Carolina House Staff
Carolina House's experienced treatment team endorses self-responsibility, encouraging each patient to take an active role in recovery through honest assessment of current functioning and through full program participation.
Stacie McEntyre, MSW, LCSW, CEDS - Executive Director
Stacie McEntyre is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and Certified Eating Disorders Specialist (CEDS). She joined CRC Health Group, Inc. in 2006. Having specialized in the treatment of eating disorders since 1991, Stacie serves as Co-chair for the Certification Committee for the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals. She joined Duke University's Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) in 1998 as the Coordinator of Eating and Body Image Concerns Treatment Team, and worked with the Duke University Medical Center's Out-Patient Eating Disorders Treatment Team. After receiving her Master's degree in Social Work from the University of Georgia in 1990, she served as the Coordinator of outpatient services for The Women's Center at Ridgeview Institute in Atlanta and as Coordinator of the Eating Disorders Program at The Clark Center in Savannah, Georgia. Stacie's professional interests include promoting eating disorders certification for treating professionals, presenting at national conferences, and treating the individual and the family system/primary support systems with a philosophy of mutual respect, mindful awareness, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy-based effective skills training.
Sydney Brodeur McDonald, Ph.D. - Clinical Director
Sydney Brodeur McDonald obtained her Ph.D. in counseling psychology, with a specialization in health psychology, from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). She completed a pre-doctoral internship at University Counseling Services at VCU and a postdoctoral fellowship with the Leadership & Education in Adolescent Health program at University of Alabama at Birmingham, specializing in eating disorder treatment. Her clinical and research interests are in the areas of eating disorders, chronic illness, and program development and evaluation. She has a particular interest in conducting clinical research to evaluate the efficacy of eating disorder treatments. Sydney has over 10 years of experience providing individual, group, and family therapy with clients from diverse backgrounds. She combines interpersonal, Dialectical Behavior Therapy based, cognitive-behavioral, and feminist approaches in her therapeutic work. She has specialized training working with interdisciplinary teams and has done so in clinical, research, and teaching capacities. Sydney has performed numerous research and professional presentations and has been the recipient of several research honors and awards, including an American Psychological Association dissertation research award, and the Corazzini Award in Therapeutic Group Research. In her free time she enjoys spending time outdoors, gardening, and being with friends and family.
Chase Bannister, MSW, MDiv, LCSWP - Coordinator of Program Services and Staff Therapist
Chase comes to the staff of Carolina House after completing residencies in clinical social work at the Duke University Medical Center and Duke University Counseling and Psychological Services. He is a licensed clinical social worker in the state of North Carolina, earning concurrent graduate degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work and The Divinity School at Duke University. While working as a staff therapist at Duke University, Chase completed comprehensive training on the treatment of persons with eating disorders and pursued clinical interests in treating depression, anxiety, grief and loss, and the broad range of emotional, behavioral and interpersonal concerns that arise out of chronic illness and recovery. Chase employs a wide range of therapeutic modalities in individual, family and group therapy, including insight-oriented, cognitive-behavioral, dialectical behavioral, and cyclical psychodynamic modalities. He brings to Carolina House a great interest in the intersection of spirituality and emotional/behavioral health, leading innovative group therapy experiences that encourage patients to authentically encounter the relationship of spirituality/faith traditions to their physiological and psychological well-being. Outside of his clinical work, Chase is a self-described "music nerd," and sings regularly with area professional choral music ensembles.
Tyler Beach, MSW, LCSW - Staff Therapist
Tyler is a staff psychotherapist for Carolina House. He completed his residencies at John Umstead Psychiatric Hospital and Northside Community Mental Health Agency. Prior to coming aboard, Tyler worked as a group and individual psychotherapist at a community mental health agency. He has experience in diagnosing and treating a wide array of mental health disorders from individual, group, and family approaches. Tyler works predominantly from two psychotherapy models. He is the lead therapist of our Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) program. He has been leading DBT groups and conducting individual therapy in this model since the beginning of his practice as a psychotherapist. DBT starts with an assumption that a person is always doing the best they can, while also acknowledging that the person can also function more effectively by learning coping skills to manage their thoughts, emotions, and more broadly their lives. Tyler's practice is also heavily influenced by Existential Psychotherapy, a form of psychodynamic therapy that looks at the larger questions of a person's existence and how we can create more meaning in our lives. His interest in Eating Disorders began with looking at how ineffective behaviors (including eating-disordered behavior) usually relate to problems with recognizing and expressing emotions in a more useful way. Tyler's practice is grounded in learning to sense and then effectively express emotions as a critical element in healing. He also enjoys integrating a person's belief system into their work. Tyler respects and encourages a person's spirituality or beliefs about their existence to have a place at the table and recognizes the importance of using faith traditions or personal philosophies to aid recovery. In his free time, he enjoys backpacking, reading, and sharing time with friends.
Katherine Nilbrink, MS - Culinary Assistant
Katherine Nilbrink received her master's degree in Biological Anthropology and Anatomy from Duke University. She is a Certified Coach and the founder of Conscious Living, a consulting practice specializing in creating wellness through whole, organic foods. She has taken her passion and knowledge for food and its effects on our bodies physiologically, mentally, emotionally, socially, and environmentally and has created a healing and connected way of living. She achieves this through group interaction, hands-on participation in the planning and preparation of meals, and the development of conscious living skills. Katherine has been facilitating groups, workshops and individual consultations since 2001. Her travels throughout the world have afforded her the opportunity to observe and incorporate a global perspective in her work. She is the author of a weekly column in the Jacksonville Journal-Courier, and has spoken regularly on Swedish Public Radio. She plans to share her vision with the broader community through her upcoming book on Conscious Living.
Laurea Glusman McAllister, MSW, MDiv, PLCSW Staff Therapist
Laurea comes to Carolina House after earning dual degrees in social work and theology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work and The Divinity School at Duke University. Through her training in social work, she completed a clinical internship at Family Counseling Service, a community mental health agency in Durham, NC. She has experience and training in treating persons with a variety of mental health concerns, including depression, anxiety, trauma recovery, and self injury. She uses a combination of insight oriented and cognitive behavioral approaches in her practice. She is also interested in the incorporation of dialectical behavioral approaches into her clinical work. Laurea became interested in the treatment of eating disorders through her work as a youth minister in the Episcopal church, when she worked with a number of adolescent women who struggled with body image and disordered eating. She is interested in the intersection of spirituality and mental health, specifically how one's religious framework may be both a resource for healing and a hindrance to recovery. She holds a certificate in Gender, Theology, and Ministry from Duke Divinity school, through which she studied how certain worldviews or cultural understandings can be devastating to women and to women's bodies.
She is also interested in educating faith communities on mental health and how they can become communities for healing. In her personal life, Laurea enjoys cooking, reading, making beaded jewelry, gardening, singing, and spending time with friends and family.
John H, Blackshear, Ph.D. - Staff Psychologist
John H, Blackshear, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist, currently employed at Duke University where he is the Clinical Director of the Academic Resource Center and a part-time therapist at the Counseling and Psychological Services Center. In addition, he facilitates group psychotherapy for students on long-term suspension from the Wake County Public Schools. He also teaches courses in psychology at Shaw University and serves as an expert witness for Capital Offense cases in North Carolina. He has a small private practice in which he counsels families and couples. Dr. Blackshear received his doctorate training in Clinical Psychology from Georgia State University in 2001. He also attended Florida A&M University from which he obtained his M.S. and B.S. degrees in psychology.
Sarah Parker, MD - Staff Psychiatrist
Dr. Parker is a graduate of Duke University and received her medical degree from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She completed her residency training in psychiatry at Duke University in 2007 and also obtained her Master in Public Health degree in Health Behavior and Health Education from the University of Michigan.
Dr. Parker has particular interests in eating disorders, women's health, student health and integrative medicine. She has a specific interest in mindfulness practice and incorporating that into psychiatric care, and is also interested in pursuing research in the field of eating disorders. During her undergraduate studies, Dr. Parker wrote a book entitled "Take the Disorder Out of Eating" for Duke students and has continued to follow her passion for this field. She has been involved as a volunteer for the Association of Anorexia nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD) throughout her career and has trained at the Duke Eating Disorder Outpatient Clinic as a resident. Dr. Parker plans to continue teaching mindfulness to patients in her private practice as well in Durham and incorporating a wholistic treatment plan to improve overall mental health.
In her spare time she enjoys being with her family and friends, the outdoors, sports and music.
Janet Lehr, MD - Staff Physician
Dr. Janet Lehr attended De Anza College in Cupertino, CA where she earned her Associate Degree in Nursing and then attended Florida State University where she earned a BS in Biology. She received her MD at the University of Florida in 1982. In 1985, Dr. Lehr completed her family practice residency at Carswell Air Force Base in Texas. She was board certified that same year. Dr. Lehr served in the US Air Force as a family physician at RAF in Upper Heyford, England and at Pope AFB in North Carolina. She has also worked at the Duke Department of Community and Family Medicine and at Duke Student Health in Durham, NC. Along with being the Carolina House physician, Dr. Lehr is currently in private practice at Integrative Physicians in Durham.
Paula Scatoloni, LCSW, Body Movement Therapist
Paula is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). She received her Masters degree in Social Work from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1999. Paula has been utilizing expressive arts in the treatment of disordered eating for over eight years in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 2001, Paula co-founded 'Ai Pono, Hawaii's first intensive outpatient program for disordered eating with Anita Johnston, Ph.D (author, Eating in the Light of the Moon). Her experience in the mind-body connection includes: yoga, Metler-based creative dance, 5-Rythyms, authentic movement, expressive art therapy, and Shake Your Soul®. Paula became certified to teach Shake Your Soul®, Kripalu DansKinetics in 2006. Paula incorporates her passion for dance and her own recovery to engage women of all ages in enhancing body connection and celebrating diversity inside and out. Her on-going training in body-centered therapy explores the subtle ways in which the body communicates and fosters creativity through mindfulness of breath and movement. She is a member of Kripalu Danskinetics® Teachers Association and the International Association for Creative Dance. Paula is currently the Coordinator of the Eating and Body Image Concerns Team at Duke University, Counseling and Psychological Services.
For additional information go to www.movinginward.com.
Dawn Moranha, RN - Registered Nurse
Dawn received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Central Florida, Orlando in 1982 and her Associate Degree in Nursing from Wallace College, Hanceville, Alabama in 1993. She has worked in various psychiatric settings to include private and public hospitals, home health and partial-hospitalization. Outside the work setting, she enjoys camping with family and friends, reading mysteries, listening to inspirational music and baking treats for her yorkies, Dixie and Daisy.
Anda Corn, RN - Registered Nurse
Anda graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from North Carolina State University and became a Registered Nurse in 2003. Anda worked with the juvenile psychiatric population, while attaining her psychology degree and worked in the operating room, medical-surgical unit, oncology unit and medical case management field, as a Registered Nurse.
Shirley Austin, RN - Registered Nurse
Shirley has over 30 years of experience in psychiatry at different levels. She has worked in both private and public facilities working with a variety of psychiatric disorders. She has also worked substance abuse with acute detox, research with psychiatric patients and telephone triage with UNC Healthlink and Wake Medical Center in Raleigh.
Shirley is from North Carolina and has an ADN in nursing. In the past she was a certified water aerobic instructor. She loves reading, gardening, animals (especially dogs) and spending time with family.
She is retired after 30 years of working for the State of North Carolina. The caring atmosphere of the Carolina House enticed her to come out of retirement.
