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Board & Staff

Board of Directors

Joanna Heitz
President

Joanna Heitz attended her first trichotillomania support group meeting during the summer of 2000, and joined TLC’s Board of Directors in early 2002. Joanna stepped into the role of Treasurer in 2005, working closely with Christina, TLC staff, and her fellow board members to ensure TLC’s fiscal health and growth. In 2009, Joanna became President of the Board of Directors.

Joanna has been working in the nonprofit sector since 1995, making her way from southern California to Colorado to New York City, and has development and programmatic experience in women’s and reproductive health, arts and culture, youth and recreation services, and homeless family services. She is currently a fundraiser in New York City. Joanna holds an MS with a concentration in Nonprofit Management from the Robert J. Milano School of Management and Urban Policy of The New School University, and a BA degree in English from The Colorado College. She loves being a “nonprofiteer” and feels very lucky to be able to use her skills to help further the education, treatment, and visibility of trichotillomania and related disorders through TLC.

Sue Price, MS, NCC
Secretary

Sue grew up with trichotillomania, and has been involved with TLC since the early '90s. She was moved to become a counselor to help address the need for more professionals who intimately understand this disorder. Sue received her MS in Professional Counseling in 2006, and is a chemical dependency counselor in Albany, NY. Sue started the first Atlanta-area support group, where she formerly resided, and is looking to begin a group in Albany. She serves as Secretary of TLC's Board.

Deborah M. Kleinman

Debbie has been a member of the Board since 2004, and serves as Chairperson of TLC's Development Committee. Debbie's professional background is in nonprofit management. She currently is a full-time volunteer in the community, and serves on several other Boards, including the Greater Hartford Association for Retarded Citizens and Hebrew Health Care. Debbie resides in Hartford, Connecticut, with her husband Steve, and has two stepdaughters and two granddaughters. Debbie is an avid skier and gardener. She has had trich since she was 12 years old.

Nancy J. Keuthen, PhD
Scientific Advisory Board Chair

Nancy J. Keuthen, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School and staff psychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital where she serves as the Co-Director of the Trichotillomania Clinic and the Chief Psychologist in the OCD Clinic. She sits on many editorial and scientific advisory boards, including the Trichotillomania Learning Center and the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation. She is currently Chair, and previously Vice-Chair, of the scientific advisory board of the Trichotillomania Learning Center.

Dr. Keuthen has pioneered considerable research in trichotillomania, skin picking, body dysmorphic disorder and OCD, and authored many scholarly research papers and chapters. Dr. Keuthen has maintained broad research interests in the field of trichotillomania, including its longitudinal course and naturalistic treatment outcome, its phenomenology and psychosocial impact, the role of brain structure and function and neuropsychological profiles in the disorder, and its relationship with other obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders. She has been involved in both pharmacological and cognitive-behavioral treatment outcome studies of trichotillomania and skin picking. In addition, she has been instrumental in the development and validation of numerous assessment instruments for both trichotillomania and pathological skin picking. Recently she launched a genetics investigation of trichotillomania and is also investigating the efficacy of an augmented cognitive-behavioral treatment protocol for trichotillomania that includes affect regulation and relapse prevention skills.

Dr. Keuthen is the author of the popular book Help for Hairpullers. She also co-authored Internet-based treatment programs for both trichotillomania and skin picking. She has authored many articles for the lay public and other medical professionals. She routinely presents at national and international conferences and local workshops on these topics and has been interviewed on local and national television as an authority in her field.

Erin Sheepo

Erin Sheepo has been on the Board of Directors since 2000. Her interest in TLC comes from her own struggles with trichotillomania and skin picking. Erin oversees the development of the website and online resources. She also leads the San Francisco support group which has been meeting weekly since 2003. Professionally Erin is an Account Executive at Dow Jones providing private market research to venture capital firms. She is married with two young boys.

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Staff

Jennifer Raikes
Executive Director

Jennifer has been a devoted member of TLC for fourteen years and served as president of TLC’s Board of Directors from 1997-2009. She began her volunteer service by writing an educational pamphlet for hairdressers, and over the next decade became an integral part of TLC’s operations. As president, she worked closely with staff, Board, and Scientific Advisory Board to establish TLC’s strategic direction, improve efficiency, and develop programs and publications. She has frequently represented TLC in the print and broadcast media, appearing on Good Morning America, 20/20, Fox News, The Insider, Sally Jesse Raphael, and local news programs. She is most proud to have been one of the founders of the New York City Trichotillomania Support Group, and has made many of her closest friends as part of the TLC community.

Jennifer studied history at Swarthmore College and became a producer and researcher of numerous award-winning documentary films for PBS. Her documentary, Bad Hair Life, about living with trichotillomania, won Medimedia’s Freddie Award for best film about psychiatry in 2003 and aired on public television. Jennifer now lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter. She will be telecommuting to her new job as TLC’s Executive Director. She is thrilled to be able to dedicate herself to TLC’s mission in this new role.

Christina S. Pearson
Founding Director

For the last eighteen years, Christina Pearson has devoted herself to improving the lives of people suffering with trichotillomania, skin picking, and related disorders. Learn more about Christina's incredible journey, and how TLC became the resource it is today.

 

 

Alice Kelly
Membership Services, Accounting Manager

Alice Kelly has worked for TLC for 9 years, first as a part-time bookkeeper, and now as Membership Services Coordinator and Accounting Manager. She spends much of her time making sure TLC's financial records are kept in order so that the organization runs smoothly.  She is also responsible for oversight of the membership services fulfillment program and database management.  She's happy to be working in a field that promotes awareness and healing for hundreds of people.

Leslie Lee
Program Coordinator

Leslie came to work for TLC in 2006. Her previous experience as an Office and Communications Manager for an award-winning, internationally renowned Downtown revitalization group fostered her desire to work in the non-profit sector, and TLC fit the bill as a community-building organization that helps improve the quality of people's lives. Leslie's background includes marketing and event planning as well as graphic design and communications, all skills that support her role at TLC. As Program Coordinator, Leslie is the Editor of TLC's quarterly InTouch newsletter, manages TLC events, including the Annual Conference, Retreat and One-Day Workshops, and travels to promote TLC at various other professional organizations. Leslie lives in Santa Cruz, CA, with her husband and her two young sons.

Dana Hickerson
Administrative Support

Dana Hickerson has played various integral roles in TLC's development since its inception. She has known and worked with Christina Pearson for over 30 years, first running a small telecommunications business together and then getting involved with TLC, initially as a founding board member to support Christina's vision. Today Dana works part-time for TLC providing much needed administrative support. Dana handles order processing, membership fulfillment and general mailing services.

Betsy Wootten
Administrative Support

Betsy Wootten is happily retired after working forty-plus years at the University of California, Berkeley and Santa Cruz campuses, largely in faculty services. She now occupies herself working three part-time jobs, taking a singing class, and traveling. Betsy provides administrative support and copyediting services for TLC.

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