Dr. Ziba Heshmatpour Nassab is the Clinical Director of Holding Hands Pediatric Therapy and Diagnostics.  Dr. Nassab has been treating infants, toddlers, school age children and teenagers with developmental and neurological disorders (Autistic Disoder, Aspergers, PDD-NOS, ADHD, Down Syndrome, Mental Retardation, Epilepsy, Fragile X Syndrome, Conduct Disorder, Selective Mutism, Reactive Attachment Disorder, Rett’s Syndrome, Prairie Williams Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, and Elimination Disorders) for the past 17 years. She has had the opportunity to work with children and their families in a variety of settings, which include clinics, schools, daycare facilities, hospitals, community centers, and home settings.

In addition to her pediatric experience, Dr. Nassab has had clinical training and experience working with adults and geriatric clients with chronic mental illness (Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Panic Disorders, and Dementia) in an inpatient psychiatric hospital. Dr. Nassab has provided individual counseling, group counseling and psycho-education for this population. She looks beyond the label and tries to empower her clients to do the same. According to Dr. Nassab “The label helps me understand the diagnosis, but not the person behind the diagnosis. No one chooses to have a mental illness; each client needs to be treated with dignity and respect.”

Dr. Nassab is also affiliated and employed by The Rape Treatment Center (RTC) at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center, which is nationally recognized for its exemplary treatment, education, and prevention programs.  Dr. Nassab is a Marriage and Family Therapist Intern and provides counseling for sexual assault victims (children, men and women.)  She works collaboratively with medical professionals, forensic services, psychotherapist, police department and Social Workers.

Dr. Nassab has been trainedand certified at The UCLA Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relationship Skills (PEERS) which is an evidence base, 14 week social skills training intervention for adolescents and young adults.

In regards to Dr. Nassab’s educational background, she received her Associate’s Degree in Child Development, Bachelors in Psychology, Masters Degree in Marriage, Family Therapy (MFT) and her Doctorates in Counseling Psychology. She has embraced the DIR® (Developmental, Individual Differences, and Relationship) modality and is currently in the certification program through Interdisciplinary Council on Learning and Developmental Disorders (ICDL.) She has been attending DIR®/ Floortime™ trainings, workshops conferences since 1997. Dr. Nassab has also co-facilitated and taught advanced DIR® courses to clinicians through ICDL.

Ziba is affiliated with the following Professional Membership:

• CAMFT/ California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists
  

• Autism Society of Los Angeles / Autism Research Institute
  

• ICDL/ Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental & Learning Disorders
  

• Senate Select Committee on Autism Task Force/ Autism Regional Taskforce (SLARRT) Member
  

• Floortime™ Coalition of California/DIR® FT™ COC
  

• Autism Speaks

  
  According to Dr. Nassab, her best teacher and mentor has been her own son, who has been diagnosed with Autism. Raising her son for the past 15 years has provided her with exceptional training. She has four amazing children and her husband is the co-founder and of Holding Hands. She understands firsthand how having a child with a developmental disability can impact the entire family unit; emotionally, physically, and financially. Therefore a part of her mission was to create a multi-disciplinary clinic that supports not just the “client,” but the entire family unit.
  
  

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Nicole Messuri, MA, LMFT, BCBA is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Board Certified Behavior Analyst. She came to the field of clinical psychology after a career in the healing arts and education. As a Certified Traditional Naturopath, Nicole studied holistic nutrition and worked in various settings with clients where she provided nutritional and wellness counseling, specifically on yeast/gluten/casein free diets. Over the past few years, she has guided many parents of children with autism, celiac disease, ADHD, food sensitivities, and general behavior-related diet issues

In 2001, Nicole became an elementary school teacher. She taught 1st and 4th grade for three years for LAUSD and worked as an Educational Therapist for Kayne-ERAS Center, where she provided instruction to children with learning and developmental needs.  In 2005, she received her Masters in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University Los Angeles. She worked in various outpatient clinical settings where she had the opportunity to work with diverse populations with a wide range of clinical conditions. After becoming a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Nicole worked as a teacher/tutor, for Gerry Grossman Seminars teaching preparation classes and providing tutoring services to MFT and MSW interns who were preparing for their California State Board Licensing Exams. For the past six years, Nicole has worked as a Supervisor for Focus Psychological and Educational Services’ school and home-based programs where she provided supervision for behavior intervention therapists in the school and home settings. During this time, Nicole has developed creative interventions and teaching tools to support the social, emotional, and behavioral needs of special needs and typical children, some of which has been used in trainings at Focus and utilized as interventions with the children and families that she worked with.

Nicole has devoted herself to solving problems with children and parents, holistically, by improving family dynamics, increasing appropriate behavior through one-to-one intervention, building skills where there are deficits, working with behavior-related diet issues, and guiding parents on their path towards better management of behavior and interaction with their children.
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Originally from Dallas, Megan moved out to Los Angeles to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming an Occupational Therapist. She graduated from the University of Southern California with both a Bachelors and Masters degree in Originally from Dallas. She graduated from the University of Southern California with both a Bachelors and Masters degree in Occupational Therapy and has since been practicing in the Los Angeles region. She loves working with children and their families and during her time at USC gained experience working in Children’s Hospitals and Early Intervention Clinics. Today Megan specializes in pediatrics with evaluation and treatment of Sensory Processing Disorders, Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Physical Disabilities and others. She continues to follow research, especially on Sensory Integration and feeding issues, and applies evidence-based treatment in her practice.

