Meet Our KidsTherapyFinder.com Experts

Dr. Stacia’ Alexander, LPC-S

Dr. Alexander is a Doctorate Level Licensed Professional Counselor - Supervisor and has owned and operated a private group mental health practice for 20+ years. She has spearheaded programs helping over 17,000 individuals and families in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex. As a heart teacher, she uses the personal and professional experiences she has had since childhood to connect with people on the resiliency to succeed; in private sessions and mass audiences.  She is the Mental Health Clinic Director of Paul Quinn College, an HBCU located in Dallas, Texas. She is an accomplished author and much sought-after speaker. Her strategy program, The Emotionality of Success, has helped thousands of professionals understand there is more to business development than marketing, finance, and legal support. Dr. Alexander has been married to her loving partner, Trent, for over 20 years and they have raised two adult children. Learn more about Dr. Alexander.

Janet Courtney, PhD, LCSW, RPT-S

Janet A. Courtney, PhD, LCSW, and Registered Play Therapist Supervisor, is Founder of FirstPlay Therapy® [an Infant Mental Health & Developmental Play Therapy model] and Founder and Editor of FirstPlay® Café: An e-magazine for parents (womb to six Years). She is Director of Developmental Play & Attachment Therapies, Inc. She is a Registered Play Therapy-Supervisor, TEDx Speaker and past Chair of the Association for Play Therapy Ethics and Practice Committee and past President of the Florida Association for Play Therapy and former Chair of the Viola Brody Award Committee. Her work was awarded Third Place overall in the Best Practices Showcase for FirstPlay Therapy at the First 1000 Days Infant Mental Health Summit (Sept, 2018) along with the Children’s Healing Institute. She is author of “Healing Child and Family Trauma through Expressive and Play Therapies: Art, Nature, Storytelling Body and Mindfulness,” and Editor of “Infant Play Therapy: Foundations, Models, Programs and Practice.”  and Touch in Child Counseling and Play Therapy: An Ethical and Clinical Guide. Learn more about Dr. Courtney.

Katie Taylor, CCLS

Katie Taylor is a certified child life specialist, podcast host and creator of Child Life On Call. Katie's passion is supporting parents, kids and the care team with the tools they deserve with the expertise of a child life specialist and the heart of a momma so they can go from overwhelmed to empowered. With over a decade of in-hospital experience, Katie has helped hundreds of families cope with and navigate challenging life events. 

Katie graduated from the Pennsylvania State University and has studied and worked at facilities like Children's National Medical Center, Inova Children's Hospital, Dell Children's Medical Center and St. David's Children's Hospital. She authored her first children's book, Super Silly Wash Your Hands Dance, in early 2020 and has been featured in the media as a child development expert. When she's not doing all things Child Life On Call, she loves spending time in the great trails of the Hill Country with her husband and two children, listening to audiobooks and visiting local Austin breweries. Learn More About Katie Taylor, CCLS.

Shannon DeVilbiss

For more than a decade, Shannon has helped families feel educated and empowered as they make therapeutic placement and academic decisions for  their loved one.  Shannon was born and raised in Plano, Texas and graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Texas Tech University.  Her career in mental health started at a residential treatment center that specialized in working with females who were struggling with co-occurring disorders.   In that role, she helped to identify potential fit, provide updates and communication to families and referring professionals and supported the their transition. She founded and was President of the DFW IAEDP Foundation Chapter, which helped provide a collaborative network and continuing education for clinicians working with eating disorders.  For the last 5 years, she has worked with more than 100 families as their therapeutic and educational consultant.  Shannon knows that when a loved one is struggling, it can be overwhelming and so she wants each family she works with to feel that someone is looking out for what is best for them.  She has been married for more than 18 years and she and her husband have two children. As a mother, she has experienced firsthand how differently children learn, and has used her professional experience to research and find schools that fit her children’s individualized needs. She enjoys camping and spending time outdoors with her family, as well as traveling, playing tennis, spending time with friends, reading, volunteering and staying organized! Learn More About Shannon DeVilbiss.

Lynn Louse Wonders, LPC, CPCS, RPT-S

Lynn Louise Wonders is a licensed professional counselor and certified professional counselor supervisor in the state of Georgia and a registered play therapist-supervisor with Association for Play Therapy. Ms. Wonders has been providing continuing education training, supervision and consultation on topics related to child and family counseling with specialization in play therapy with anxiety disorders and high conflict divorce cases since 2010. She is the author of a book titled When Parents Are at War: A Guidebook for Child Therapists Navigating High Conflict Divorce & Custody Cases and the Miss Piper's Playroom series. She is clinical director for Wonders Counseling & Consulting located in Blue Ridge and metro Atlanta, Georgia. Learn more about Lynn Louise Wonders.

Dr. Emily Y. Wu, MD

Dr. Emily Y. Wu, MD is an adult/child and adolescent psychiatrist. She obtained her medical degree at Baylor College of Medicine, and completed both adult psychiatry residency and child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship training through Harvard Medical School. She worked as staff psychiatrist at Menninger Clinic, and Assistant Professor at Baylor College of Medicine. Currently, she is the owner of Emily Y. Wu, MD, PLLC Psychiatry Practice. 

Dr. Emily Wu’s research interest is focused on reducing health disparity and improving culturally sensitive clinical intervention for minority children and families. Her research activities include assessing parental perception of mental illness among minority youth and evaluate the ethics and efficacy of using smartphone technology to provide mental health care for teens and adolescents. She received research grant from Brigham Health Institute and American Psychiatric Association (APA) SAMHSA Minority Fellowship to support her scholarly projects in the past. She has developed a smartphone study application that aims to provide culturally sensitive mindfulness tool for transitional age youth. She is the co-author on the Handbook of Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome Across Cultures. Through her connection with Harvard Medical School and World Health Organization (WHO), she has been invited to psychiatric hospital in China as a clinical consultant who facilitated the development of new adolescent residential treatment programs. 

Dr. Wu has been an active public mental health advocate in national organizations. She was elected as the American Medical Association (AMA) Resident-Fellow Delegate via Massachusetts Medical Society during her residency. She was a Scholar in both Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) and American Psychiatric Association (APA) SAMHSA Minority Fellowship from 2017 to 2019. In 2019, she was elected as the Chair for the APA SAMHSA Minority Fellowship Program and was appointed to the APA Board of Trustee as a non-voting member. She has served on the APA Council for Minority Mental Health/Health Disparity. She was nominated as the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Fellow of the Month in August 2020. As an honorable Alumni, she was invited as a panelist at the SAMHSA Minority Fellowship Program New Fellows Orientation Webinar. Learn more about Dr. Wu.

Michelle Rigg, LCSW, RPT

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