Jo Kottoor, PMHNP-BC, LPC-A.
Nurse Practitioner
Jyotsna Kottoor enjoys connecting with her patients and working with them in partnership. She believes it is a privilege to do this work and practices with the intention of meeting patients where they are and supporting them to reach their goals. Jyotsna uses evidence-based methods to provide individualized and family-based care. Her ultimate goal is to support patients and families as they work to improve the quality of their lives.
As a strong advocate for holistic mental health care, Jyotsna has gained dual training as both a Mental Health Counselor and a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. She attended Northwestern University and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. She then earned a Master’s Degree in Clinical Counseling from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, where she received the Outstanding Student Award.
Jyotsna has experience as a counselor in multiple settings, including domestic violence programs, public schools, inpatient and intensive outpatient psychiatry programs, and adult day centers. After working as a counselor, she recognized major gaps in the mental healthcare system, which left vulnerable individuals without effective care. When her daughter developed severe food allergies at the age of 2, Jyotsna also recognized the need for ongoing mental health support for families living with chronic health conditions. For the past six years, she has volunteered with Texas Children’s Hospital, as a designated leader in the food allergy family network. As part of this network, she works one-on-one with families in the community to provide education and mental health support for those living with food allergies.
To further support families living with chronic conditions, Jyotsna re-entered school to become a registered nurse. She graduated from Texas Woman’s University, School of Nursing, as an inductee of both Sigma Theta Pi and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies. As a registered nurse, Jyotsna has worked in the inpatient setting as a NICU nurse and in public schools as an immunization nurse. As a mental health nurse, she has experience in inpatient, outpatient, and partial hospitalization programs, where she has provided nursing care as well as individual and group counseling. Jyotsna completed a Master’s Degree in Nursing at UT Health Science Center and received the Outstanding Nurse Practitioner Award for academic achievement, community service and clinical expertise. She is board certified as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. Her current training and certification enable her to provide integrative and patient-centered care in the form of individual or group counseling, medication management, or both. When not in the office, Jyotsna enjoys reading, playing the piano, and spending time with friends and family.
Blogs:
John Adams, PhD-Post Doc
Psychologist
John Adams, Ph.D., has earned his Doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Colorado State University, and he received his Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Texas Christian University. Dr. Adams has provided clinical services in a wide range of milieus, including community mental health clinics, juvenile correctional facilities, and university counseling centers. As both a therapist and assessor, he has worked with clients across the lifespan, with diverse racial, cultural, religious, ability, sexuality, and gender identities. Dr. Adams prioritizes understanding the client’s specific lived experience of their identities, family systems, relationships, and work/academic life. Through this understanding, Dr. Adams seeks to form a collaborative relationship with the client to pursue an effective, personalized treatment plan. He integrates skills-based therapies such as CBT, DBT, and ACT as well at attachment-based approaches like Interpersonal Process Therapy. As the client gains skills for coping with symptoms of mental health difficulties, Dr. Adams guides the client through long term processing and healing from trauma.
Dr. Adams provides individual therapy, couples therapy, and group therapy. He is particularly passionate about grief, death, and dying; relationship struggles and attachment issues; existential therapy; and men’s issues, including emotion awareness and toxic masculinity.
julie sherman, Ph.D. |
|
|
Clinical Psychologist
Julie Sherman, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral fellow in clinical psychology at the Tarnow Center for Self-Management. She received her doctorate from the University of Southern Mississippi in school psychology, and she completed a clinical psychology internship at Pinecrest Supports and Services Center, a residential facility for individuals with developmental disabilities. Dr. Sherman is a native Texan. Her training and professional experiences have emphasized a specialization in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), which stresses the importance of behavior and environmental consequences in behavior management, academic interventions, and functional skill building. She worked in several public schools while in Mississippi as a behavior consultant, creating and supervising programs to reward students for appropriate behavior and increase teachers' consistency in intervention implementation and discipline. She led anger management, social skills, and coping skills groups and provided intensive individual academic or behavioral interventions. Dr. Sherman also provided assessment and intervention services at an ADHD/Autism clinic designed to improve attention span and decrease disruptive behaviors without the use of medication. Her internship at Pinecrest focused on individuals who were diagnosed with an intellectual disability, and many exhibited severe behavioral challenges (e.g., Pica, Rumination Disorder, Conduct Disorder, Autistic Disorder, self-injurious behavior, running away). In addition, she assisted her clients with daily activities in their homes, Dr. Sherman helped develop an Autism Training Program at Pinecrest, which involved creating training objectives (e.g., compliance training, decreasing self-injurious behavior, toileting, self-feeding, Picture Exchange Communication System, decreasing aggression) and implementing programs. Dr. Sherman provides direct services to children, adolescents, and their families across settings to assist them in reaching their goals and creating positive behavior change. She provides evidenced-based practices that focus on direct observations, functional analysis, and implementation of interventions designed to reduce challenging behaviors and replace them with functional and socially appropriate behaviors. Her current interests include Autistic Disorder, Learning Disorders, ADHD, developmental disabilities, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Pica, Rumination Disorder, Enuresis, Encopresis, compliance training, functional skill building, and aggression.
|
Julie Jones, Ph.D., LMFT-S, LPC-S
Psychotherapist
Dr. Julie Jones is considered an expert treating professional with specialties in AD/HD and autism. In addition, she has a long history of helping individuals manage extreme anxiety. She has advocated for and treated children with selective mutism for almost two decades. As a former school counselor and dean, she appreciates collaborating with schools to help provide appropriate treatment and supportive services for her clients.
Dr. Jones is a published researcher. She is currently engaged in several research projects including a multiyear study on the impact of fitness on academic learning for adolescents with autism (with UTMB). She also speaks to local and national audiences on the outcomes of her research. She is committed to sharing credible information individuals can directly apply in their respective roles. She speaks to schools, professional groups, and parents on topics related to anxiety, AD/HD, autism, executive functioning, and ethics.
Additionally, she offers private supervision for licensed marriage and family therapy interns and licensed professional counselor interns. Please contact the Tarnow Center for more information on speaking engagements, supervision, and clinical referrals.
Katie Williams, PMHNP
Katie Williams received her Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner degree from Eastern Kentucky University, where she graduated summa cum laude. As a registered nurse, she has worked with families and children of all ages at Texas Children’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles as a Hematology/Oncology and Transitional ICU nurse.
Katie strongly believes in treating each patient as an individual with specific needs and concerns. She uses her background in the medical field to incorporate a comprehensive approach to care while respecting the desires of each patient and striving to meet their needs. Katie offers medication management, conducts individual therapy, as well as accelerated resolution therapy, and she collaborates closely with patients’ other providers and individual therapists in order to achieve optimal care.
Prior to becoming a nurse, Katie studied ballet intensively and later received an acting degree from New York University. In addition to performing for many years, she taught acting and script writing at inner city schools throughout New York City. This diverse experience in the arts helps her connect with people from all walks of life. Katie is an avid hiker and loves spending time with any and all animals, as well as friends and family.