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Carrie Hammond is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA).  She started her career in the field of Psychology at the age of sixteen.  Her first job consisted of working with children that were emotionally disturbed at a sleep away camp. She worked at this camp for a few years before she started her undergraduate work in Psychology at California State University at Northridge.  After she received her BA in Psychology Carrie went on to receive her MA with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy at Phillips Graduate Institute.  During her time at Phillips Carrie trained and interned with many diverse populations such as, children, teens, families of divorce, individuals and couples. While Carrie was obtaining her hours towards her license she worked at four different agencies that specialized in working with children on the autism spectrum.  Carrie has worked with children on the autism spectrum for over twelve years.  She has been working for Holding Hands as a clinical supervisor for two years and recently became the clinical director of behavior intervention services.

Carrie reports that when she first started working with children on the autism spectrum she looked at her job as just a job, but through the years she realized that her job has become much more than a job.  It is an important part of her life and who she is.

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Josef is the coordinator for the Behavior Intervention and Social Skills Program at Holding Hands, as well as a supervisor and clinical mentor. He has 14 years of experience working with children with special needs. Josef has provided services for the San Diego Unified School District, the Los Angeles Unified School District, and began working for Holding Hands in 2006. He became certified as a Behavior Analyst in 2008 and specializes in training parents in Applied Behavior Analysis.

Josef seeks to provide families with a warm, supportive environment in which parents and children can learn new skills. Josef enjoys supervising and facilitating Social Skills groups, where children learn to initiate and sustain interactions with peers, turn-take during fun, interactive activities, negotiate and compromise on ideas, and engage in elaborate symbolic play sequences. What Josef enjoys most about Holding Hands is that it allows him to guide parents in improving the quality of their child’s life so he or she can grow to love and enjoy the family that surrounds them. Josef’s personal philosophy is that a child is limited only by the limitations that are placed upon them by others.

“The real benefits of this job are when you witness a mother or father learn to engage, interact with, and relate to their child in new ways that help their child create and sustain relationships and adapt to the world in which they live” (Josef Nash).

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Jennifer has been working with children and families for over 15 years.  Her experience includes early childhood education, early intervention, developmental disorders, PTSD and at risk youth.She is pursuing a PhD in Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health through the ICDL Graduate School and is a recipient of the Stanley Greenspan Memorial Scholarship.  She holds a Master’s degree from NYU in drama therapy and is a registered drama therapist.  She has published a book chapter and articles on DIR®/Floortime™ and Autism.

Jennifer has worked at Holding Hands – Burbank since March 2008.  She began by providing direct intervention and supervision for Floortime™ cases.  She moved into a Program Coordinator position the following year, developing programs and providing more staff training and support.  Jennifer is excited to have the opportunity to expand her role working with children and families as Associate Director of Clinical Services. She continues to value the time she has working directly with children and parents and looks forward to creating more partnerships with families, schools, regional centers and other community resources.

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Kathleen Walker is a Speech Language Pathologist - Clinical Supervisor at Holding Hands in Burbank.  She has over 13 years experience in the field and has worked in the school, private practice and clinic settings.  She received her B.S. from Emerson College and M.A. from California State University of Los Angeles.  Kathleen's philosophy is to treat each client as an individual and develop a treatment program based on their own personal needs.

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Mary Gianatasio has almost a decade of experience teaching in diverse classroom and therapeutic settings.   While teaching at a preschool, she recognized her passion for working with children with difficulties in speech & language, emotional regulation, sensory processing, and social skills.   She soon made her way to a DIR/Floortime Developmental Clinic in Chicago, IL where she helped develop its programs since 2009.  She is very happy to have joined the team at Holding Hands and is excited to work with such inspiring professionals!

Mary focuses on the speech, language, social-pragmatic, sensory and play goals of children through individual therapy, dyads, sibling play sessions, and small group interaction.  Mary has experience utilizing research-based therapeutic and educational approaches, including theme-based instruction, developmentally appropriate practice, DIR/Floortime, SCERTS, TEACCH, verbal forecasting, visual support systems, as well as the incorporation of music and movement.  Given her unique professional experiences, she has developed an eclectic style that promotes learning and development in real-time via play-based and age-appropriate structured activities that are meaningful to children.

Mary holds degrees in Child/Developmental Psychology from St. Xavier University in Chicago and Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.  For the last few years, she has attended the ICDL - DIR Floortime institute.  She is currently a certified Floortime Player through ICDL (Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders) and is a Certified DIR/Floortime Clinician through Profectum Academy.  She is committed to the practice and philosophy of DIR/Floortime and continues to receive supervision and participate in collaborative work with esteemed professionals in the fields of Pediatric Mental Health, Developmental, Occupational and Speech Therapies

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