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 Dr. Leona Kashersky Dr. Kashersky (AKA Dr. Leona) is the founder and
Director of Healing Pathways Psychological Services. She received her doctorate in psychology from The California School of
Professional Psychology. Her training and personal mission was focused on assisting families and individuals in their
search for balance.
Dr. Leona has worked with some
of our community’s most distressed youth and their families. Her early training with troubled families paved the way
for her current philosophies and insights. She helped them to reunify and reestablish the respect and trust needed to thrive
again. Since her early training, she has continued to help families, couples and individuals from all walks of life with a
variety of needs.
Generally, Dr. Leona is interested in empowering people
to risk connection in their family and community relationships. Specifically, she enjoys nurturing her patients and assisting
them to nurture themselves. She firmly believes, "through prioritizing self-nurturing and self-care, people build the
strength and fortitude needed to take necessary risks for healthy growth in their life". The efforts she and her patients
put forth to practice compassion for self and others, allows one to tolerate feeling awkward learning new skills and
putting them into practice. She enjoys assisting her patients to put these skills into practice in her individual, family,
and group sessions.
Dr. Leona has experience with blended families due to changing marriages and adoption.
She is familiar with the challenges they face in creating and maintaining their bonds with one another. She works hard to
educate and take action in working through conflict to reach resolution and compromise to enhance the love and joy others
experience in their life.
Dr. Leona uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Rational
Emotive Therapy, Movement Therapy, Play and Art Therapy, Psychodrama, and Family Systems Therapy approaches informed by psychodynamic
theory to design interventions and work with presenting issues.
In her free time, Dr. Leona enjoys creating and experiencing
art and culture. Fire Arts, dance, yoga, and theatre are other therapeutic outlets she uses to express emotions and to touch
and teach others. Spending time with her friends and family, finding ways they can express their creativity together are among
her favorites for ways to 'pass time'. Her travels are driven by her curiosity of other people and their differences. She
is drawn to understanding differences and the inner workings of individual people and their cultures. Human creativity is
what keeps her feeling excited about life.
 Veronica Dobson, Psy.D. Psychological Assistant Dr. Veronica Dobson is
a registered psychological assistant under the supervision of Leona Kashersky, Psy.D. Dr. Dobson was drawn to the discipline
of psychology early in life and believes that participating in her patients' journey toward healing
is one of life's greatest priviliges. Her philosophy of service is that therapy can be a sort of experimental laboratory for
patients to test and try out new ways of thinking and experiencing life. She is genuine, warm, caring and sometimes even fun
in her approach to treatment. Dr. Dobson likes to work with patients to find and create the atmosphere that is most likely
to feel safe and genuine for each individual. She works with adults, families,
couples, and groups and; she has especially enjoyed working with older youth and
young adults in both her professional and personal life. Veronica also enjoys working with law enforcement officers, military
service members, young women and those working through questions regarding gender and sexuality. Veronica practices various
types of therapy including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy. usually in the context of psychodynamic
theory. Veronica is also interested in physiology, health psychology, mind-body-spirit wholeness and is especially skilled
in forgiveness therapy. Dr. Dobson's doctoral dissertation was in the area of forgiveness, a non-religious approach to letting
go of past hurts and finding peace through life's many challenges. Individuals in the Sacramento area interested in exploring
forgiveness as a psychological approach to well-being will be pleased that this uncommon treatment approach is available.
Veronica is deeply committed to community-building, justice, service and
peace-making. Dr. Dobson serves in several community organizations and finds fulfillment in the service of others. In her
spare time, Veronica enjoys gardening, baking, spending time with her family and loves to travel for the cultural experiences
of sharing in the communities of others.
Jennifer Thomas, Psy.D. is a licensed psychologist with a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. Dr. Thomas
completed her undergraduate work at the University of Wisconsin. She obtained her M.A. and Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology from
the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University. She completed her clinical psychology
internship and post-doctoral fellowship at the University of California Medical Center Child and Adolescent Abuse Resource
and Evaluation Center (CAARE Center). While at the CAARE Center, Dr. Thomas specialized in providing evidence-based treatments
for youth and their caregivers suffering trauma-symptoms related to child maltreatment, including Trauma-Focused Cognitive
Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). Dr. Thomas also specialized in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), an evidence-based treatment
for children and their parents who are struggling with disruptive behaviors; and completing Child Welfare and Psychological
evaluations. Since completing her fellowship at the UC-Davis CAARE Center, Dr. Thomas has worked
at the UC-Davis MIND Institute, where her clinical work has focussed on the assessment and diagnosis of neurodevelopmental
disorders, such as Autism. Dr. Thomas also provides social skills group therapy to children diagnosed with neurodevelopmental
and psychological disorders (i.e. ADHD, Autism, Anxiety Disorder, etc.) In addition to her work
at the MIND Institute, Dr. Thomas has assisted the Sutter Center for Psychiatry with the training and supervision of the internship
program, and providing group therapy to the adolescents and adults participating in the partial hospitalization program.
Her areas of specialty are vast and include evidence-based treatments for youth and their families who are experienceing difficulties
related to adjustment, learning disorders, depression, anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, ADHD, autism
spectrum disorders, and disruptive behaior disorders. Dr. Thomas joined Healing Pathways with
the goal of utilizing her experience to reach a larger population of clients. It is her hope to provide excellent evidence-based
therapies to a diverse population who may not need in-patient acute care services, or whom are looking for a more family feel
from their provider.
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