing is one of the founders of the Hidden Child Foundation/ADL and has developed ongoing programs for its members since its inception in 1991. She is the volunteer social worker of the Foundation and has advocated for child survivors of the Holocaust and the second generation nationwide. Mrs. Lessing has planned and developed workshop programs for the annual International Hidden Children/Child Survivors conferences and has facilitated a great variety of workshops. Her article “The Vanished Communal Heritage of Holocaust Survivors: Its Impact on Survivors and Their Children” was published in the Journal of Jewish Communal Service 75(4), summer 1999.

Article: An Alliance for the Mental Health of Holocaust Survivors

Alessandra Scalmati MD, Ph.D is the Associate Director of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry and the Geriatric Psychiatry Training Program, Montefiore Medical Center. For several years she has been the consulting psychiatrist to the Bronx Holocaust Survivor Project and has extensive experience with direct clinical services as well as staff support.

Articles: Early Trauma and Resilience; Soviet Jewish Child Survivors

Svetlana Shklarov MD, Ph.D, RSW is a Calgary-based researcher and university instructor who writes and teaches about trauma, resilience, disability and mental health. Svetlana is a daughter of Holocaust survivors, and was born and raised in the Soviet Union. She was trained as a physician in Moscow, and practiced pediatric medicine in Russia and Israel. After relocating to Calgary, Svetlana coordinated a ten-year series of Canada-Russia program development projects focused on community rehabilitation in mental health and trauma response, in collaboration with the University of Calgary and Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry. She also focused on community social work, including reaching out to Holocaust survivors with Jewish Family Service Calgary. Svetlana has earned a Ph.D from the University of Calgary for her research on life histories and resilience in Soviet Jewish child survivors of the Holocaust. She now teaches at the University of Calgary, Faculty of Medicine, Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies.