Meet the Speakers for October Awareness

 
Tina Borsa, LCMHC is a highly motivated individual with over 20 years’ experience working with
children, adolescents, and adults as a teacher, counselor, and mentor. Experience with at-risk
as well as high functioning clients in both individual and group settings. Worked with culturally
diverse individuals from various socioeconomic backgrounds. Strong organizational skills that
assist in a team environment. Currently, Tina is a Senior Staff Clinician and Training Director at a
nonprofit outpatient counseling center in Keene, New Hampshire.

As a clinician, she specializes in working with children and their families, adolescents, and
adults. Tina brings her experience with play therapy to working with children who are dealing
with trauma, behavioral and emotional problems. She works with children and adolescents with
behavioral, school, and social problems. Tina is also trained in Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) and mindfulness techniques as well as family systems theory. Tina is an EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) Certified Therapist. Tina has also worked with children and adults that have had disabilities including but not limited to Spina Bifida and Cerebral Palsy. With adults her clients include those with depression, anxiety, and trauma. Tina has a holistic approach with a focus on creative expression such as Soul Collage to help people
find purpose and hope in their daily lives. As training director, Tina brings her passion for networking and connecting with the community. She truly enjoys helping student interns and pre-licensure clinicians navigate their way in the clinical world and form their professional identity. She believes the training program has a critical role in being both a resource to our community and providing education.

In her personal life, Tina is a caregiver to her husband, Matt, who lives with a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and deals with other medical complications. They live in southwestern New Hampshire with their Siberian Husky, Snow.

Lori Lohmann is a Master’s level clinician in a community mental health setting.

Lori has worked in mental health since 1988, in multiple capacities, in NJ and NH. Her experience began with an internship at a battered women’s shelter in NJ. From there, she worked for a mobile crisis unit in Monmouth and Ocean counties where she gained experience in diagnosing severe mental illnesses, such as Schizophrenia, Bipolar and personality disorders. After moving to NH, Lori  transitioned to community mental health where she has worked as a case manager, a residential counselor, and as both an adult and children’s therapist. 

The defining moment in her career development occurred in July of 2000, when her then 13 yo daughter was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. This profoundly informed her  perspective regarding the effects of chronic illness, both on the individual and the family system.The consequences of living with or caregiving to a person with a chronic illness can be overwhelming.   The financial, emotional, and physical fallout can lead to depression, anxiety, or both.  Having experienced all of these things in her personal life has afforded her the compassion to  help clients develop coping skills to navigate the difficult circumstance of living with chronic mental or physical challenges.

Since then, Lori’s sister has been diagnosed with dysautonomia giving her first-hand knowledge of the impact of this disorder. As a caregiver she has  learned how to advocate for clients' rights, giving her a unique perspective in working with clients. She has learned to look beyond the symptoms presented and to consider the mind/body connection in order to help people move beyond their specific diagnosis or illness.

Susanne Rimm was born and raised in Germany, but she lived in the US for over 30 years. She is a retired/disabled RN with more than 24 years of experience in the medical field. This gave her a unique advantage to research the field of dysautonomia since her diagnosis of HPOTS in 2012.

Since then she has served as a moderator on DINET's forum and she has written several articles for DINET. Susanne believes that despite the challenges of dysautonomia we can live a rich and rewarding life - as long as we make peace with our limitations.