The Vermont Center for Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Biographies

Jennifer Gordon, LICSW
Jennifer is a licensed clinical social worker. She received her master's degree from Fordham University and completed a primary practicum in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy at the Albert Ellis Institute in New York. She is cofounder of The Vermont Center for Cognitive Behavior Therapy, where she maintains an active clinical practice specializing in the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders and stress management. Jennifer has a particular interest in integrating mindfulness approaches with cognitive therapy and completed a post-graduate internship at the University of Massachusetts Medical School's Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society. She teaches an 8-week course in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. In addition to her clinical practice, she holds a position as Clinical Instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Vermont and is a member of the professional organization, Association of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies.

Elena Ramirez, PhD
Elena M. Ramirez, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist-doctorate whose professional focus is on helping people to make changes in their behaviors that will improve their psychological as well as physical health. As cofounder of The Vermont Center for Cognitive Behavior Therapy, she specializes in treatments of obesity, eating and body image disorders, anxiety, phobias, stress management, and mood disorders. She is a frequent guest speaker at various community and national forums on these topics. Dr. Ramirez is the director of The Weight Control Program, a multidisciplinary research based weight management group program, for both adults and children/adolescents and their families. She stays actively involved with research in the area of weight control through her affiliation with the Mind-Body Medicine Clinic at the University of Vermont Department of Psychiatry, where she is a Clinical Assistant Professor. She also serves as a consultant mental health staff at Fletcher Allen Health Care. In addition to being a member of several national professional organizations devoted to the study of psychology and behavioral health (aabt.org, apa.org, naaso.org, aedweb.org, anad.org, myneda.org), Dr. Ramirez is recognized as a Health Service Provider in Psychology by the Council for the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Vermont Psychological Association.

Tater
Tater is a 9 year old Golden Retriever and is a member of Therapy Dogs of Vermont, “a non-profit organization of volunteer handlers and their highly trained working dogs.” She works as co-therapist with Dr. Elena Ramirez, unless otherwise requested. With a particular expertise and talent in stress management and relaxation techniques, Tater contributes significantly to the therapeutic process by helping patients to feel more comfortable and thus more open to making important changes.