Daya Breckinridge, RN, MSN, FNP - Yoga and Mindfulness Instructor
Daya is a nurse with a long-standing interest in yoga and mindfulness practice. She has studied with Jon Kabat-Zinn and established the Mindfulness-based Stress and Pain Management program at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In addition, she has her own yoga studio, Yoga in the Hood, in Durham, NC. Concurrent with her work at Carolina House, Daya teaches in Duke University's Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. She brings to our program several years of experience working with clients in a residential program for women recovering from substance abuse.
Ellen Morrison - Nutrition Therapist
Ellen is a Registered and Licensed Dietitian. She obtained her Master's degree in dietetics at Meredith College in Raleigh, NC. A Bachelor's degree in dietetics and nutrition was obtained from Florida International University in Miami, FL. Ellen joined Carolina House in 2006. She has specialized in eating disorders since 1994 when she was the Chief Clinical Dietitian at a large patiential facility in FL. Other experience includes medical nutrition therapy for a wide spectrum of health concerns. She also has experience working with the media and educating both health professionals and the public about eating disorders, nutrition and health. Along with her work at Carolina House, Ellen counsels clients with eating disorders in her private practice in Raleigh, NC. In addition, Ellen serves as one of the course instructors for IADEP's eating disorders certification program.
Karen Spencer - Art Therapist
Karen Spencer is a board-certified, registered art therapist. Over the past 35 years, she has worked with children, adolescents, and adults with special needs. The majority of her work has been with individuals with PTSD, dissociative disorders and other anxiety disorders, mood disorders, self-harm and suicidal ideation, eating disorders, and borderline personality disorders in in-patient and day-treatment psychiatric programs, as well as in private practice. During that time she has also facilitated numerous expressive therapy workshops throughout the South and Southeast on a broad range of topics; always encouraging people to discover and develop their own unique creative voice.
Alison Rhyne - Intake Coordinator
Alison began working at Carolina House in 2006, serving as a Residential Patient Assistant. She graduated from North Carolina State University with a BA in Sociology and Psychology, and received honors distinction for her academic achievements. Previous to her work at Carolina House, Alison was employed by Wake County Public School system as Assistant Director of the Before and After School Program. She interned for the N.C. Governor's Crime Commission and received an award for her published journal article. She also has 5 years of experience volunteering at a local suicide prevention and crisis intervention hotline. In her spare time, Alison enjoys going to the beach, reading, practicing yoga, crafting and cooking.
Chris Minor - Office Manager/HR Coordinator
Chris has worked in the medical field for over thirty years as practice manager and certified medical assistant. Most recently, she was the office manager at a private psychiatric office in Raleigh for seven years; prior to that, Chris was the Practice Manager/CMA at a family practice office in Chatham County, North Carolina for twenty-two years. Chris has completed a certificate program in healthcare management from Saint Joseph’s College.
Shellie Dowdy - Professional Relations Coordinator
Shellie Dowdy graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor's degree in Health Promotions and Education. With this dual degree, she is certified both in the healthcare field, as well as a pre-school-12th grade teacher. Prior to working at Carolina House, she was employed as a second grade school teacher in the Georgia public school system. After teaching school, Shellie has decided to experience the other part of her dual degree and work in a healthcare setting. Before accepting the position of the Professional Relations Coordinator, Shellie was the Intake Coordinator at Carolina House.
RPA - Residential Patient Assistants
Residential Patient Assistants (RPAs) are the front-line staff at Carolina House. Our RPAs are well educated, many of them with undergraduate or graduate degrees focused in mental or behavioral health. Their training and experience is matched only by their compassion, integrity, and commitment to the well-being of our patients. RPAs spend a great deal of time with our patients providing around-the-clock and consistent support and supervision all the while modeling effective ways of caring for self and relating to others. RPAs are valuable members of the treatment team who help to create a successful, healing, and meaningful treatment experience at Carolina House.