Center for Children & Families
Who we are

Margret Nickels, Ph.D.

Director

Margret Nickels is a clinical psychologist who has worked with parents and children in the Chicago area for more than 25 years. Among other areas of expertise, she specializes in the development of healthy parent-child attachment relationships, understanding early childhood social emotional and behavior problems, issues related to abuse and neglect, and trauma-based parent-child psychotherapy. She has worked for many years as a forensic psychologist focusing on the assessment of parent-child relationships and parenting capacity evaluations, and has served on several advisory committees to the Child Protection Division of Cook County Juvenile Court. She is a member of the Illinois Governor’s Advisory Committee on Early Childhood Mental Health and consults on child development and child mental health issues to a number of institutions and agencies in the Chicago area. She teaches child development courses at Erikson and is a frequent commentator on child development and parenting issues in the media. Margret received her M.A. in educational psychology from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Northwestern University.

Larry Gray, M.D.

Medical Director

Larry Gray is a board-certified pediatrician with a subspecialty certification in developmental and behavioral pediatrics. He consults with clinical staff and leads a strong interdisciplinary team in providing comprehensive developmental diagnostic evaluations for young children. He is an expert in the assessment and diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders, as well as in the developmental challenges faced by internationally adopted children. Larry is a member of the department of pediatrics of the University of Chicago, where he heads the International Adoption Clinic. He also coordinates the University of Chicago’s pediatric residency rotation in international health, and serves as program director of the Health Volunteers Overseas pediatric program at St. Jude Hospital in St. Lucia, West Indies. He received his M.D. from Northwestern University.

Michele Belanski, M.S.W., LCSW

Staff Clinician

Michele Belanski has worked with young children and their families for nearly 20 years. She has extensive experience conducting clinical and developmental assessments with biological, foster, and adoptive families. Her areas of expertise include family adjustment processes related to adoption, child social-emotional development, the healthy development of parent-child attachment relationships, positive parenting strategies, sibling relationships, and child behavior problems. Michele also has many years of experience working with deaf and hard-of-hearing children with emotional or behavioral problems and is skilled in American Sign Language. She received her master’s degree in social work from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and is a graduate of Erikson’s Irving B. Harris Infant Mental Health Certificate Program.

Janina Fariñas, M.A.

Staff Clinician

Janina Fariñas is a bilingual therapist providing parent-infant and parent-child psychotherapy. She specializes in early childhood trauma, attachment issues, international adoption, prenatal psychology, and perinatal depression. Janina also has experience working with families of multiples. Prior to joining Erikson, she worked as a parent-infant psychotherapist at the Community Infant Program of Boulder and Broomfield Counties in Colorado. She earned her master's degree in psychology from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, and she has a post-graduate certificate in marriage and family therapy. Currently, Janina is a doctoral candidate in prenatal, perinatal, and infancy psychology at the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute.

Sarah Fineout

Administrative Coordinator

Sarah Fineout is usually the first person families speak to when they contact the Center. She assists with appointment scheduling and billing. Previously, Sarah worked for three years as the administrative assistant for Erikson's Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Early Childhood Unit. She holds a bachelor's degree in fine arts from the University of Mississippi.

Yvette Gonzalez, Ph.D.

Program Coordinator, Assessment Services

Yvette Gonzalez is a clinical psychologist who serves as coordinator of assessment services for the Center. She has more than 10 years of experience conducting psychological, behavioral, and learning assessments with young children from diverse populations. One of her specialty areas is evaluating the developmental and cognitive functioning of children adopted abroad. Yvette has worked extensively within public and private schools conducting cognitive, learning, behavioral, and gifted child assessments, and has helped parents advocate for their child within the educational system. In addition, she specializes in administering neuropsychological measures to assess attention, memory, and executive functioning. She also conducts formal assessments for autism. Yvette is trained in and provides parent-child therapy focusing on child behavior problems, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, emotional problems, and child trauma issues. She earned her doctorate from DePaul University.

James Grabowski, M.A., LCPC

Clinic Manager

Jim Grabowski manages all business aspects of the Center, as well as assisting families with insurance or billing questions. Jim is also a psychotherapist with extensive experience with children and adolescents. He has worked as clinical supervisor for and consultant to the Cook County Juvenile Court and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. He is on the faculty of the Institute for Clinical Social Work, where he teaches a course in child development. He is the president of the Association of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists, and is treasurer of the Illinois Association of Infant Mental Health. Jim earned his master's degree at the University of Chicago and received additional training at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis.

Keri Grossman, M.S.W., LCSW

Program Coordinator, Counseling Services

Keri Grossman is a licensed clinical social worker who also serves as a supervising clinician and coordinator of counseling services at the Center. For more than 10 years, Keri has worked with children and families on concerns ranging from severe child behavior problems to anxiety and separation issues. Other areas of expertise include supporting parents and children through divorce or separation and working with children and families who are coping with significant stressors or traumatic events in their lives, such as accidents, medical issues, loss, or death in the family. Keri also consults to other agencies in the Chicago area and conducts trainings on early social-emotional development. She received her master’s degree in social work from Loyola University and is a graduate of Erikson’s Irving B. Harris Infant Mental Health Certificate Program.

Dana Keiser, M.S.Ed.

Staff Clinician

Dana Keiser is an educational therapist who conducts social skills groups for young children at the Center. She also provides educational, developmental, and social skills support to children in their school environment. Dana specializes in supporting young children with global developmental delays, as well as children with social-emotional, self-regulation, and communication concerns, including children with autism spectrum disorder. For nearly ten years, she worked as an early childhood special education teacher, consultant, and educational therapist in New York. Dana received her master's degree in early childhood special and general education from Bank Street College in New York City and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Child Development at Erikson.

Tracie LaNier, M.A., LCSW

Staff Clinician

Tracie LaNier is a licensed clinical social worker in the Center's medical diagnostic program with more than 15 years experience providing screening, assessment, and counseling services, as well as school-based group therapy to children with significant behavior problems. In her role as a mental health consultant to child care programs in the Chicago area, she has conducted classroom observations, staff training, and parent training, as well as consultations on diverse topics, such as managing challenging behavior and parent-child relationship support. Tracie also conducts evaluations and provides therapeutic services to families with children birth to age three as part of the Illinois Early Intervention system. She received her master's degree in clinical and school social work from the University of Chicago.

Amy Levin, M.A., CCC-SLP

Staff Clinician

Amy Levin is a bilingual (English/Spanish) speech language pathologist at the Center. She has worked in hospital settings, private practice, and the State of Illinois Early Intervention system with children from infancy to school age. She has evaluated and treated children with a wide range of early language delays and disorders, including children with autism, apraxia, phonological disorders, and global developmental delays. Amy has made several trips to Vietnam to provide pediatric post-operative speech-language services as part of the International Extremity Project (IEP), which supports humanitarian efforts and supplies medical assistance to hospitals in Vietnam. She received her master's degree in speech and language pathology from Northwestern University.

Robin Manus, OTR/L

Staff Clinician

Robin Manus is an occupational therapist with almost 20 years of experience treating children from birth to age 10 in the State of Illinois Early Intervention program and in school-based programs. She is also a certified infant massage instructor and completed the Yoga for the Special Child basic certification program. She has a special interest in treating feeding difficulties and sensory processing challenges in young children. Robin received her bachelor's degree in occupational therapy from the University of Illinois.

Tracy Moran, Ph.D.

Professor

Tracy Moran is a clinical psychologist at the Center, in addition to being a professor at Erikson. Her research and academic interests center on the transition to parenting and parent-child relationships in early childhood. Her clinical areas of expertise include psychosocial assessments, postpartum mood and adjustment concerns, working with adoptive families, parent-child attachment difficulties, and early childhood behavior challenges. Tracy’s graduate training was at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Iowa, followed by an internship and postdoctoral training in infant mental health at Tulane University Medical School.

Anne Powers, M.Ed.

Program Coordinator, Early Intervention Services

Anne Powers is a senior developmental therapist who has worked with young children for more than 20 years. She has extensive specialized training in DIR®/Floortime™, working with children with autism and autism spectrum disorders, global developmental delays, and social-emotional concerns. For many years, she has also been conducting child social-skills groups to support the healthy development of children’s abilities to self-regulate, interact positively with their peers, manage transitions, and cope with intense emotions. Anne is certified to conduct developmental evaluations and provide developmental therapy within the State of Illinois Early Intervention Services. She coordinates the Early Intervention program at the Center and is part of its Early Intervention medical diagnostic team. She also supervises master’s level practicum students at Erikson who are training to become developmental therapists. Anne received her master’s degree with a major in special education from the University of Illinois at Chicago and is a graduate of Erikson’s Irving B. Harris Infant Mental Health Certificate Program.

Nadia Costa Spencer, M.A., LCPC

Staff Clinician

Nadia Costa Spencer provides counseling to children, adolescents, families, and couples. She has particular experience working with young children exposed to violence as well as with the Illinois Early Intervention system. Nadia has received specialized training in child-parent psychotherapy, and she has presented on the topics of infant mental health, domestic violence, and attachment. She earned her master’s degree in counseling from Governors State University and completed Erikson’s Irving B. Harris Infant Mental Health Certificate Program. She is a member of the Illinois Association of Infant Mental Health, the Illinois Counseling Association, and the Illinois Mental Health Counseling Association.

Karin Vander Ploeg Booth, M.D.

Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrician

Karin Vander Ploeg Booth is a board-certified developmental and behavioral pediatrician and an experienced member of the Center's medical diagnostic team. She is an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she also supervises for the fellowship program in developmental and behavioral pediatrics. Both her clinical practice and her research focus on enhancing resilience in children with behavioral and developmental issues and in providing parent support, particularly for child attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Karin is a member of the Enhancing Developmentally Oriented Primary Care Project (EDOPC), a resource for health care providers in Illinois, and a member of the State of Illinois Early Intervention Task Force. She received her M.D. from the University of Iowa.